Dogapsa, Wolchulsan

Quick facts

Address

306 Dogapsa-ro, Gunseo-myeon, Yeongam-gun, Jeollanam-do

About this place

Dogapsa stands on Wolchulsan in Gunseo-myeon, Yeongam-gun, Jeollanam-do. Doseon, the great master of geomancy at the end of the Unified Silla period, founded it, though it is said that a temple called Munsusa stood here before. In 1456, in early Joseon, the eminent monk Sinmi and Sumi, who had left home for the monastic life at Dogapsa, rebuilt it, and it became a great temple running to nine hundred and sixty-six kan. The surviving Haetalmun was rebuilt in 1473. The stele of the national master Doseon and the Seon master Sumi is unusual in setting the deeds of two men on a single stone; work on it began in 1636 and was completed in 1653.

Origin and history

Doseon, the great master of geomancy at the end of the Unified Silla period, founded the temple, though it is said that a temple called Munsusa stood here before.

In 1456, in early Joseon, the eminent monk Sinmi and Sumi, who had left home for the monastic life at Dogapsa, rebuilt it, and it became a great temple running to nine hundred and sixty-six kan. The surviving Haetalmun was rebuilt in 1473.

The stele of the national master Doseon and the Seon master Sumi is unusual in setting the deeds of two men on a single stone. Work on it began in 1636 and was completed in 1653.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  A rebuilding of nine hundred and sixty-six kan

  In 1456 the eminent monk Sinmi and Sumi, who had left home for the monastic life at Dogapsa, rebuilt it into a great temple running to nine hundred and sixty-six kan.

  documented history

• Origin

  Two men on one stele

  The stele of the national master Doseon and the Seon master Sumi is unusual in setting the deeds of two men on a single stone; it was begun in 1636 and completed in 1653.

  documented history

• What people do here

  Munsusa, which stood here first

  Doseon founded the temple, though it is said that a temple called Munsusa stood on the ground before.

  folk tradition

One of the men who rebuilt this temple had left home for the monastic life inside it. In 1456 Sinmi and Sumi, who had ordained at Dogapsa, rebuilt the place at a scale of nine hundred and sixty-six kan. That is the largest bay-count recorded anywhere on this site: Hoeamsa in Yangju stood at two hundred and sixty-six, Jikjisa in Gimcheon at three hundred and fifty-two in its main rooms alone, Silleuksa in Yeoju at more than two hundred, Bongseonsa in Namyangju at eighty-nine.

One stone carries two men. The stele of the national master Doseon and the Seon master Sumi puts the deeds of both on a single monument, and the record itself calls the arrangement unusual. Nearly seven centuries separate the founder from the rebuilder. The stele was begun in 1636 and finished in 1653.

Doseon, the founder, is also the man handed down as building Bogwangsa in Paju by royal command. And Muwisa in Gangjin stands on the same Wolchulsan. Both are on this site.

There was a temple here before this one. It is said that a temple called Munsusa stood on the ground first.

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. 월출산 도갑사(月出山 道岬寺) — 한국민족문화대백과사전 (accessed 2026-08-16)