Beopjusa Temple Sanggoam Hermitage Rock-carved Buddhas, Boeun

Sanggoam Hermitage, below Birobong Peak of Songnisan Mountain, is said to have been founded in 720 (the nineteenth year of King Seongdeok) during the Unified Silla period, first used as a storehouse for timber kept to build Beopjusa Temple and only later converted into a hermitage, though there is no firm evidence for this account. Near the end of the Joseon period, in 1876 (the thirteenth year of Emperor Gojong), it was rebuilt by the Great Master Inmyeong, and in 1897 the monk Bobong carried out repairs. After Korea's liberation, in 1963 the monk Beophye rebuilt the main hall, and Geungnakjeon Hall, Yeongsanjeon Hall and a mountain-spirit shrine were subsequently erected, bringing the hermitage to its present form. There is no inscription or record stating when the rock-carved Buddhas were made, but numerous Joseon-period roof-tile fragments have been found around the hermitage, and the entire surface of the carvings is covered with lichen in a stone-flower pattern, suggesting they are at least a hundred years old; they are therefore presumed to have been carved around 1876, when Great Master Inmyeong rebuilt the hermitage. Six rock-carved Buddhas are arranged in two tiers, upper and lower, on a natural, west-facing rock face opposite Geungnakjeon Hall, the hermitage's main shrine. In the lower tier stand four Four Heavenly Kings side by side from the left, holding between them a sword, a jewelled pagoda, a dragon, a cudgel and a lute; to their right is carved a seated figure with both hands joined before the chest and legs folded in the full lotus position. This figure's head is shaven like a monk's, crowned above with a headdress that rises like flame. In the upper tier is the most clearly carved figure of the group, a seated figure wearing a crown and a necklace of beaded ornaments, holding in both hands long-stemmed lotus buds — features suggesting it represents the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Gwaneum). Standing at an altitude of roughly 900 metres, the Sanggoam Hermitage rock-carved Buddhas, Beopjusa Temple, Boeun, form an unusual, densely grouped arrangement of six figures in all: the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, another seated figure whose identity cannot be determined with certainty, and four rock-carved Four Heavenly Kings. They are presumed to date from only around 1876, near the end of the Joseon period when the hermitage was rebuilt, and so are not old, but they remain an extremely rare body of material.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Boeun, Chungbuk

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료