Neunginjeon Hall of Beopjusa Temple, Boeun

Neunginjeon Hall stands in front of Beopjusa Temple's Sejon Sari-tap, the stupa enshrining relics of the Buddha. It is said to have been rebuilt by the Great Master Byeogam in 1624, the second year of King Injo, during the reconstruction of Beopjusa after the temple was destroyed in the Japanese invasions of the 1590s. The hall enshrines an image of Sakyamuni Buddha together with sixteen Nahan (arhats) of unknown date. The Beopjusa Jeongyeongdo, a panoramic view of the temple believed to have been drawn by the late-Joseon monk Hoyeong, labels this building as the Sarigak, or 'Relic Hall', suggesting that it originally served as the place of worship for the Jeokmyeolbogung, a hall that enshrines the Buddha's relics in place of an image, associated with the sari-tap behind it. If it had indeed served as the worship hall of a Jeokmyeolbogung, then, as with the Daeungjeon Hall of Tongdosa Temple, it need not have contained a Buddha statue at all; alternatively, if it is a Nahanjeon Hall enshrining the sixteen arhats, then its main image should be Sakyamuni Buddha rather than Vairocana Buddha, accompanied by images of the sixteen arhats — and since both readings are possible, the building's original character cannot at present be determined. 'Neunginjeon' takes its name from 'Neungin', one of the epithets of Sakyamuni Buddha, meaning 'one who is capable of teaching and benefiting all sentient beings'. It is also written with characters meaning 'one who is capable of enduring', in the sense of one who not only endures all the suffering of this saha world — also called the world of endurance, because its beings must bear every kind of suffering — but also endures on behalf of the suffering beings within it. Because Sakyamuni Buddha, endowed with such power to teach and transform, is held to reside within this building, it came to be called Neunginjeon. It is a small building of three kan across the front and two kan on the side, with a two-tiered bracket (ikgong) structure, single eaves and a gable roof, with a floor area of 29.32 square metres. Behind the building stands Beopjusa Temple's Sejon Sari-tap (a Chungcheongbuk-do Tangible Cultural Heritage), and outside the wall in front of it has been relocated Beopjusa Temple's stone water basin (also a Chungcheongbuk-do Tangible Cultural Heritage). Although modest in scale, the building's foundation stones and pillars are well preserved in their original form, and together with the Palsangjeon Hall (a National Treasure), the Daeungbojeon Hall (a Treasure), the Wontongbojeon Hall (a Treasure) and the Cheonwangmun Gate (a Chungcheongbuk-do Tangible Cultural Heritage), it is one of the Joseon-period buildings surviving at Beopjusa Temple and holds high value for preservation.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Boeun, Chungbuk

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산