Sudeoksa, Deoksungsan

Quick facts

Address

79 Sudeoksaan-gil, Deoksan-myeon, Yesan-gun, Chungcheongnam-do

About this place

Sudeoksa stands on Deoksungsan in Deoksan-myeon, Yesan, and is the head temple of the seventh district of the Jogye Order. By the temple’s records it was founded in the late Baekje period by the master Sungje and repaired under King Gongmin of Goryeo by Naong. The Daeungjeon, the main hall, was built in 1308 under King Chungnyeol of Goryeo, and is one of the oldest buildings in Korea whose date of construction is certainly known. It is designated a National Treasure. In 1898 Mangong, a disciple of Gyeongheo, carried out a great restoration of the temple and trained many students here thereafter.

Origin and history

By the temple’s records it was founded in the late Baekje period by the master Sungje, and repaired under King Gongmin of Goryeo by Naong.

The Daeungjeon was built in 1308 under King Chungnyeol of Goryeo. It is one of the oldest buildings in Korea whose date of construction is certainly known, and is designated a National Treasure.

In 1898 Mangong, a disciple of Gyeongheo, carried out a great restoration of the temple and trained many students here thereafter.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  The Daeungjeon of 1308

  The main hall was built in 1308 and is one of the oldest buildings in Korea whose date of construction is certainly known. It is a National Treasure.

  documented history

• Origin

  An uncertain founding

  The temple’s records say it was founded in the late Baekje period by the master Sungje and repaired by Naong under King Gongmin.

  folk tradition

• What people do here

  The restoration of 1898

  Mangong, a disciple of Gyeongheo, greatly restored the temple and trained many students here thereafter.

  documented history

What this temple has is a certain date. The Daeungjeon is known to have been built in 1308, which puts it among the oldest buildings in Korea whose construction date is actually known.

Set beside the other temples of Chungcheong, that certainty stands out. Gapsa in Gongju has three different accounts of its founding; Gaesimsa in Seosan has two incompatible dates inside a single sentence of its own record; the article on Muryangsa in Buyeo states plainly that neither the founding year nor the later history is known. A confirmed date is not a common thing in this province.

The temple’s own founding, though, is not certain. There is only the record that the master Sungje raised it in the late Baekje period. What is certain is not the temple but one building.

A figure from nearer times survives too. In 1898 Mangong, a disciple of Gyeongheo, greatly restored the temple and trained many students here.

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. 덕숭산 수덕사(德崇山 修德寺) — 한국민족문화대백과사전 (accessed 2026-08-16)