Taeansa, Dongnisan

Quick facts

Address

622-215 Taean-ro, Jukgok-myeon, Gokseong-gun, Jeollanam-do

About this place

Taeansa stands on Dongnisan in Jukgok-myeon, Gokseong-gun, Jeollanam-do. Three holy monks founded it in 742. It is the temple where the national master Hyecheol, who opened the Dongni school, stayed; and under King Taejo of Goryeo the great master Gwangja Yunda rebuilt it and made it the central temple of the Dongni school, one of the Nine Mountain Seon schools. Hyecheol’s own stupa, the stupa of the Seon master Jeogin, was designated a Treasure in 1963.

Origin and history

Three holy monks founded Taeansa in 742.

It is the temple where the national master Hyecheol, who opened the Dongni school, stayed.

Under King Taejo of Goryeo the great master Gwangja Yunda rebuilt it and made it the central temple of the Dongni school, one of the Nine Mountain Seon schools.

Hyecheol’s own stupa, the stupa of the Seon master Jeogin, was designated a Treasure in 1963.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  Centre of the Dongni school

  Under King Taejo of Goryeo the great master Gwangja Yunda rebuilt the temple and made it the central temple of the Dongni school, one of the Nine Mountain Seon schools.

  documented history

• Origin

  Three holy monks, unnamed

  Three holy monks founded the temple in 742.

  documented history

• What people do here

  Hyecheol’s stupa

  The temple is where the national master Hyecheol, who opened the Dongni school, stayed, and his stupa was designated a Treasure in 1963.

  documented history

At this temple the man who built it, the man who opened the school and the man who made it the school’s centre are three different people. Three holy monks founded it in 742; later the national master Hyecheol, who opened the Dongni school, stayed here; and under King Taejo of Goryeo the great master Gwangja Yunda rebuilt it and made it the school’s central temple. Three separate acts, set down separately and not folded into one.

Two of the Nine Mountain Seon schools are on this site. Silsangsa in Namwon is the temple Hongcheok founded in 828 as he opened the Silsang school; this is the temple that became the centre of the Dongni school. Two of the nine.

Hyecheol’s stupa still stands. The stupa of the Seon master Jeogin was designated a Treasure in 1963.

The three founders have left no names. The record says only three holy monks.

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. 동리산 태안사(桐裏山 泰安寺) — 한국민족문화대백과사전 (accessed 2026-08-16)