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Shilleuksa (also written as Silleuksa and Shilleuk-sa) is a
Korean Buddhist Korean Buddhism is distinguished from other forms of Buddhism by its attempt to resolve what its early practitioners saw as inconsistencies within the Mahayana Buddhist traditions that they received from foreign countries. To address this, the ...
temple situated against a low hill on the north side of the river Namhan, three kilometers east of
Yeoju Yeoju () is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Yeoju was a county but was raised to the status of a city in September 2013. Together with the neighboring city of Icheon, it is known as a major center of contemporary South Korean ceramics, ...
in
Gyeonggi Province Gyeonggi-do (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Its name, ''Gyeonggi'', means "京 (the capital) and 畿 (the surrounding area)". Thus, ''Gyeonggi-do'' can be translated as "Seoul and the surrounding areas of Seoul". Seoul, the na ...
, approximately one-hour southeast of
Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
. The only riverside temple in
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
, Shilleuksa is a sacred pilgrimage site and a repository of seven Treasures. A 500-year-old aromatic juniper tree and a 600-year-old ginkgo tree stand on the temple grounds. Founded in circa 580 by
Silla Dynasty Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of Ko ...
monk
Wonhyo Won Hyo (617 – April 28, 686) was one of the leading thinkers, writers and commentators of the Korean Buddhist tradition. Essence-Function (), a key concept in East Asian Buddhism and particularly Korean Buddhism, was refined in the syncretic p ...
, Shilleuksa was enlarged, burned, and rededicated several times. Shilleuksa was made a prayer sanctuary to the royal mausoleum of
King Sejong the Great Sejong of Joseon (15 May 1397 – 8 April 1450), personal name Yi Do ( Korean: 이도; Hanja: 李祹), widely known as Sejong the Great ( Korean: 세종대왕; Hanja: 世宗大王), was the fourth ruler of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. Initi ...
in 1469 (himself moved from Seoul that year), during the reign of King Seongjong. Often referred to as the "wall temple" because of an impressive brick
pagoda A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...
towering high above, Shilleuksa is small by standard measure.


Treasures

A six-tier brick pagoda overlooks the river, one of a handful of brick pagodas in the country (T. #226). Nearby is a Silla Dynasty memorial stone stela (T. #230) whose inscription concerns a library that once stood on the premises of the preservation of wood printing blocks of the sutras. In the center courtyard is a seven-tier marble pagoda (T. #225) from the early
Joseon Dynasty Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...
. Relief carvings of dragons, lotus, and wave patterns around its base are all done delicately, with consummate skill. To the side of the main hall is Josadong, a small, rather undistinguished building (T. #180). This hall enshrines the portraits of important monks of the Goryeo Dynasty. To the rear of the building and up a hill is an octagonal gray marble lantern (T. #231) indicative of the Goryeo period, a bell shaped sari budo of monk Naong (T. #228), and a stone stela (T. #229)


Three portraits in Josadong

Josadong is the oldest building at Shilleuk-sa. Built to pay tribute to Buddhist priests Naong (c. 1320-1376), Muhak (c. 1327-1405), and Jigong (d. 1363), it enshrines their portraits. Ordained at the age of 20, master Naong spent ten years in China. He became a celebrated Zen master whose teaching methods integrated chanting, for him a state of mind in which obtrusive thinking became absent. He purportedly planted the temple's 600 year-old ginkgo tree. Master Muhak was an advisor to
Yi Seong-gye Taejo of Joseon (4 November 1335 – 27 June 1408), born Yi Seong-gye (), was the founder and first ruler of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. After ascending to the throne, he changed his name to Yi Dan (), and reigned from 1392 to 1398. He was ...
who became King Taejo, the founder of the Joseon Dynasty. It is thought that Muhak's reputation as a
geomancer Geomancy (Greek: γεωμαντεία, "earth divination") is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rocks, or sand. The most prevalent form of divinatory geomancy inv ...
influenced Yi's decision to move the capital from
Gaeseong 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 to ...
to
Hanyang Hanyang may refer to: China *Hanyang District (漢陽區, 汉阳区, ''Hànyáng Qū''), Wuhan, Hubei :*Hanyang Arsenal (漢陽兵工廠), founded in 1891 as one of the oldest modern arsenals in Chinese history :*Hanyang 88 (漢陽八八式步槍), ...
(present-day Seoul). Arriving in Korea circa 1328, master Jigong was an Indian monk whose Sanskrit name was
Dhyānabhadra Dhyānabhadra (also known as Sunyadisya, Chi-Gong and Zhikong Chanxian) (1289–1363 C.E.) was an Indian Buddhist monk and translator. He taught first in China but later came to teach in Korea towards the end of the Goryeo dynasty. He was affil ...
. Following his death in China, his remains were returned to the temple.


Photo gallery

Image:stele_naong.JPG, Gray lantern, stone stela, and bell-shaped sari budo of Naong Image:stone_pagoda_shilleuksa.jpg, Multi-story marble stone pagoda Image:brick_pagoda_shilleuksa.JPG, Seven-tier brick pagoda, one of a handful of brick pagodas in the country Image:Ginko_tree_shilleuksa.JPG, Six-hundred-year-old ginkgo tree


See also

*
Korean Buddhist temples 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), which ...
*
Korean Buddhism Korean Buddhism is distinguished from other forms of Buddhism by its attempt to resolve what its early practitioners saw as inconsistencies within the Mahayana Buddhist traditions that they received from foreign countries. To address this, the ...


Notes

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External links


Online Silleuksa articleSilleuksa.orgCounty government Website on Silleuksa
Buddhist temples in South Korea Korean culture Yeoju