Seong Ju Temple

Saturday was Buddha's birthday in Korea. This day is a national holiday and each year millions flock to Buddhist temples all over Korea to celebrate the event and pay homage, pray, etc. About 15 minutes out of Changwon is the Seong-Ju temple. This particular temple has a long and detailed history but it is believed that a high ranking priest named Moo-Yom first built the temple during the Silla dynasty over 1000 years ago. In 1592 it was burnt down but in 1682 they began reconstruction.

A group of us hiked deep into the mountains on Saturday to go experience the event. It was pretty awesome being part of something so old that has endured centuries of war. The location itself, hidden away in the mountains, gives a very peaceful and serene vibe- hard to explain. I wanted to take pictures of inside the temples but didn't feel comfortable doing so while people were praying.





Picture of one of the central pagodas on temple grounds.


There was a pretty big line of people waiting to pay homage to a shrine. They were all chanting, it was amazing.


Some of the many decorations they had up for the event.


Another shot of the procession right before it began.


Sign above one of the main temples.


The photos do not do any justice to the intricacies of the designs.


Another shot of the procession before it began.


Many small Buddha's that people have brought to the temple over the years.


Lanterns for the event. They had a tent set up where you could pay to have your name written and then you would attach it to one of the lanterns.


Another shot of one of the main pagodas. Again, I didn't want to be that typical America tourist and go take pictures inside uninvited so I settled for these instead.


One of the statues outside of temple grounds.


Some of the artwork that was on display.


They had many of these types of statues.


Huge elephant located on the trail up the mountain.


Small building that housed the Seoung-ju bell. More info on that below.


Sign outside of the bell tower.


Many of these ancient stones had carvings in them. I'm guessing these stones have seen a lot over the years.


If you look closely you can see more small Buddha figures. This particular little shrine was really impressive.


A small pond right outside of the temple grounds.


Same pond.


At the top of the trail they had these drinking places. It's essentially a run off of mountain spring water that is safe to drink. It was very good after the hike up the mountain.


The stacks of rocks you see represent wishes, I was told. My friend from Liverpool accidently knocked a small stack over, he will be feeling the wrath of Buddha soon I'm guessing.


Another shot of the rock stacks.


Another huge animal on the trail up.

Picture from of the mountains from the temple grounds. It's completely isolated from anything else around and mountains surround it on all four sides.


Shot of the stairs up to the main area.


Got a pretty good laugh out of this. "Yo, I gots to bounce". Funny thing was is that she was in her 50s, at least.

The mountains we hiked up into for the temple.

It was a really great experience seeing a temple for the first time. A large part of Korea is still Buddhist so their are still temples everywhere. I hope to see more again soon.