Mangwolsacheon Stream Bongseonsa Temple Stupa Stele

This is a stupa stele recording the life of Master Cheonbong (天峰禪師), personal name Taeheul (泰屹, 1710–1793), a monk of the late Joseon period. It stands to the southwest within the grounds of Mangwolsa Temple in Howon-dong, Uijeongbu, with a stupa enshrining his relics (sari) erected beside it. Taeheul's lay surname was Kim, his courtesy name was Mudeung (無等), his sobriquet was Cheonbong (天峯), and his ancestral seat was Seoheung (瑞興). At sixteen he left lay life under the monk Myeongtak of Yudeoksa Temple, and received the full monastic precepts (gujokgye) under the monk Dowon as his preceptor. In 1729, the 5th year of King Yeongjo, he studied under the monk Eunwol Ujeom, after which he travelled the country widely in search of enlightened teachers. In his later years he entered Hoguksa Temple in Baekcheon to practise seated meditation, where he received the dharma transmission from the monk Punggye Haesuk, making him the fifth-generation dharma heir of Master Seosan. After his death, two relics from the crown of his skull and sixty-four further relics were recovered and enshrined in stupas built respectively at Hoguksa Temple in Baekcheon, Woljeongsa Temple in Munhwa, and Mangwolsa Temple in Yangju. This stele was erected in 1797, the 21st year of King Jeongjo, four years after Taeheul's death; the inscription was composed and written by Su-gwan-geosa Yi Chung-ik. The reverse of the inscription preserves Yi Chung-ik's own words: "When I first met the monk he was eighty years old; his body was dignified, his ears and mouth large, and his eyes like the morning star, shining wherever he looked. When he spoke he was unaffected and earnest, and he was complete in both blessing and wisdom."

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료