Heungcheonsa, Samgaksan

Quick facts

Address

29 Heungcheonsa-gil, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul

About this place

Heungcheonsa stands in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, and was founded to pray for the repose of Queen Sindeok, consort of King Taejo of Joseon. When Queen Sindeok died in 1395, Jeongneung was laid out for her and a temple of more than a hundred and seventy kan was raised to the east of the tomb, named Heungcheonsa. After its founding it was made a head temple of the Jogye order, and seated meditation was made its standing rule. It was abolished in the early Joseon period; then in 1669, when Jeongneung was newly laid out, the temple was moved outside the tomb precinct and named Sinheungsa. In 1865 the name Heungcheonsa was restored, as it stands today. It is now a branch temple of Jogyesa, the directly administered district of the Jogye Order. Its Geungnakbojeon and Myeongbujeon are designated tangible heritage of Seoul.

Origin and history

Heungcheonsa was founded to pray for the repose of Queen Sindeok, consort of King Taejo of Joseon. When she died in 1395, Jeongneung was laid out for her and a temple of more than a hundred and seventy kan was raised to the east of the tomb, named Heungcheonsa.

After its founding it was made a head temple of the Jogye order, and seated meditation was made its standing rule.

It was abolished in the early Joseon period. In 1669, when Jeongneung was newly laid out, the temple was moved outside the tomb precinct and named Sinheungsa. In 1865 the name Heungcheonsa was restored, as it stands today.

It is now a branch temple of Jogyesa, the directly administered district of the Jogye Order.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  A temple of more than 170 kan

  When Queen Sindeok died in 1395, Jeongneung was laid out and a temple of more than a hundred and seventy kan was raised to the east of the tomb.

  documented history

• Origin

  Moved outside the tomb

  In 1669, when Jeongneung was newly laid out, the temple was moved outside the tomb precinct and named Sinheungsa; the old name returned in 1865.

  documented history

• What people do here

  Seated meditation as the standing rule

  After its founding it was made a head temple of the Jogye order, and seated meditation was made its standing rule.

  documented history

This temple’s size is written down as the size of a grief. When Queen Sindeok died in 1395, Taejo laid out Jeongneung and raised a temple of more than a hundred and seventy kan to the east of the tomb. That a count of bays survives is where this temple begins.

But the temple outlasted its own reason. It was abolished once in the early Joseon, and in 1669, when Jeongneung was newly laid out, it was moved outside the tomb precinct and became Sinheungsa. A temple raised to keep watch beside a queen’s grave was put outside that grave. The name Heungcheonsa came back in 1865.

The king who built it appears at another temple on this site. In 1397 Taejo established a water-and-land hall at Jingwansa in Eunpyeong-gu and performed the rite there — two years after his queen died. Two Seoul temples passed through the same hands, and both were places for the dead.

Just after its founding it was a head temple of the Jogye order, and seated meditation, the record says, was its standing rule.

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. 삼각산 흥천사(三角山 興天寺) — 한국민족문화대백과사전 (accessed 2026-08-16)