Goryeo Korea consolidates under Hyeonjong

1017

The young Korean king, restored after a Khitan invasion had driven him from his capital, rebuilt Kaesong and commissioned the carving of the Tripitaka Koreana on wooden blocks as a prayer for divine protection. Eighty thousand woodblocks were carved over decades. The Khitan never returned in such force. This monumental act of devotion produced the most complete surviving collection of Buddhist scriptures in East Asia.