Photos from Songgwang-sa and Seonam-sa

Main courtyard, Songgwang-sa Temple
Main courtyard of Songgwang-sa Temple (1,000px version)

Courtyard, Seonam-sa Temple
Main courtyard of Seonam-sa Temple (1,162px version)

Daebyeon-so, Seonam-sa Temple
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.

Wontong-jeon Hall, Seonam-sa Temple

Bell and door, Cheomseonggak Hall, Seonam-sa Temple

Interior of Main Hall, Seonam-sa Temple

Flowers and stone wall

Samcheonggyo Bridge and Uhwagak Hall, Songgwang-sa Temple Four Deva Hall, Songgwang-sa Temple Terraces, Songgwang-sa Temple Entry to monk's quarters, Songgwang-sa Temple Wooden jangseung, Seonam-sa Temple

Seungsan-gyo Bridge, Seonam-sa Temple Seungsan-gyo Bridge, Seonam-sa Temple Iljumun, Seonam-sa Temple Stone wall, Seonam-sa Temple Koi pond, Seonam-sa Temple

Ivy along stone wall, Seonam-sa Temple Water basin, Seonam-sa Temple Flowers and stone and mud wall, Seonam-sa Temple Daebyeon-so, Seonam-sa Temple Stone bridge, Seonam-sa Temple

This entry was written by Robert Koehler, posted on September 29, 2006 at 11:13 am, filed under Korean Culture, Photos of Korea. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

5 Comments

  1. R. Elgin your flag
    Posted September 29, 2006 at 2:13 pm | Permalink

    These are great Robert! Thanks so much. I decided to finally get to the Hanmi photo museum on Saturday too.

  2. sanshinseon your flag
    Posted September 29, 2006 at 4:52 pm | Permalink

    artistic photos! good work again, Robert; thanks…

  3. Robert Koehler your flag
    Posted September 29, 2006 at 5:41 pm | Permalink

    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.

  4. sewing your flag
    Posted September 30, 2006 at 2:19 am | Permalink

    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?

  5. JiMong your flag
    Posted September 30, 2006 at 2:42 am | Permalink

    Beautiful photos, thanks!!

    BTW
    It would be bit scary at moonlit night in Seonam-sa’s Hae-woo-so.

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