Stupa of Master Cheolgam at Ssangbongsa Temple, Hwasun

The stupa of Seon Master Cheolgam at Ssangbongsa Temple. Cheolgam was a monk of the Unified Silla period who went to Tang China at twenty-eight to study. He came home in 847, under King Munseong, with State Preceptor Beomil, and practised on Pungaksan; under King Gyeongmun he was drawn by the landscape of Hwasun and founded a temple here, naming it Ssangbongsa after his own sobriquet, Ssangbong. He died there in 868 at seventy-one, and the king gave him the posthumous name Cheolgam and ordered a stupa and a stele raised. The stupa is octagonal throughout, in the usual way, and survives almost entire — except, unfortunately, the finial. The base that carries its weight has lower, middle and upper parts, and the lower and upper are strikingly ornate. The lower, in two tiers, is carved as eight lions seated on cloud, each in a different posture and all looking straight ahead. The upper, also in two tiers, carries lotus below and above it the kalavinka, the bird of paradise of the Buddhist pure land, playing instruments, in high relief. The body stone, which holds the relics, has a round column at each of its eight corners, and each face carries a door, one of the four guardian kings, or a flying heavenly being, beautifully cut. The roof stone shows the carving at its peak: deep tile channels on its slopes, end tiles at every row, and rafters under the eaves rendered from life. It is thought to date from 868, the year he died. The care the mason gave to every carving comes straight through, and among the stupas of its time it may be the greatest masterpiece.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Hwasun, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

National Treasure · 국보