Daeungjeon Hall and Ordination Platform of Tongdosa Temple, Yangsan

Tongdosa was founded in 646 by the monk Jajang, who returned from Tang China with relics of the historical Buddha. He built a platform for them behind the main hall, and that platform — the Diamond Precept Altar — is why there is no Buddha image inside. The hall simply opens toward the relics. The temple's name means passing through to enlightenment by way of that altar. The present hall was rebuilt in 1645 after Japanese troops burned the original. It is three bays by five with a roof that meets in a T over the front, an unusual arrangement you will not see at the other six mountain monasteries. Look at the stonework at the base and along the steps: the lotus carving there carries a Unified Silla manner down into a seventeenth-century building. The platform is where monks take their vows, and it has been repaired many times across the Goryeo and Joseon centuries without being replaced.

Original Text

Visiting

Opening hours

Open 24 hr

Closed

N/A (Open all year round) [Buddhist Museum] Mondays, Seollal (Lunar New Year's Day) & Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving Day) holidays

Admission

Free

Parking

Available

Information

+82-55-382-7182

Visitor information: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1

Where it is

Region

Yangsan, Gyeongnam

Designation

National Treasure · 국보