Haedong Yonggungsa

Quick facts

Address

86 Yonggung-gil, Gijang-eup, Gijang-gun, Busan

About this place

Haedong Yonggungsa stands on the shore at Gijang-eup, Gijang-gun, Busan. The introduction published by the city of Busan sets it down as one of Korea’s three great Avalokitesvara sites, and describes it as a temple carrying a deep religious meaning in the way the sea, the dragon and the great Avalokitesvara image are brought into harmony. It also hands down that this is a place of efficacy where anyone who prays sincerely receives a dream-revelation and has one wish granted. Of the founding, it is said that the great master Naong, preceptor to King Gongmin, founded it in 1376.

Origin and history

Of the founding, it is said that the great master Naong, preceptor to King Gongmin, founded it in 1376. This page records only that this is what is said.

The introduction published by the city of Busan sets the temple down as one of Korea’s three great Avalokitesvara sites.

It describes the temple as carrying a deep religious meaning in the way the sea, the dragon and the great Avalokitesvara image are brought into harmony.

It hands down that this is a place of efficacy where anyone who prays sincerely receives a dream-revelation and has one wish granted.

What it is locally associated with

• Power spot

  One of Korea’s three great Avalokitesvara sites

  The introduction published by the city of Busan sets this temple down as one of Korea’s three great Avalokitesvara sites.

  documented history

• Power spotWish Fulfillment

  A single wish

  It is handed down that anyone who prays sincerely receives a dream-revelation and has one wish granted.

  folk tradition

• Origin

  What is said of the founding

  It is said that the great master Naong, preceptor to King Gongmin, founded the temple in 1376.

  folk tradition

What can be said firmly about this temple is where it stands and what it is now. The city of Busan’s introduction records it as one of Korea’s three great Avalokitesvara sites and describes the sea, the dragon and the great Avalokitesvara image brought into harmony. That it sits directly on the water is what sets it apart from the others.

Of the founding, 1376 and the master Naong are what is said. This page does not set that year down as fact; it records only that this is what is said of it.

Founding dates sit in that position often on this site. Gwallyongsa in Changnyeong records that its temple history’s 349 has no certain basis, Naesosa in Buan records that its founding is simply unknown, and Bulgapsa in Yeonggwang has its 384 founding by Malananta refused by the record.

What is asked for here is fixed at one thing, which is unusual. Anyone who prays sincerely, it is handed down, receives a dream-revelation and has a single wish granted — one, not many.

A temple of a similar name stands elsewhere on this site. Yonggungsa on Yeongjongdo in Incheon is the temple the Heungseon Daewongun renamed in 1864 after praying there for ten years. That one is on the Yellow Sea; this one on the East Sea.

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. 한가지소원 이루는 곳, 해동용궁사를 찾아서 — 부산광역시 (accessed 2026-08-17)