Josadang Shrine of Buseoksa Temple, Yeongju

Buseoksa, on the flank of Bonghwangsan, is where the monk Uisang expounded the great Flower Garland teaching in 676, at the king's command. Behind Muryangsujeon lies a rock carved with the word buseok, floating stone. The tale in the Song Biographies of Eminent Monks has it that when Uisang came home from his studies in Tang China, a woman named Seonmyo who loved him turned into a dragon and followed him here, protecting him and helping the temple to be built; that she turned herself into a rock and drove off a band of robbers hiding on the site, and then came to rest behind Muryangsujeon. Another story says the tree growing under the eaves east of Josadang is the staff Uisang planted there. Josadang holds Uisang's portrait. It was built in 1377 and repaired in 1490 and again in 1493. It is three bays by one, under a gabled roof shaped like the character for person seen from the side, with brackets on the columns only. Being a small building, its details are plainer than those of Muryangsujeon in the same precinct. A door is set in the middle bay of the front, with lattice windows either side to let light in. Inside, on the left and right walls, were paintings of the four guardian kings and bodhisattvas, made in late Goryeo. They are exceptionally rare — apart from tomb murals, among the oldest painted works to survive in Korea. They are now kept in the temple museum, and copies stand where they were, which give a good sense of them.

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Visiting

Opening hours

Open 24 hr

Closed

N/A (Open all year round)

Admission

Free

Parking

Available

Information

+82-54-633-3464

Visitor information: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1

Where it is

Region

Yeongju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

National Treasure · 국보