A Very Short Checklist to Things to Look Out For, Naksan-sa Part 3

Here's a brief list of things to look out for when you're visiting Naksan-sa in Gangwon-do:

1. Translation is such a tricky business – couldn’t help raising my eyebrows when I first saw Wontongbojeon of Naksan-sa translated as “Hall of Complete Penetration”. Ahem. How about “Hall of Profound Insight”? or “Hall of Thorough Enlightenment”? Not quite the same, is it?

2. The Arched Gate was built the same year as the pagoda. Legend has it that 26 stones, each contributed by the magistrates of the 26 towns in the area made up the main building materials.

3. Naksan –sa is home to National Treasure No 499. It’s a 6.2 metre- high, 7-storey pagoda (Chilcheung Seoktap ) built in 1467. A Buddhist rosary and magic beads are reputed to be stored within this Goryeo- style pagoda with a distinctive single square base with 24 stone lotus petals. For comparisons with a Shilla style pagoda, click here.

4. According to another legend, a red lotus blossomed in the sea while Uisang, the founder of Naksan-sa conducted his week-long prayers. Eventually Hongryeon-am ( “Red Lotus Hermitage”) was built near the cave he used for his meditation- by- the -ocean sessions.

I was poking my head into the tiny hermitage for a quick look around when a kind ajumma, who had just finished her 108 prostrations, lifted up a 10 cm square from the wooden floor to show me the crashing waves beneath. Perhaps it was designed to show the cave where Uisang had meditated or maybe the present-day monks liked to chant to the rhythm of the waves.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naksansa#2005_fire_and_reconstruction

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