Bongseonsa, Unaksan

Quick facts

Address

32 Bongseonsa-gil, Jinjeop-eup, Namyangju-si, Gyeonggi-do

About this place

Bongseonsa stands on Unaksan in Jinjeop-eup, Namyangju, Gyeonggi-do, and is the head temple of the twenty-fifth district of the Jogye Order. The national master Tanmun founded it in 969 under the name Unaksa. It was abolished under King Sejong of Joseon; then in 1469 Queen Jeonghui of the Yun clan, consort of King Sejo, rebuilt it at a scale of eighty-nine kan in memory of Sejo and to protect his tomb, and named it Bongseonsa. The name carries the sense of revering the former king. The tomb it guards, Gwangneung, holds King Sejo, the seventh ruler of Joseon, and Queen Jeonghui in a paired arrangement on one ground. The bronze bell of Bongseonsa is designated a Treasure.

Origin and history

The national master Tanmun founded Bongseonsa in 969 under the name Unaksa.

It was abolished under King Sejong; then in 1469 Queen Jeonghui of the Yun clan, consort of King Sejo, rebuilt it at a scale of eighty-nine kan in memory of Sejo and to protect his tomb, and named it Bongseonsa. The name carries the sense of revering the former king.

The tomb it guards, Gwangneung, holds King Sejo and Queen Jeonghui in a paired arrangement on one ground.

The bronze bell of Bongseonsa is designated a Treasure.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  A rebuilding of eighty-nine kan

  In 1469 Queen Jeonghui rebuilt the temple at eighty-nine kan in memory of Sejo and to protect his tomb, and named it Bongseonsa.

  documented history

• Origin

  A name meaning to revere the former king

  The name Bongseonsa carries the sense of revering the former king.

  documented history

• What people do here

  From Unaksa to Bongseonsa

  Tanmun founded it as Unaksa in 969; it was abolished under Sejong and became Bongseonsa in the rebuilding of 1469.

  documented history

The reason this temple stands again is a grave. The record says Queen Jeonghui rebuilt it in 1469 in memory of Sejo and to protect his tomb, and it keeps the scale as well: eighty-nine kan. The name took the purpose in directly — to revere the former king.

This kind of record recurs across Gyeonggi. Silleuksa in Yeoju became the memorial temple of Sejong’s tomb and was rebuilt at more than two hundred kan; Hoeamsa in Yangju stood at two hundred and sixty-six; Heungcheonsa in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, was raised at more than a hundred and seventy east of a queen’s tomb. When the throne builds, the number of bays is written down with it.

The temple was not always Bongseonsa. It was Unaksa when Tanmun founded it in 969, and it was abolished once under Sejong. The present name and scale come after that.

Gwangneung holds Sejo and Queen Jeonghui together. The woman who rebuilt the temple went into the same ground.

Related guides

• How to visit a Korean templeHands together and hands folded, how the bows work, and what to do at the threshold of a hall. Starting with what is different from visiting a Japanese shrine.
• The small hall behind the main one — sansingak and samseonggakUphill from the main hall of a Korean temple stands a smaller one, and inside it an old man with a tiger. This is where the indigenous religion sits, inside the Buddhist institution.
• Templestay — a night at a templeA programme that puts you inside a temple’s own timetable for a day or two. What you do, which type to book, and what to be ready for.
• Prayer sites and the one wishThe three great Gwaneum sites, the five relic halls, and the crowds before the entrance exam. Where the saying about one wish comes from, and where the record stops.

Sources

1. 운악산 봉선사(雲岳山 奉先寺) — 한국민족문화대백과사전 (accessed 2026-08-16)