Stele of State Preceptor Bogak at Cheongnyongsa Temple Site, Chungju

This stele stands at the old site of Cheongnyongsa Temple and was erected in honour of State Preceptor Bogak, a monk active from the end of Goryeo into the early Joseon period. State Preceptor Bogak, whose personal name was Honsu (1320-1392), was careful in observing the Buddhist Way and placed particular emphasis on keeping the precepts, while also being accomplished in literary composition and calligraphy. He left home to become a monk at the age of twelve, passed the monks' examination at twenty-two, and at twenty-nine entered Geumgangsan Mountain, later moving to live at Cheongnyongsa Temple. After travelling widely among famous mountains to cultivate his practice, he returned to Cheongnyongsa Temple in the first year of King Taejo of Joseon (1392) and died there at the age of seventy-three. King Taejo granted him the posthumous title "State Preceptor Bogak", named his stupa "Jeonghyewonyung", and had a great temple built at Cheongnyongsa. The stele consists of a body stone standing on a single square base stone; no separate capstone was placed on top, and instead the two corners of the body stone were cut away as if folded, to finish it off. It was erected in the third year of King Taejo (1394) by the monk Huidal, a disciple of the master, by royal command; Gwon Geun composed the inscription, and the monk Cheontaek wrote the calligraphy. The calligraphy conveys strength, combining archaic simplicity with a sense of mystery, and possesses a dignity that need not yield to any famous work from China. This can be said to be a distinction so outstanding that, through the rest of the Joseon period, nothing else compares to it.

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Where it is

Region

Chungju, Chungbuk

Designation

Treasure · 보물