{"id":44,"date":"2008-12-12T19:44:18","date_gmt":"2008-12-12T23:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/?p=44"},"modified":"2008-12-12T19:44:18","modified_gmt":"2008-12-12T23:44:18","slug":"bulguksa-%eb%b6%88%ea%b5%ad%ec%82%ac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/bulguksa-%eb%b6%88%ea%b5%ad%ec%82%ac\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulguksa (\ubd88\uad6d\uc0ac)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I haven’t really touched upon Korean architecture, but I’m going to start by talking about a cool site that every tourist should go see.\u00a0 There are loads of temples in Korea, that’s for sure!\u00a0 However, there aren’t many temples as beautiful as bulguksa (\ubd88\uad6d\uc0ac<\/strong>).\u00a0 Bulguksa (\ubd88\uad6d\uc0ac<\/strong>) is considered a national treasure by the South Korean people and government.\u00a0 It’s located in the Gyungsang (\uacbd\uc0c1<\/strong>) province of Korea.\u00a0 Bulguksa (\ubd88\uad6d\uc0ac<\/strong>) means Temple of the Buddha Land.\u00a0 (Somehow Bulguksa sounds longer in English than in Korean lol.)\u00a0 It’s made of stone and wood, with many restorations over the years.<\/p>\n

Before you reach the temple, you’ll have to walk a pair of bridges.\u00a0 Well, they aren’t bridges per say, but a staircase.\u00a0 (Sometimes, the names for things in Korean are exaggerated to make something sound grander than what it really is.)\u00a0 You have the option of taking the yunhwakyun (\uc5f0\ud654\uad50<\/strong>) or the Lotus Flower Bridge and the chilbokyo (\uce60\ubcf4\uad50<\/strong>) or the Seven Treasure Bridge or you can take the chong-un-kyo (\uccad\uc6b4\uad50<\/strong>)\u00a0the Blue Cloud Bridge and the bek-un-kyo (\ubc31\uc6b4\uad50<\/strong>) or the White Cloud Bridge.<\/p>\n

The temple consists of the four main halls that contain a gilded gold Buddha statue.\u00a0 (I guess back in the day big bellied Buddhas were the ‘in’ thing.\u00a0 What happened to Buddhas\u00a0who aren’t morbidly obese?\u00a0 You know it’s not setting a good example for your followers. \u00a0Lol.)\u00a0 De-ung-jun (\ub300\uc6c5\uc815<\/strong>) is the Hall of Great Enlightenment.\u00a0 Mu-sul-jun (\ubb34\uc124\uc804<\/strong>) is the Hall of No Words.\u00a0 (I want the Hall of No Words as my personal room for when my noisy cousins come to visit for the holidays).\u00a0 Bi-ro-jun (\ube44\ub85c\uc804<\/strong>) is the Vairocana Buddha Hall, and the kuk-rak-jun (\uadf9\ub77d\uc804<\/strong>) is the Hall of Supreme Bliss.\u00a0 If I had a choice of where to go when I die I’d choose the last hall.\u00a0 Somehow Supreme Bliss seems more my style!<\/p>\n

The exterior of the Bulguksa (\ubd88\uad6d\uc0ac<\/strong>) temple is stunning, but don’t forget the exterior as well.\u00a0 Before you reach the temple you’ll see two stone pagodas.\u00a0 One of them will be the da-bo-dap (\ub2e4\ubcf4\ud0d1<\/strong>).\u00a0 The da-bo-dap (\ub2e4\ubcf4\ud0d1<\/strong>) is ornate and is supposed to represent earthly and material matters.\u00a0 The suk-ka-dap (\uc11d\uac00\ud0d1<\/strong>) on the other hand, is the stone pagoda that is simple in design.\u00a0 It represents the spiritual world.<\/p>\n

Want to know what it looks like in more detail?\u00a0 Here’s a youtube video on it:<\/p>\n