Beomeosa

The "one-pillar gate" ( Iljumun ) from 1614

Gate of the Four Kings of Heaven ( Cheonwangmun ) from 1699

Main Hall ( Daeungjeon )

In the hall dedicated to Ksitigarbha

Stone lamp from the Silla dynasty

The Beomeo Temple ( Kor.  범어사 , Hanja  梵 魚 寺 , Beomeosa, for example. "Brahma Fish Temple") is a Buddhist temple of the Jogye order ( Jogye- order ) practicing Seon Buddhism (Chinese Chan , Japanese Zen ) jong , 曹溪 宗 ). It is located on the slope of the Geumjeong Mountain in what is now the suburb of the South Korean city ​​of Busan .

The temple was built in 678, d. H. in the 18th year of the reign of King Munmu (Munmu Wang, 文武 王 ) of the Silla dynasty, by the monk Ui-sang ( Kor.  의상 , Hanja  義 湘 ) as one of the ten temples of the Avatamsaka school ("flower jewelry school “, Chinese Huayan zong ). According to the "Revised Geography of the Eastern Land" ( 新增 東 國 輿 地 勝 覽 , Sinjeung dongguk yeoji seungnam ), a golden fish is said to have come from the sky to a spring on this mountain. This received the name "Goldquellen-Berg" ( 金井 山 , Geumjeongsan ) and the temple built here the name "Brahma Fish Temple". In the surrounding area, eleven hermitages ( amja ) belonging to the temple were gradually built .

In its heyday during the Goryeo dynasty , over 1,000 monks lived here. During the invasion of Korea by the Japanese general Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the years 1592–1597, the complex was almost completely cremated. After 1602 the monks Myojeon and Haemin began to rebuild some of the halls and the residential building. Today's main hall as well as the Jogye Gate ( Jogyemun ), which is seated on stone pillars, date from this time. The number of halls never regained its former size. They serve to worship the most important Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of Mahayana Buddhism : Sakyamuni (Kor. Seokkamoni), Vairocana (Kor. Birojana), Maitreya (Kor. Mireuk), Avalokitesvara (Kor. Gwanseum) and Ksitigarbha (Kor. Jijang). A three-story stone pagoda, which was built between 826 and 836, and an (inconspicuous) stone lamp have survived from the early days.

A movement to restore ascetic traditions began in this temple in the 1950s. In 2012 it was declared one of the eight training centers of the Jogye Order.

In 2003 the temple opened a small museum that also looks after the approx. 30,000 relics, including around 70 paintings and 1,000 valuable books. Around 100 objects have been declared as cultural assets. The wild in the area in large numbers growing Wisterien ( wisteria ) create the heyday in the late spring an impressive landscape, which is why the locals of the "Blue Cloud Valley" ( 藤雲谷 , Deungungok speak).

literature

• Lena Kim: Buddhist Sculpture of Korea. Hollym International Corporation, Elizabeth, NJ et al. 2007.
• James B. Lewis: Frontier Contact Between Choson Korea and Tokugawa Japan. Routledge Shorton, London / New York 2003.
• Chris Verebes: Empty house - Zen masters and temples of Korea. Eastward Publications, Seoul 2002.

See also

• Buddhism in Korea

Commons : Beomeosa  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Web links

• English website of the Beomeo Temple
• English website for the Temple of Kerk Phillips with a map and a virtual tour

References and comments

1. ↑ These are usually gatehouses with a rectangular floor plan and a row of columns on each of the long sides.
2. ↑ The Jogye order goes back to the monk Doui who, around 820, brought the Chan Buddhism (Korean Seon , Japanese Zen ) propagated by the 6th Patriarch Huineng to Korea. The name Jogye comes from the Chinese village of Cáoxī (Chinese: 曹溪), the home temple of Huineng.
3. ↑ By eastern country is meant Korea.