People Who Mattered in Korea: Samyeong-daesa

Entrance to Geonbong Temple

Geonbongsa is a little known, but historically significant Buddhist Temple in Korea. Geonbongsa is located in the foothills of North Korea’s famous Kumgangsan Mountain that stretches south across the Demilitarized Zone into South Korea. The temple could not even be visited until 1989 due to the temple’s proximity to the DMZ between North and South Korea. The temple is off the beaten path, but is a worth while side trip for those who may be visiting Soraksan Mountain to the south of the temple.

Geonbongsa was first built in 521AD and was named Wongaksa. Later during the Goreyo Dynasty it was remodeled and given it’s present name of Geonbongsa. During King Sejo’s reign (1455-1468) he made the temple his royal praying temple in 1465 and built a large royal tower on the temple’s grounds. This brought the temple much notoriety and it quickly became one of the Top 4 most important temples in Korea responsible for 31 subordinate temples in it’s jurisdiction.

The main temple area of Geonbongsa.

During the Japanese Toyotomi Hideyoshi, invasion of Korea in 1592, the Japanese destroyed the temple and took a relic of the holy Buddha, a tooth, that had been enshrined in the temple. The head priest of the temple, Samyeong-daesa, raised an army of 6,000 warrior monks to battle the Japanese in an effort to regain the holy Buddhist relic. Samyeong-daesa would later move his base of operations from Geonbongsa further south to Gounsa temple near Andong to continue his fight against the Japanese.

During the invasion of Korea the Japanese did not expect heavy Korean resistance because Korea had a very weak national army and government due to the ineffective leadership of the Yangban class and internal infighting which was ruled by King Seonjo at the time of the invasion. The Japanese initially had no problems defeating the Korean forces and the Battle of Sangju is just one example of this.

One of the outer temples of Geonbong Temple.

Later bogged down by Korea’s mountainous terrain, poor roads, and the entry of the Chinese Ming Army into the war the Japanese supply lines and outposts became easy targets for what became known as Korea’s “Righteous Army”, which were bands of nationalistic guerrilla fighters intent on defending Korea. Samyeong-daesa’s warrior monks were heavily respected part of the “Righteous Army” by the Japanese. In fact so respected was Samyeong-daesa that he was allowed to enter the Japanese Seosaengpo Fortress near Ulsan four times, where he asked for the holy relic back. He was unfortunately denied the holy relic each time.

A picture of the shaman mountain god San-shin, in a shrine dedicated to Samyeong-daesa.

By 1598 due to the Ming Army, the Korean resistance, and the heroic naval exploits of Korean Admiral Yi Sun-shin combined with the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the Japanese forces finally withdrew from Korea. However, Samyeong-daesa still didn’t have his holy relic to enshrine back in his beloved Geonbongsa Temple.

In 1604 Samyeong-daesa left Korea as an envoy of the Korean government to go to Japan. In Japan Samyeong-daesa was allowed to meet with the ruling Japanese Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu who had consolidated power in Japan after Hideyoshi’s death. Tokugawa no doubt held respect for Samyeong-daesa since he was a proven leader and warrior for the Korean resistance during the occupation of Korea. In a display of this respect Tokugawa gave Samyeong-daesa 3,500 Korean prisoners and his holy relic back to return to Geonbongsa, which he did in 1605.

One of the few remaining artifacts from the original temple.

To this day the holy relic is still enshrined in Geonbongsa Temple even after the temple was destroyed again during the Korean War. The temple has been rebuilt since the war, but it still has not reached it’s past grandeuar as one of the Top 4 temples in Korea. The echos of it’s past glory is still evident by the number of stone foundations that surround the present day compound.

The temple is surrounded by old foundations and is ringed by the foot hills of Kumgang mountain.

The temple has an elaborate museum near the entrance that shows many artifacts from the temple’s history and also has a number of video displays highlighting Samyeong-daesa’s warrior monks courageous actions against the Japanese.

Elaborate museum honoring the warrior monk Samyeong-daesa

The temple is still under construction as it continues to expand in hopes of recreating it’s past glory. However, visitors looking for something off the beaten path with small crowds will be well served by visiting this little known but historically significant temple in Korea.