Bunhwangsa

Quick facts

Address

94-11 Bunhwang-ro, Gyeongju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do

About this place

Bunhwangsa stands in Gyeongju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and was built in 634. Jajang and Wonhyo stayed at this temple. The child of a woman named Huimyeong, of the village of Hangi-ri, went blind five months after he was born; she prayed to the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara of this temple, and his eyes opened. The stone pagoda of this temple is the oldest of the Silla stone pagodas. Under King Sukjong of Goryeo the posthumous title Daeseong Hwajaeng Guksa was conferred on Wonhyo, and under King Myeongjong the Hwajaeng Guksa stele was raised at Bunhwangsa. The Avalokiteshvara painted at Bunhwangsa by Solgeo is famous.

Origin and history

Bunhwangsa was built at Gyeongju in 634. Jajang and Wonhyo stayed at this temple.

The child of a woman named Huimyeong, of the village of Hangi-ri, went blind five months after he was born; she prayed to the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara of this temple, and his eyes opened.

The stone pagoda of this temple is the oldest of the Silla stone pagodas.

Under King Sukjong of Goryeo the posthumous title Daeseong Hwajaeng Guksa was conferred on Wonhyo, and under King Myeongjong the Hwajaeng Guksa stele was raised at Bunhwangsa. The Avalokiteshvara painted here by Solgeo is famous.

What it is locally associated with

• Power spotHealth & Healing

  A prayer before the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara

  The child of Huimyeong of Hangi-ri went blind five months after birth; she prayed to the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara of this temple, and his eyes opened.

  folk tradition

• Origin

  The oldest Silla stone pagoda

  The stone pagoda of this temple is the oldest of the Silla stone pagodas.

  documented history

• What people do here

  The Hwajaeng Guksa stele

  Under King Sukjong of Goryeo the title Daeseong Hwajaeng Guksa was conferred on Wonhyo, and under King Myeongjong his stele was raised at Bunhwangsa.

  documented history

The account of prayer at this temple comes down with names attached. The child of a woman called Huimyeong, living at Hangi-ri, went blind five months after birth; she prayed to the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara of this temple, and his eyes opened. Who she was, where she lived, how old the child was and what she prayed before are all written down together.

The pagoda carries an "only" of its own. The stone pagoda here is the oldest of the Silla stone pagodas — stone dressed to imitate brick. The one surviving Goryeo brick pagoda, at Silleuksa in Yeoju, is built of actual brick; two kinds, different in material and in age, each surviving in a single example.

The names of those who stayed here survive too. Jajang and Wonhyo stayed at this temple, and under King Sukjong of Goryeo the title Daeseong Hwajaeng Guksa was conferred on Wonhyo, with his stele raised here under King Myeongjong. Wonhyo is also the man who renamed Girimsa in Gyeongju and who founded the temple that preceded Pyochungsa in Miryang.

There was a painting as well. The Avalokiteshvara painted at Bunhwangsa by Solgeo is famous.

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. 경주 분황사(慶州 芬皇寺) — 한국민족문화대백과사전 (accessed 2026-08-16)