There are two temples having giant stone future Buddha, Maitreya, in Korean Mireuk, not far from each other. And the stone Buddha statues of Mireuk (Maitreya) are very unique in its style.
Below are the Mireuk statue in Gwanchok-sa temple.
Below are the Mireuk statue in Daejo-sa temple.
It seems that one mason made those two statue in my opinion. In record, the monk who made the Maitreya, Future Buddha, in Gwanchok-sa temple. It was 10th century when this statue was built. King Gwangjong of Goryoe dynasty ordered to built the Mireuk Buddha statue in this area of former Baekjae territory.
King seemed to enforce his reign in this area using the worship of people for Buddhism.
It is said the unbalanced large size of the face of Statue in Gwanchok-sa showed the will of King to show his strong political power.
In this point, the face of Buddha in Daejo-sa temple is not so large to that of Gwanchok-sa temple.
Especially the with of the nose is different. In Ghanchok-sa statue, the nose was wider than that of Daejo-sa temple. And lower lip is different from each other, the statue of Ghanchok-sa seemed to look like much more strict. In this sense, the statue in Ghanchok-sa looked like have some political meaning, meanwhile the statue in Daejo-sa temple seemed much more closer to the people than the statue in Ghanchok-sa temple.
