Heungnyunsa Temple Site, Gyeongju

Heungnyunsa was the first temple built in Silla, said to have been founded by the Goguryeo monk Ado, who came to Silla to spread Buddhism. King Michu of Silla is said to have had the temple built, though the exact date of founding is uncertain; it was so small and modest that it amounted to little more than a thatched hut where the Buddhist teachings were preached. After King Michu's death the temple soon fell into ruin, but it was rebuilt beginning in the fourteenth year of King Beopheung (527), following the martyrdom of Yi Cha-don, and was completed in the fifth year of King Jinheung (544). King Jinheung called it 'Daewang Heungnyunsa' (Great King's Heungnyunsa), permitted commoners to become monks, and in his later years shaved his own head, took the Buddhist name Beobun, and became abbot of the temple himself. Thereafter Heungnyunsa became one of Silla's great temples, holding great Dharma assemblies and praying for the peace of the royal house and the state. According to the Samguk yusa, Heungnyunsa was the temple where, in a previous life, Kim Daeseong — who later founded Bulguksa Temple and Seokguram Grotto — is said to have donated a field, and it was also the temple where Kim Hyeon formed a bond with a tiger. The Golden Hall is said to have enshrined a Maitreya triad made by Kim Yangdo in the reign of Queen Seondeok, its walls bearing murals: on the east wall, images of the 'Ten Sages of Silla' — Ado, Yi Cha-don, Hyesuk, Anham and Uisang — and on the west wall, images of Pyohun, Wonhyo, Hyegong, Jijang and Sapa. In front of the Golden Hall site, an octagonal pagoda site and a sutra tower to its west have been investigated, along with the surrounding cloister site. The southern gate of Heungnyunsa was called Gildalmun, said to be named after the goblin Gildal, who was said to have built it. The temple, burned down by rebel forces at the end of Silla, was rebuilt in the fifth year of King Gyeongmyeong (921), but was destroyed by fire and abandoned during the Joseon period. At the site once stood the largest stone water trough and worship stone from the Silla period, now kept at the Gyeongju National Museum. A roof-end tile bearing a human face, known as the 'Silla smile', was also excavated here. Today a Heungnyunsa temple newly built in the 1980s occupies the site, and roof tile fragments inscribed with the name 'Yeongmyosa' have also been found, leading some to identify the site as that of Yeongmyosa, founded in the reign of Queen Seondeok.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Historic Site · 사적