Manggyeongsa, Taebaeksan

Quick facts

Address

4246-168 Taebaeksan-ro, Taebaek-si, Gangwon

Spiritual entities

Jajang (慈藏, 590–658) · Mañjuśrī (文殊菩薩, Munsu)

About this place

Manggyeongsa stands on Taebaeksan in Taebaek and was founded by Jajang in 652. By the legend, the Vinaya master Jajang, then spending his last years at Jeongamsa on Taebaeksan, heard that a stone image of the bodhisattva Manjushri had appeared here, came to see, built a temple and enshrined the image. At the entrance to Manggyeongsa is Yongjeong, the highest-lying spring in the country; because the spring is there, it was used from long ago to prepare the offerings for the heaven rite. Near the temple stands the Danjong stele pavilion, where a legend is handed down that the spirit of King Danjong, who died at Yeongwol, rode a white horse here and became the mountain god of Taebaeksan. The pavilion, whose stele is inscribed “Stele of King Danjong of Taebaeksan of the Kingdom of Joseon”, is said to have been raised in the mid-1950s after Danjong appeared as the mountain god in a shaman’s dream.

Origin and history

Manggyeongsa was founded by Jajang in 652. By the legend, the Vinaya master Jajang, then spending his last years at Jeongamsa on Taebaeksan, heard that a stone image of the bodhisattva Manjushri had appeared here, came to see, built a temple and enshrined the image.

At the entrance to Manggyeongsa is Yongjeong, the highest-lying spring in the country. Because the spring is there, it was used from long ago to prepare the offerings for the heaven rite.

Near the temple stands the Danjong stele pavilion. A legend is handed down that the spirit of King Danjong, who died at Yeongwol, rode a white horse here and became the mountain god of Taebaeksan. The pavilion, whose stele is inscribed “Stele of King Danjong of Taebaeksan of the Kingdom of Joseon”, is said to have been raised in the mid-1950s after Danjong appeared as the mountain god in a shaman’s dream.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  A temple that followed an image

  Jajang, at Jeongamsa in his last years, heard a stone Manjushri had appeared here, came, built a temple and enshrined it.

  folk tradition

• What people do here

  Yongjeong, water for the heaven rite

  The spring at the temple entrance is the highest-lying in the country and was used from long ago to prepare offerings for the heaven rite.

  documented history

• Origin

  A king who became the mountain god

  King Danjong, who died at Yeongwol, is said to have ridden a white horse here and become the mountain god; his stele pavilion was raised in the mid-1950s.

  folk tradition

This temple came after the image. Jajang, the account says, heard that a stone image of Manjushri had appeared here and came and built. Most founding accounts have a person arrive first and an image set down afterwards; here the image was there and the building followed it.

The spring at the entrance has a job of its own. Yongjeong is the highest-lying spring in the country, and it was used from long ago to prepare the offerings for the heaven rite. Taebaeksan Cheonjedan, also on this site, is where that rite was performed — so the two are joined not by nearness but by function. Water was drawn at one and the rite made at the other.

Someone here became a mountain god. The spirit of King Danjong, who died at Yeongwol, is said to have ridden a white horse to this place and become the mountain god of Taebaeksan, and a stele pavilion stands inscribed with his royal title. It was raised in the mid-1950s, after Danjong appeared as the mountain god in a shaman’s dream. A king killed at seventeen, called back five hundred years later as the god of this mountain.

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. 태백산 망경사(太白山 望鏡寺) — 한국민족문화대백과사전 (accessed 2026-08-16)