The Royal Asiatic Society offered an interesting walking tour to Bulam-san, "Buddha-Rock Mountain", guided by Professor David Mason. Bulam-san is a prominent pyramid-shaped mountain on the eastern border of Seoul and is situated beyond Taeneung royal tomb site and beyond and behind Sahmyook University. The peak of the mountain divides Seoul and Kyunggi-do and its eastern slopes flow energy down (pungsujiri) to the cities of Guri and Namyangju. With some imagination the mountain supposedly resembles a gigantic Buddha sitting in meditation.
Cheonbo-sa, "Heavenly Treasure Temple"
Immediately to the west of Bulam-san is another mountain with rounded peak and settled slightly lower than Bulam-san. This mountain known colloquially as Cheonbo-san, or "Heavenly Treasure Mountain", is where the tour started. On the higher slope of the mountain is Cheonbo-sa, "Heavenly Treasure Temple", which has been completely rebuilt since the Korean War as this area harbored many guerrillas and numerous battles between the North and South Koreans took place here. The main building both internally with bright and rather gaudy Buddhas and boddhisatvas and externally with two tacky white elephants on the roof spine of the main hall showcase modern decor. The white elephants, in earlier times not frequently borrowed into Korean Buddhism, are regarded as spiritual creatures as the night before the birth of "lord buddha" his mother had a vision of a white elephant presenting her with a lotus, the symbol of purity, and so white elephants have become a symbol of Mahayana Buddhism, which Korean Buddhism falls under.
The backdrop of the main buddha hall is a huge rock, which comprises the massive peak of the mountain, and a female monk who welcomed us and followed us around a bit told us that when you look carefully, you can see the elephant in the mountain. It's easier seen in the calendar shot she presented to us (see below). Even if you can't see the "elephant", there are two Buddhas carved into the face of the granite rock wall, one easily visible above the treetops and the other obscured by the trees but much more obvious on the trail immediately at the base of the massive rock. The higher buddha is etched and loses much visibility when at the base but the other buddha carved in bas relief with modern power tools is large and very obvious.
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| The "elephant" in the rock. Once the elephant's eyes were pointed out the outline and shape of the trunk was very obvious. It was much harder to see the elephant when looking at the rock itself, but that might be an affect of different light angle. |
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| the main Buddha hall of Cheonbo-sa |
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| Two Buddhas carved into the rock above the main Buddha hall. The lower Buddha is in obvious and very pronounced bas relief but the higher one (not easily visible from this angle with the afternoon light) is only etched and is much harder to see. This etched Buddha, however, can quite easily be seen from a distance and is just visible over the treetops. |
Bulam-sa, "Buddha Rock Temple"
From Cheonbo-sa we hiked along a mountain trail for 20 or so minutes to Bulam-sa on the pyramid-shaped mountain. Bulam-sa has a very long history and is said to have been a Seon meditation temple founded in the mid-800s in the late Silla Dynasty and undergoing restoration and rebuilding over the centuries. In the Korean War it was almost totally destroyed but has been rebuilt by the Jogye Order. Many rock carvings are also in this rather large temple ground, but of rather recent and curious interest is the addition of the tall Chinese zodiak pillars, obvious incorporation of Daoist symbolism in a Buddhist temple that has sanshin, "mountain god", stonework and of course the sanshin-gak, the small building almost universally present in Korean Buddhist temple grounds.
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| Great lighting with Professor David Mason. Obviously this picture was shot just prior to Buddha's birthday. |
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| The Chinese Daoist zodiac icons on Buddhist temple grounds that respect and have spiritual provisions and dedicated building for the sanshin, the mountain spirit. |
