Chiljangsa, Chilhyeonsan

Quick facts

Address

399-18 Chiljangsa-gil, Juksan-myeon, Anseong-si, Gyeonggi-do

About this place

Chiljangsa stands on Chilhyeonsan in Juksan-myeon, Anseong-si, Gyeonggi-do. It is handed down that Jajang founded it in 636. It was rebuilt by royal command in 1014, under Goryeo, and thoroughly repaired in 1308. While the national master Hyeso was staying at Baengnyeonam here, it is said, he brought seven robbers to the teaching so that they became seven sages, and for this the mountain was named Chilhyeonsan, the mountain of the seven sages, and the temple Chiljangsa. It is also handed down that Bak Mun-su, an official of late Joseon, offered prayers in the temple’s Arhat Hall on his way to sit the state examination. The stele of the national master Hyeso stands at the temple.

Origin and history

It is handed down that Jajang founded Chiljangsa in 636. It was rebuilt by royal command in 1014, under Goryeo, and thoroughly repaired in 1308.

While the national master Hyeso was staying at Baengnyeonam here, it is said, he brought seven robbers to the teaching so that they became seven sages. For this the mountain was named Chilhyeonsan, the mountain of the seven sages, and the temple Chiljangsa.

It is also handed down that Bak Mun-su, an official of late Joseon, offered prayers in the temple’s Arhat Hall on his way to sit the state examination.

The stele of the national master Hyeso stands at the temple.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  Seven robbers into seven sages

  The master Hyeso is said to have brought seven robbers to the teaching at Baengnyeonam, and for this the mountain was named Chilhyeonsan and the temple Chiljangsa.

  folk tradition

• Power spot

  The Arhat Hall on the way to the examination

  Bak Mun-su is said to have offered prayers in the temple’s Arhat Hall on his way to sit the state examination.

  folk tradition

• What people do here

  The stele of Hyeso

  The stele of the national master from whom the temple’s name came stands at the temple.

  documented history

This temple’s name comes from the point at which people changed. While the national master Hyeso was staying at Baengnyeonam, it is said, he brought seven robbers to the teaching so that they became seven sages, and so the mountain became Chilhyeonsan and the temple Chiljangsa. What the name points at is not what they were but what they became.

The practice of coming here before an examination has a name attached to it. Bak Mun-su, an official of late Joseon, is said to have prayed in the Arhat Hall on his way to sit the state examination. It is one of the cases where a particular person, a particular hall and a particular thing being faced are all handed down together.

The temple’s record also runs through the Goryeo court. It was rebuilt by royal command in 1014 and thoroughly repaired in 1308. The stele of Hyeso, from whom the name came, still stands there.

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. 칠장사(七長寺) — 한국민족문화대백과사전 (accessed 2026-08-16)