At the end of the ridge line that crosses Chiaksan mountain from the 1,288 meter summit of Birobong Peak the entrance gate to the isolated Buddhist Temple Sangwonsa came into view:

As I walked through the gate there was an area between two stone lanterns for me to sit down and refill my Camelbak with water:

This water comes straight from the mountain and was quite cool and refreshing:

I have drank water at a variety of different areas in Korea and have yet to get sick, but I have gone hiking with various other Americans in Korea and just about every single one of them was apprehensive about drinking the water straight from the mountain.  So does anyone reading this have apprehension about drinking mountain water in Korea?

Anyway after drinking a good amount of water I can sat back and relaxed and enjoyed the great view from this resting area near the temple:

The great views from Sangwonsa is possible because it claims to be the highest temple in Korea because it sits just below Namdaebong Peak which is 1,181 meters high.

However, something that was immediately out of place and extremely odd at this temple was a large banner hanging up in support of the disgraced Korean scientist Dr. Hwang Woo-suk:

What Buddhism and cloning have to do with one another is beyond me.  Anyone know why the Buddhists support Dr. Hwang?

Anyway Sangwonsa was built by the monk Uisang who as readers may remember also constructed Guryongsa Temple back in 668 during the Shilla dynasty.  The temple was destroyed a couple of times durng the Goryeo dynasty and was rebuilt.  The most recent destruction of the temple occurred during the Korean War.  The temple remained in ruins until it was reconstructed in 1968.  As you can see from this picture of the main temple building, Daeungjeon a superb job of reconstructing the temple was done:

Like most Buddhist temples in Korea Sangwonsa was elaborately decorated with dragons and incredibly colorful artwork:

Inside the temple it was a rather typical Buddhist alter with prayers from believers hanging from the ceiling:

There was of course a variety of Buddhist artwork on the walls of the temple:

Does anyone who follows Buddhism know what the above picture of the guy apparently stabbing himself means?

Anyway here is one legend about the temple I found when trying to figure out what this picture means:

Sangwonsa(Temple) is famous for its legend of a magpie repaid a person’s kindness. The letter ‘Chi’ from Chiaksan means a pheasant.
The legend is saying that there was a traveler who saw a pheasant about to be eaten by a yellowish brown serpent on his way to Seoul to take a test. He quickly killed the yellowish brown serpent and saved the pheasant’s life. And one night he was looking for a place to stay a night and a woman appeared and ushered him her house. In the middle of the night, she turned into a yellowish brown serpent and coiled him saying that the yellowish brown serpent killed the other day was her husband. She surely wanted to take vengeance upon him saying if the bell in Sangwonsa(Temple) rings three times until daybreak, she would let him go, and miracle happened, the bell in Sangwonsa(Temple) rang three times and he could survive. Later he found the pheasant bled and died near the bell. The pheasant saved his life, hitting the bell three times with its head.

In front of the temple there are two old pagodas.  Typically pagodas lined up next to each other like this signifies they are from the Shilla dynasty of Korean history.  However, the thin body stones and thick caps on the pagodas shows these were actually constructed during the Goryeo dynasty:

When the right pagoda was repaired their was 4 bronze Buddha images dated back to the Shilla dynasty that were discovered.  This goes to show just how old significant these old pagodas are.   Overall the temple is not one of the more interesting ones in Korea, but it does have a nice view and is a nice place to rest when hiking up to one of the various peaks of Chiaksan National Park.  However, for my trip to Chiaksan it was time to finish my hike and complete the last stretch of my walk back down the mountain.

Next Posting: Chiaksan National Park – Part 3