Main courtyard of Songgwang-sa Temple (1,000px version)
Main courtyard of Seonam-sa Temple (1,162px version)
Toilet facility of Seonam-sa Temple. Built around 1920, it’s a crapper of some architectural significance. Designated a local cultural property (1,000px version)
Here are the photos as promised. Didn’t take that many at Songgwang-sa Temple, as I didn’t have a whole lot of time there. Took quite a few more at Seonam-sa Temple, which was just as well, as I’ve always felt the latter temple was the more photogenic. I like Seonam-sa quite a bit—like its more famous neighbor across Mt. Jogyesan, it’s a large complex that’s home to a sizable community of monks. It’s much more compact than Songgwang-sa Temple, however, so it’s got this cozy and warm feeling about it. It’s kind of hard to explain—whereas Songgwang-sa Temple tends to be very imposing, there’s just something about Seonam-sa Temple that’s more personable, more human. It’s just a happy place.
5 Comments
These are great Robert! Thanks so much. I decided to finally get to the Hanmi photo museum on Saturday too.
artistic photos! good work again, Robert; thanks…
I was surprised by how well some of the photos turned out. I’d also shot a video of some of the monks chanting the Heart Sutra, or at least I thought I did. Unfortunately, I didn’t click to begin shooting
I’ll probably be playing around more with video blogging in the future.
I have a question.
Songgwangsa is one of the “Three Jewel Temples” (三寶寺). What distinguishes them is that there is another, more prominent building above and behind the 대웅전, representing one of the three jewels of Buddhism: Buddha (Tongdosa, with a stupa), dharma (teachings; Haeinsa, with the Tripitaka Koreana), sangha (community).
Songgwangsa represents the sangha…so is the building behind the 대웅전 in the first photo the building that’s supposed to embody or represent the Sangha?
At any rate, Songgwangsa will definitely be one of my first stops when it’s finally time to tour Jeolla-do. And how is the hike to Seonam-sa? How long does it take?
Beautiful photos, thanks!!
BTW
It would be bit scary at moonlit night in Seonam-sa’s Hae-woo-so.