Ryeongtongsa is a

Korean Buddhist temple Buddhist temples are an important part of the Korean landscape. This article gives a brief overview of Korean Buddhism, then describes some of the more important temples in Korea. Most Korean temples have names ending in ''-sa'' (사, 寺), whic ...

located on Ogwansan in

Kaesong Kaesong (, ) is a special city in the southern part of North Korea (formerly in North Hwanghae Province), and the capital of Korea during the Taebong kingdom and subsequent Goryeo dynasty. The city is near the Kaesong Industrial Region close t ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

History

Founded by the

Cheontae Cheontae is the Korean descendant of the Chinese Buddhist school Tiantai. Tiantai was introduced to Korea a couple of times during earlier periods, but was not firmly established until the time of Uicheon (1055-1101) who established Cheontae in ...

sect of Buddhism in 1027, the temple is believed to be one of the first of the sect's temples in Korea. Destroyed by a fire in the 16th century, and further damaged by American bombing during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, little remained of the original temple when reconstruction began in 2000 as a joint Korean cultural project. After five years of work, the restoration was completed on October 31, 2005.
/ref> The temple contains the ashes of

Uicheon Uicheon (28 September 1055 – 5 October 1101) was a Goryeo Royal Prince as the fourth son of King Munjong and Queen Inye from the Incheon Yi clan.https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0043423 He was the younger brother of Sunjong, Seonj ...

, the sect's founder. A son of Emperor Munjong of Goryeo, he spent most of his life in Kaesong before retiring to the temple as an ascetic, where he lived until his death. The temple was thus closely connected with the royal family of

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...

and was where they would attend services.

Architecture

The main temple is divided into two sections: a west court and an east court. The main entrance to the temple is through the South Gate, in front of which are located the temple's original stone banner pillars. Through the gate is an unwalled plaza containing a monument to Uicheon. Erected in 1125, the much-worn stele rests on the back of a lion-turtle, and commemorates episodes from the life of the great monk. It is listed as National Treasure #155. From here, both the Middle and East Gates are accessible. The Middle Gate, directly across from the South Gate, leads to the temple's large West Court, which is dominated by Bogwang Hall (, "Hall of Universal Light"), the temple's main shrine. To the right, the East Gate leads to the smaller courtyard fronting Bojo Hall (, "Hall of Universal Clarity"), devoted to veneration of the

Bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools ...

s. In front of Bogwang Hall there are three pagodas, two three-storied, and one five-storied. The smaller three-storied pagoda measures 4.1 meters, while the larger measures 4.4. The five storied pagoda is 5.5 meters. The pagodas are plainly carved in sandstone, with upturned eaves surmounting square segments decorated only with raised vertical lines on the corners. All three date to the Koryo dynasty. The pagodas are registered as National Treasure #133. Directly behind Pogwang Hall is Junggak Hall (), a meditation room and lecture hall decorated with paintings of important Buddhist monks. Behind this there are two gates to the back courtyard of the temple, where Sungbok Hall () is located. This building once held the living quarters for the temple's monks. Behind the main temple and up the mountain is Gyeongseon Hall (), containing a shrine to Uicheon; The stone

stupa A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation. In Buddhism, circumamb ...

in front of the hall contains his ashes. The roofs of the main buildings are decorated with ceramic ornaments in the shapes of fish (known as

wenshou Wenshou or zoomorphic ornaments are statues of dragons and other animals, that are found on the roofs of Chinese temples, palaces, and homes. Examples of Wenshou as Imperial roof decoration are found within the Imperial Palace Museum of the Forbidd ...

in Chinese). These are believed to keep the buildings safe from evil and fire. Altogether, the reconstructed temple consists of over 26 buildings in an area of over 4,000 square meters.

History

Architecture

References

See also