Seunggasa, Bukhansan

Quick facts

Address

San 1 Gugi-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul

About this place

Seunggasa stands in Gugi-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, and was founded in 756, the fifteenth year of King Gyeongdeok, by Sutae. The seated stone image of the master Seungga enshrined here is a portrait carving of an eminent Indian monk who came to Tang China, devoted himself to preaching there, and was praised even as an Avalokitesvara. The head wears a hood; the face is broad with prominent cheekbones, giving the impression of a typical country elder and a strongly regional look. The unusually broad lower body against a long torso shows features like those of early Goryeo iron Buddhas, and the robe wrapped over both shoulders, with thick but spare fold lines, shows the tendency of its time well. The seated stone image of the master Seungga was designated a Treasure in 1989. A hundred metres to the north-west stands the rock-carved seated Buddha of Gugi-dong on Bukhansan, designated a Treasure in 1963.

Origin and history

Seunggasa was founded in 756, the fifteenth year of King Gyeongdeok, by Sutae.

The seated stone image of the master Seungga enshrined here is a portrait carving of an eminent Indian monk who came to Tang China, devoted himself to preaching there, and was praised even as an Avalokitesvara.

The head wears a hood; the face is broad with prominent cheekbones, giving the impression of a typical country elder and a strongly regional look. The unusually broad lower body against a long torso shows features like those of early Goryeo iron Buddhas, and the robe wrapped over both shoulders, with thick but spare fold lines, shows the tendency of its time well.

The image was designated a Treasure in 1989. A hundred metres to the north-west stands the rock-carved seated Buddha of Gugi-dong on Bukhansan, designated a Treasure in 1963.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  A portrait of the master Seungga

  The seated stone image is a portrait carving of an eminent Indian monk who came to Tang China and was praised even as an Avalokitesvara.

  documented history

• Origin

  The look of a country elder

  The record describes the face as broad with prominent cheekbones, giving the impression of a typical country elder and a strongly regional look.

  documented history

• What people do here

  A second Treasure a hundred metres away

  The rock-carved seated Buddha of Gugi-dong, a hundred metres north-west, was designated a Treasure in 1963.

  documented history

This temple’s name is a person’s name. The master Seungga was an eminent Indian monk who came to Tang China, worked at preaching there, and was praised even as an Avalokitesvara. The portrait of a man who went from India to Tang is cut into the stone of Bukhansan.

The record of that portrait does not flatter it. The face is broad with prominent cheekbones, it says, giving the impression of a typical country elder and a strongly regional look. A sentence calling a saint’s image countryish is not a common thing on this site either.

The same mountain carries a second Treasure. A hundred metres north-west, the rock-carved seated Buddha of Gugi-dong is cut into the cliff; that one became a Treasure in 1963, and the Seungga image in 1989.

Where Seoul’s other places on this site are tangled with the state, what this temple holds on to is one man’s face.

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. 승가사(僧伽寺) — 한국민족문화대백과사전 (accessed 2026-08-16)
2. 보물 서울 승가사 석조승가대사좌상 — 국가유산청 국가유산포털 (accessed 2026-08-16)