Sacheonwangsa Temple Site, Gyeongju

This is a Silla temple site at the foot of Nangsan Mountain in Gyeongju, beside the tomb of King Sinmun and below the tomb of Queen Seondeok. In the fourteenth year of King Munmu of Silla (674), Tang China, using as pretext that Silla had attacked its Gyerim Protectorate, raised an army of 500,000 to attack Silla. King Munmu asked the monk Myeongnang for a plan to repel the enemy, and Myeongnang had Sacheonwangsa Temple built at this place, called Sinyurim, so as to call on the power of the Buddha. As there was no time to finish the temple before the Tang invasion arrived, they gave it the appearance of a temple using silk and grass, and together with twelve eminent monks performed the secret esoteric rite of Mundu-ru. Before the battle even began, a great storm arose and sank all the Tang ships. Five years later the temple was completed (679) and named Sacheonwangsa. This place, Sinyurim, had originally been regarded as sacred by the people of Silla. According to the Samguk yusa, Queen Seondeok, before her death, left instructions to be buried at Doricheon (the Trayastrimsa Heaven), saying that this place lay to the south of Nangsan Mountain. Thirty years after her death, Sacheonwangsa was built below her tomb, and people then realised that the queen's prophecy had come true. In Buddhism, Mount Sumeru is regarded as the centre of the world, its middle slopes guarded by the Four Heavenly Kings, and at its summit lies Doricheon, the realm of the Buddha, where the Buddha Land begins. This legend reflects the Silla people's belief that Nangsan Mountain was Mount Sumeru, and their vision of their own land as the Buddha Land. At the site remain two tortoise-shaped stone bases (gwibu) missing their heads, a stele body, and one flagpole support. The tortoise base remaining on the east side of the temple, in particular, with its realistic carving technique and the beautiful decoration engraved on its back, shows it to be an outstanding work of the Silla period. Sacheonwangsa, the first temple built after Silla unified the Three Kingdoms, has the typical twin-pagoda layout and shows well the character of Silla's state-protection Buddhism and the Silla people's views of Buddhism and the cosmos. It is also famous as the residence of the eminent monk Wolmyeong, who composed the hyangga poems 'Dosolga' and 'Jemangmaega' during the reign of King Gyeongdeok.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Historic Site · 사적