Bongwonsa, Ansan

Temple · Seoul

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In short

The temple where the leaders of the 1884 coup learned the reformist thought behind it.

The precinct of Bongwonsa in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. — Immanuelle / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

Quick facts

Address: 120 Bongwonsa-gil, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul

About this place

Bongwonsa stands in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, and is the head temple of the Taego Order of Korean Buddhism. The national master Doseon founded it in 889, in the Silla period, and it has eleven buildings including the main hall, the Myeongbujeon and the Chilseonggak. In 1884 Kim Ok-gyun, Seo Gwang-beom and Bak Yeong-hyo, the leading figures of the Gapsin coup, under the guidance of Yi Dong-in, awakened the young men of the reform party here and brought them to raise the coup. Yi Dong-in and Tak Jeong-sik, who took part as leading figures of the reform party, had both been monks. The Yeongsanjae is performed at this temple: a Buddhist rite that re-enacts the Buddha expounding the Lotus Sutra on Vulture Peak in India.

Origin and history

Bongwonsa was founded in 889, in the Silla period, by the national master Doseon. It has eleven buildings including the main hall, the Myeongbujeon and the Chilseonggak.

In 1884 Kim Ok-gyun, Seo Gwang-beom and Bak Yeong-hyo, the leading figures of the Gapsin coup, under the guidance of Yi Dong-in, awakened the young men of the reform party here and brought them to raise the coup. Yi Dong-in and Tak Jeong-sik, who took part as leading figures of the reform party, had both been monks.

The Yeongsanjae is performed at this temple. It is a Buddhist rite that re-enacts the Buddha expounding the Lotus Sutra on Vulture Peak in India.

Bongwonsa is the head temple of the Taego Order of Korean Buddhism.

What it is locally associated with

Origin
1884, under Yi Dong-in’s guidance
The record states that the leading figures of the Gapsin coup awakened the young men of the reform party here under Yi Dong-in’s guidance and brought them to raise the coup.
documented history
Origin
Reform-party figures from the saṅgha
Yi Dong-in and Tak Jeong-sik, leading figures of the reform party, had both been monks.
documented history
What people do here
Where the Yeongsanjae is performed
The Yeongsanjae, which re-enacts the Buddha expounding the Lotus Sutra on Vulture Peak, is performed at this temple.
documented history

This temple’s record contains a paragraph of politics. In 1884, it says, Kim Ok-gyun, Seo Gwang-beom and Bak Yeong-hyo, under the guidance of Yi Dong-in, awakened the young men of the reform party and brought them to raise a coup. The temple was not merely near where this happened: the man who taught them was a monk of this order. Yi Dong-in and Tak Jeong-sik, both leading figures of the reform party, had come from the saṅgha.

The state keeps arriving at Seoul’s temples. Heungcheonsa in Seongbuk-gu was raised by King Taejo for his dead queen; Jingwansa in Eunpyeong-gu was built by Hyeonjong, endowed by Taejo, and is where a national flag came out of a wall; the Nami Janggun shrine in Yongsan enshrines a general the state executed. At this temple, people who meant to change the state did their learning.

What the temple carries on now is a rite. The Yeongsanjae re-enacts the Buddha expounding the Lotus Sutra on Vulture Peak, and is performed here.

The founding is 889, by the national master Doseon.

Claims and evidence levels 2

In 1884 the leading figures of the Gapsin coup were brought to reformist thought here under the guidance of Yi Dong-in. documented history
Yi Dong-in and Tak Jeong-sik, leading figures of the reform party, had both been monks. documented history

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