Bongeunsa

 

In what seems to be the heart of a major Seoul business district a spiritual sanctuary stands where it has for over a thousand years. I first noticed Bongeunsa when I went to the Intercontinental Hotel in southern Seoul for a wine event. I briefly stepped outside for some fresh air when I noticed a large Buddhist statue standing up on the hill in front of me. It was a part of a much larger complex, the scale of which I wouldn't realized until this past weekend. There it was, a Buddhist temple, across the street from the COEX exhibition center, the Seoul World Trade Center, and the Intercontinental Hotel. Traditional Korean clashing with the modern, in more ways than one.

A large map and the temple's history is presented to the visitor on a large display just outside the entrance. I immediately noticed it's scale in the number of buildings on the compound. It is much larger than some of the temples that I had previously visited. As I turned around and glanced at the high rises behind me I was surprised that such a large piece of land could have resisted the surge in development that seemed to take over that part of Seoul in the past couple of decades.

Upon entering the temple we came across a small information center to our right with brochures and friendly faces behind an opened window. After some small talk they offered us a free tour of the temple grounds and an older, peaceful looking man, stepped out to show us around. Even though his English was not perfect, in the 45 minute tour he not only shared facts about the temple, but he also explained much about Buddhist teaching and philosophy. I especially liked his explanation of the Daewoong-jeong (main Buddha hall) and the art presented around the outside of the building showing Buddha's life and the process of nirvana.

Another interesting feature that our guide pointed out was the bell pavilion. Every temple has a bell pavilion containing a Dharma bell, but not all bell pavilions contain all for instruments for praying.  Bogeunsa's bell pavilion included all four instruments.  The first feature was the Dharma drum, a large drum which played to pray for all earthbound creatures. The next feature was a large, wooden, hallowed out, fierce-looking fish, hanging from the ceiling of the pavilion. The inside of the fish is played to pray for creatures living in the water. The third feature of the pavilion was a large, cloud-shaped, gong hanging from the ceiling, which is played for the creatures of the sky. Lastly, the large Dharma bell is played to save the dead spirits in hell. Each of the instruments is played twice daily, once at 4:10am and a second time at around 5:40pm. Unfortunately, we haven't yet witnessed this but one of these days we might make it to a temple to hear the various sounds.

After the detailed description of the main Buddha hall, our guide led us up some stairs to some smaller halls situated higher up on the hill. One of the halls was called Bukgeudbok-jeon, or Hall of the Big Dipper. It was at this hall where he explained that Buddhism did not spread into Korea through war, but through acceptance of local beliefs. Hence, a hall dedicated to the big dipper, a constellation important in Daoist custom.

Hall of the Big Dipper

Finally, we came to the large, 23 meter high statue of Maitreya. Maitreya is a Bodhisattva, a future Buddha as our guide described. Instead of achieving nirvana and becoming a Buddha, Maitreya returned to earth to save sentient beings. As we stood in front of the statue examining it, Buddhists would step, shoeless, onto the marble platform at the statues base, and bow in prayer. Once again I turned around to catch the contrast. Towering up over the traditional Korean architecture of the temple I saw the modern World Trade Center in the background. 

Even though Bongeunsa is a large and beautiful temple it was impossible for me to escape the realization that I am in the middle of a huge, very busy city. Regardless, Bongeunsa is surely worth a visit as it is a temple with much to see and learn. Plus, there you will find interesting images that seem to define Seoul and Korea in a way, the traditional clashing with the modern.