Korean monks carved the Buddhist canon onto 81,258 wooden blocks, and not one error has been found in its 52 million characters.

1237 · 1248 · apart: 11 years

Carved between 1237 and 1248, the blocks are still kept at Haeinsa temple.

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The event

• The Tripitaka Koreanac. 1251 · Haeinsa Temple, Korea. As the Mongols ravaged Goryeo, the court, sheltering on Ganghwa Island, commissioned a new edition of the Buddhist canon in hope of the Buddha's protection. Between 1237 and 1248 craftsmen carved more than 81,000 wooden printing blocks, almost without a single error. Kept at Haeinsa Temple since 1398, they are the most complete surviving Buddhist canon in Classical Chinese.

13th century

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