Stele of State Preceptor Hyeono at Seobongsa Temple Site, Yongin

There is no record of Seobongsa Temple's founding, but the scale of the temple site suggests it was once very large. According to tradition, during the Japanese invasions of 1592 the rice-washing water flowing from the temple travelled ten li (a traditional distance unit, roughly 4 km) downstream, and Japanese soldiers followed the stream upstream and burned the temple down. The site was confirmed as the old location of Seobongsa when roof-tile fragments bearing inscriptions were unearthed during construction of a shelter for the stele. Erected in 1185, the fifteenth year of King Myeongjong, this stele was made to record for later generations the life of State Preceptor Hyeono. Such steles are usually erected together with a budo, a monk's memorial stupa, but no trace of a stupa survives at the site — only this stele remains. It has a simple form: a stele body of slate set on a granite pedestal. The upper edge of the pedestal is cut obliquely on all four sides, and the upper corners of the stele body, where the inscription is carved, are likewise cut diagonally as if folded. According to the inscription, Hyeono became a monk at Builsa Temple at the age of fifteen, later served as abbot of Buseoksa Temple, and died in 1178, the eighth year of King Myeongjong, at the age of fifty-three. The king, deeply grieved, honoured him as State Preceptor with the posthumous title Hyeono, and he was cremated at the foot of Dongnimsan. The inscription also records the name of the author of the text and the date of its erection. The overall simplicity of its design shows the new style that emerged in stone steles of the late Goryeo period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yongin, Gyeonggi

Designation

Treasure · 보물