Seonunsa, Dosolsan

Quick facts

Address

250 Seonunsa-ro, Asan-myeon, Gochang-gun, Jeollabuk-do

About this place

Seonunsa stands on Dosolsan in Asan-myeon, Gochang-gun, Jeollabuk-do, and is the head temple of the twenty-fourth district of the Jogye Order. There is an account that the eminent Baekje monk Geomdan founded it in 577. It is handed down that because the master Geomdan taught the people of the coast how to make salt, the coastal people offered salt to Seonunsa. Later, Gyeon Hwon of Later Baekje held a Buddhist examination assembly at Seonunsa. Near the temple is the Jinheung cave, where King Jinheung is said to have practised, and a camellia forest designated a Natural Monument in 1967.

Origin and history

There is an account that the eminent Baekje monk Geomdan founded Seonunsa in 577.

It is handed down that because the master Geomdan taught the people of the coast how to make salt, the coastal people offered salt to Seonunsa.

Gyeon Hwon of Later Baekje held a Buddhist examination assembly at Seonunsa.

Near the temple is the Jinheung cave, where King Jinheung is said to have practised, and a camellia forest designated a Natural Monument in 1967.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  Salt taught, salt received

  It is handed down that because the master Geomdan taught the people of the coast how to make salt, the coastal people offered salt to Seonunsa.

  folk tradition

• Origin

  Founded by a Baekje monk

  There is an account that the eminent Baekje monk Geomdan founded the temple in 577.

  folk tradition

• What people do here

  Gyeon Hwon’s assembly, and a camellia forest

  Gyeon Hwon of Later Baekje held a Buddhist examination assembly here, and the camellia forest near the temple was designated a Natural Monument in 1967.

  documented history

What this temple received was not alms but payment. The master Geomdan taught the coastal people how to make salt, and for that, it is handed down, the coast offered salt to Seonunsa. The relation is a plain exchange, and the reason for what the temple received is written down beside it.

Gyeongsang has a temple where a way of making something also began. Ssanggyesa in Hadong is where the national master Jingam brought tea seeds from China in 840 and planted them around the temple. One is salt and one is tea, and both records set down what the temple brought in.

The founder’s kingdom differs here. This temple is handed down as built by the Baekje monk Geomdan, against the old temples of Gyeongsang, which run back to Silla’s Uisang, Ado and Wonhyo.

A later record brings in Gyeon Hwon of Later Baekje, who held a Buddhist examination assembly here. Near the temple is the Jinheung cave, where King Jinheung is said to have practised, and a camellia forest designated a Natural Monument in 1967.

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. 도솔산 선운사(兜率山 禪雲寺) — 한국민족문화대백과사전 (accessed 2026-08-16)