Doseonsa Temple (Seoul)

Place story

Following the valley for about 1 km west of Ui-dong toward Baegundae, Bukhansan's highest peak, visitors reach a temple gate with an inscription on its stone pillar: three days spent cultivating the mind become a treasure lasting a thousand years, while a hundred years spent coveting possessions turn to dust in a single morning. According to the temple's historical account, National Preceptor Doseon founded Doseonsa in 862, the second year of King Gyeongmun's reign. The account says he foresaw that the mountain setting would revive Buddhist teachings in the age of Dharma decline a thousand years later, founded the temple, and split a large rock with his staff to carve an image of Avalokiteshvara. Records of rebuilding and repairs before the late Joseon period have not survived, although a record states that monk soldiers stood guard here during the construction of Bukhansanseong Fortress. In 1863, the fourteenth year of King Cheoljong's reign, donations from Kim Jwa-geun funded repairs and a new Chilseonggak Hall. In 1887, the twenty-fourth year of King Gojong's reign, Im Jun built a five-story pagoda in which relics believed to be the Buddha's bodily remains were enshrined. The surviving buildings include Daeungjeon, the central hall, along with Hoguk Chamhoewon, Myeongbujeon, Samseonggak, Jeokmukdang, Cheonwangmun, the bell pavilion, the temple office, and monks' quarters. Daeungjeon houses an Amitabha triad; its interior walls bear portraits of Bodhidharma, Huineng, and Cheongdam, alongside an altar painting, paintings of eight scenes from the Buddha's life, and a depiction of the nine grades of rebirth in the Pure Land. The temple's Seoul-designated tangible cultural heritage includes a rock-carved standing Buddha (No. 34), wooden statues of Amitabha and Mahasthamaprapta (No. 191), a stone statue of the solitary sage Dokseong (No. 192), and a bronze bell with associated objects (No. 259). Its other Buddhist treasures include a late-nineteenth-century painting of Ksitigarbha and the Ten Kings, a large outdoor Buddhist hanging scroll, the Lotus Sutra, and a commentary on the Avatamsaka Sutra.

Source content updated: 2025-10-29