According to David Mason over at the very informative www.San-Shin.net, Jikjisa Temple (직지사) is one of Korea’s oldest temples, having possibly been built in the year 418, long before Buddhism was formally accepted by the Silla Kindom in 527. David also includes Jikjisa in his list of The Top 20 Temples of South Korea.

Main prayer hall and twin pagodas

The most remarkable feature of the temple grounds is the two three-story stone pagodas placed in front of the main prayer hall Daeungjeon (대웅전). The information placard nearby says the pagodas were originally located at another temple and moved to Jikjisa in 1974. Also, they are typical of the Silla period except for the foundation is single-tier instead of two-tier. There is a third matching pagoda located in another part of the temple grounds.

I believe this is the Medicine Buddha

I really enjoyed checking out the statues and paintings inside the prayer halls. The most impressive being those inside Daeungjeon. The altar was built in 1651 and has dragons, fish, frogs, and lotus blossoms carved in it. On the altar are three Buddha statues and behind them three large Buddha Triad paintings that were painted by 16 monks in the year 1744. I was unable to photograph the interior as I did not want to disrupt those worshiping inside.

Dokseong, the lonely saint

Inside the Sanshingak, or prayer hall of the mountain spirit, was an interesting looking statue of Dokseong, the lonely saint. More often than not, I only see a statue of the Sanshin, so this was noteworthy for me.

Beautiful Korean Buddhist Iconography

One of the prayer halls is called Cheonbuljeon, or Thousand Buddhas Hall. Inside it is an altar with a thousand small statues of Buddha. One of the statues on the altar is a naked baby, and David Mason tells us that there is a belief that if you see the naked baby first, you will have a son. Again, I was unable to take a photo despite really wanting to.

Who could these people be?

One thing I had never seen in a temple hall before was a set of four photos enshrined on a small altar. The two photos on the bottom appear to be of modern time royalty or people of high position based on the clothes they are wearing. The top two photos just look old because they are black-and-white, and because the people are wearing old traditional clothes. At any rate, I still don’t know who the people are or what purpose the altar serves.

Sitting at my desk and looking back, I’ll say that Jikjisa Temple isn’t going to blow you away with its architecture or setting, but it will offer you a chance to see some important Buddhist artifacts. So if you are interested in Korean Buddhism and you aren’t living too far from it, I can suggest that you visit Jikjisa.

Resources
Jikjisa Temple (Korea Tourism Organization)
Jikjisa Temple (San-Shin.net)

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