Five-story Stone Pagoda at Bongjeongam Hermitage, Inje

The Five-story Stone Pagoda at Bongjeongam Hermitage is a 3.6-metre-tall stone pagoda standing within the hermitage grounds, at an elevation of 1,244 metres below Socheongbong Peak on Seoraksan Mountain. According to the Record of the Restoration of Bongjeongam (1781), included in Baekdamsa sajeokgi (Historical Records of Baekdamsa Temple, 1923), written by Han Yong-un, seven grains of the Buddha's relics, which the Vinaya Master Jajang had obtained in Tang China, were enshrined in this pagoda. On this basis, Bongjeongam Hermitage has come to be recognised, along with Tongdosa Temple, Sangwonsa Temple, Jeongamsa Temple and Beopheungsa Temple, as one of the five great jeokmyeolbogung, shrine halls enshrining the Buddha's true relics rather than an image. However, the pagoda's form is simple in composition, the tapering ratio of the body is relatively slight, and the style realised in the roof stones shows features characteristic of late Goryeo stone pagodas, allowing its construction date to be estimated on that basis. Stone pagodas are generally built so that the base, body and finial harmonise as three parts, but this pagoda uses a massive natural rock as its base: the upper surface of the rock was dressed to form two tiers, around which sixteen lotus-petal carvings were placed to make up the base. The body stones set on top have corner pilasters carved in relief up to the third storey, and the thick roof stones placed above them have short, steeply sloping eaves that curve upward only slightly at the tips. Beneath each roof stone, three thick and roughly formed support tiers are carved at every storey, and on the upper surface of each roof stone a support for the body stone above is carved. The finial is simply finished with a stone in the shape of a lotus bud or a jewel. The Five-story Stone Pagoda at Bongjeongam Hermitage holds important significance in the history of Korean Buddhist architecture: it dispenses with a built base and instead uses natural bedrock as its foundation, it is a stone pagoda said to enshrine the Buddha's true relics, and it shows the process by which the standard stone pagoda of earlier periods was simplified in the late Goryeo period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Inje, Gangwon

Designation

Treasure · 보물