July 12 - Visiting Bulguksa Temple

Ohmygosh, it's been a month since I've updated my blog - where does the time go? So here's the posting that I've been waiting to finish for a few weeks. I discovered that the pictures I take look better if I don't see them for a couple of weeks, something about a fresh look reveals details overseen when they're fresh in the camera.

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"Life's a journey, not a destination."

I was invited to a conference out of town on the weekend of July 12, and naturally accepted. The conference was ho-hum, but the journey was fascinating. Having lived in California all my life, I'm used to the rest areas along the highway being, um, the bare necessities -- they're places to stop only when you really really have to go while you're getting to where you're going. Here, the rest areas are built to considerably higher standards, with cafes, food courts, real fresh brewed coffee, and swap-meet like vendors selling all sorts of dime store treasures.

One of the outdoor food vendors was cooking up fresh squid on the grill. Fortunately, another patron ordered one up just in time to snap a picture. Nothing defines a road trip like fresh rest area squid!

The squid looked much more appetizing than the fried silk worms for sale along the walking path to the temple. I would have taken a picture of the silkworms bubbling away in the frying pan but was afraid I would be obliged to actually eat one... there are limits to what I'm willing to do for a picture.



Destination: Bulguksa Temple

The names and explanations of items on the temple grounds were copied from the guide book I purchased for 4000 won at the temple.

Along the path to the temple grounds is Banyayeonji, or the Pond of Wisdom, teeming with koi. The reason it is called "Banya" is that it symbolizes wisdom, which is like a pure lotus flower not contaminated in muddy water.


On the bridge at the left side of the picture is Roger and looking out from the trees is Jason, two of my friends from Osan.


The Bulguksa temple, as explained on the sign at the entrance




To enter the temple grounds you must first pass through the Gate of the Guardian Kings, where the watchful eyes of the four sentries stand allowing only the virtuous to pass. Shown here, from left to right, are Virupaska guarding the west, Vaisravana guarding the north, Dhrtarstra guarding the east, and Virudhaka guarding the south.


Sitting on the floor between the legs of the guardians are some creatures, not sure exactly what they are but they look like they may feed on the remains of the impure who try to pass through the gates.








Finally arriving at the main temple, it's quite a sight.




The stairways up to the main temple are properly called bridges, the lower flight of stairs is the Blue Cloud Bridge and the upper stairs the White Cloud Bridge. The guidebook states, "if one enters the temple by the bridge, one is freed from the ignorance and suffering of the world." Unfortunately, the bridges were fenced off so I guess I'll 'm cursed to forever suffer in ignorance.






What what tourist attraction would be complete without a gift shop? Inside there are all sorts of trinkets, but a couple of things caught my eye, like the wall of miniature Buddha statues, and one golden Buddha in particular on a table full of Buddha statues.


There is so much more to this temple, it is simply huge. Here's a garden gate, to who knows where.



"The Dabotap, which is considered the most beautiful pagoda in the world." (Description as printed in the tourist guide from the temple.)

"Dabotap (multi-jeweled pagoda)
National Treasure Number 20

This pagoda of Many Treasure, sometimes called Chilbotap, Seven Treasure Pagoda, is one of the most famous monuments in Korea, symbolizing several different things. The teachings of the Buddha are symbolically portrayed. The square-shared base stone symbolize the Four Noble Truths (a teaching about the unsatisfactory of life and how to overcome it), one of basic principles Buddhism. Ten stone stairs rise from each of the four sides symbolizing the forty practices of Buddhism.

"A record states that originally there were four stone lions up until 1902. Three of them disappeared when the pagoda was repaired by the Japanese colonial government in 1925. During the dismantling of the pagoda in preparation for repairing it, two gold Buddha statues and many relice were found. The pagoda stands 10m 40cm high and is National Treasure No.20."

"Seokgatap (Sakyamuni Pagoda)
National Treasure No.21

"The official name of this pagoda is Three-story Stone Pagoda of Bulguksa. It stands 10m 40cm high, when Gim Dae-seong constructed the temple in 751, he built these two pagodas. The perfectly proportioned Seokgatap is representative of the trend in the Unified Shilla Period when pagodas were simplifies to consist of three stories standing on a two-story base.

"Eight lotus flowers, the Golden Seat of Eight Direction or the Lotus Pedestal Seat of Eight Directions, have been called around the pagoda, the simplicity of this pagoda is enhanced by the complexity of its twin, the Pagoda of Many Treasure.

"When the pagoda was dismantled for repairs in 1966, the Great Mantra Sutra and 70 cultural relics (28 different kinds) were found in the pagoda. These were designated National Treasure No.126. Seokgtap has another name as well, thus Sakyamuni Pagoda is sometimes called the Pagoda without Reflection."

That's about all I've got from the Bulguksa temple visit, and for that matter I want to find other national treasures to blog about. Pagodas are cool and all, but when you get right down to it, they're piles of rocks.