Haeinsa

Temple · Korea

Gayasan Haeinsa

Protection & Safety

Researched and translated with AI assistance. Every claim is linked to its source, but errors get through, so check the official site for opening times, fees and closures.About

In short

The temple holding the Tripitaka Koreana, cut out of a national wish to repel the Mongols, and the hall that has kept it.

The Janggyeong Panjeon at Haeinsa, the long depository whose latticed walls have kept the woodblocks for centuries. — Amlou2518 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Quick facts

Address: 122 Haeinsa-gil, Gaya-myeon, Hapcheon-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do

About this place

Haeinsa stands on Gayasan in Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang. It holds 81,258 woodblocks of the Tripitaka, re-carved under King Gojong of Goryeo after the first set burned in the Mongol invasion of 1232. The blocks are a National Treasure; the depository that holds them is inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage, and the blocks themselves on the Memory of the World register.

Origin and history

The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture records the Haeinsa Tripitaka as Goryeo-period woodblocks held at Haeinsa in Gaya-myeon, Hapcheon. They were re-carved under King Gojong (1237–1248) after the first Tripitaka burned in the Mongol invasion of 1232.

There are 81,258 blocks, cut between 1237 and 1248, each 24 cm high, 68–78 cm wide and 2.5–3 cm thick. They are designated a National Treasure.

The depository housing them is judged a scientifically flawless building and is inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage; the blocks are on the Memory of the World register.

What it is locally associated with

OriginProtection & Safety
Cut as a prayer for the country
The encyclopedia records that they were carved character by character, with the state’s strength behind them, out of a national wish to repel the Mongol invasion.
documented history
Power spot
81,258 blocks
Cut between 1237 and 1248, each 24 cm high, 68–78 cm wide and 2.5–3 cm thick.
documented history
Power spot
The depository
The building that holds the blocks, judged scientifically flawless and inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage.
documented history

What ties this temple to protection is the reason the blocks were cut at all. The encyclopedia records that they were carved character by character, with the strength of the state behind them, out of a national wish to repel the Mongol invasion. A prayer for the country’s survival was cut into eighty thousand blocks of wood — and that purpose is not transmitted, it is written down.

One distinction is worth keeping straight. The World Heritage inscription is the depository, the building that holds the blocks. The Memory of the World listing is the blocks inside it. The container and the contents are on different registers.

Claims and evidence levels 4

Haeinsa holds 81,258 Tripitaka woodblocks, re-carved under King Gojong between 1237 and 1248 after the first set burned in the Mongol invasion of 1232. documented history
The encyclopedia records that the blocks were carved character by character, with the strength of the state behind them, out of a national wish to repel the Mongol invasion. documented history
Each block measures 24 cm high, 68–78 cm wide and 2.5–3 cm thick; the set is designated a National Treasure. documented history
The depository is inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage and the blocks themselves are on the Memory of the World register. documented history

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.