Unsuam Hermitage

Unsuam is a hermitage within Muyangsanseong, a mountain fortress on Baegunsan Mountain in Anseong believed to have first been built during the Three Kingdoms period. Unlike an ordinary temple, where several Buddha halls (buildings for enshrining and worshipping Buddhas and bodhisattvas) and dormitories (where monks live and practise) stand as separate buildings, a hermitage combines a Buddha hall and a dormitory in a single building where a small number of practitioners live and train. According to tradition, in 1750 a widow named Jang Banyamyeong (Jang being her surname, Banyamyeong her Buddhist name) resolved to devote the rest of her life to serving the Buddha and began preparing a site beneath Muhanseong; an old monk then appeared to her in a dream and told her to build inside the fortress instead, and so Unsuam was founded there. In the late nineteenth century Heungseon Daewongun sponsored a major renovation of the hermitage, and in the 1980s Daeungbojeon Hall was newly built, giving the hermitage its present appearance. Today the dormitory to the right of Daeungbojeon Hall is the old building, while the rest were newly built in modern times. Among the cultural heritage that attests to the hermitage's history are the Stone Seated Vairocana Buddha of Unsuam Hermitage, Anseong, and the Unsuam name plaque. The seated Vairocana Buddha is thought to date from the early Goryeo period, and the name plaque was written and presented by Heungseon Daewongun himself when he sponsored the major renovation.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Anseong, Gyeonggi

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료