Wednesday, April 23, 2003

Korean Buddhist Prayer Container, Analysis Part 3. Having noted that many Korean Buddhists would be familiar with Buddhist manuscripts, and understand what such a container would be for, we can see how many folks would derive additional meaning from knowing that there are prayers inside. I did a bit of searching on the Internet and could not find some typical examples of what might be inside a Korean Buddhist prayer container, so for myself I can only have a general understanding of how the written prayers add meaning to the piece. As we noted earlier, for the observer, it is the belief that there are prayers within the piece that give it the additional meaning. Whether the written prayers exist or not, is somewhat immaterial. Thus, the meaning of the piece is partially dependent on meta-information (belief in the existence of prayers within) which may not be verified beyond anecdotal evidence. (Another approach would be to only recognize that the object is intended to hold prayers, dismissing concerns about the prayers existence, and still derive additional meaning. I don't think this leads to the same type of appreciation of the work.) 10:41:02 PM