As is part of the traveling experience, we finally felt the consequences of monsoon season in Korea. Our scheduled overnight temple stay was canceled out of concern from flooding, so a few of us went to pay a brief visit to the Yonghwasa Temple in Cheongju. The temple itself is really wonderful to visit. It is a large complex with three different prayer halls, the monks’ living quarters, a small tea shop, and a larger communal area for preparing and eating meals, and another building that serves as a Buddhist school. It is very clean, with vivid colors and many wonderful images and designs to look at. While there, we discovered the Korean drama The Glory was filmed at this temple; Cheongju is apparently a common place for filming.
The Yonghwasa temple is in Cheongju, just a short bus ride away from Chungbuk National University’s campus. The main entrance to the temple is just off the street. This is the first sight that greets you when you walk up, looking from the street toward the temple complex. Visitors pass under to get to the temple compound.
The lower part of the main entrance. The stairs lead up and back to the street, with the painted doors currently open. The structure in the middle has many pieces of colorful paper with people’s wishes written on them.
The main temple is quite impressive. The outside is large and decorated with Buddhist symbols and murals, and there is a small but lovely garden in front. The entrance is on the right side, but they had the doors in the front open for air flow, as Korean summers are very hot. It also allows the sound of the monks chanting or ceremonies to carry nicely throughout the compound as you walk around.
Before you enter any of the temple buildings, you must take off your shoes. Just inside, there will be a large pile of cushions for you to grab one and find a spot on the floor to sit. The monks and other workers at the temple are very friendly and happy to have people come and look around or join in prayer. Some people will take part in the prayer ceremony, and others will pray or meditate on their own. The monks give you space to do as you like, and the overall atmosphere is very calming and wonderful for a brief mental rest.
Inside the main building are these four extremely large statues of Buddha. They actually date all the way back to the Goryeo period (918-1392), when Buddhism was the main religion in Korea and temples held a lot of political power. They were found at another temple site in Cheongju and moved to Yonghwasa in 1902.
One of my favorite things about visiting traditional Korean buildings are the painted designs on the ceilings and rafters, and temples in particular also have lanterns with donors’ names and prayers hanging from the ceiling. The colors are amazing and vibrant, and the visual effect is mesmerizing. The time and effort needed to create and then maintain such intricate (and very high) decorations is inspiring.
In what is the center, more or less, of the courtyard is this pagoda. In Korea, the color white is associated with death, and death anniversaries are typically celebrated with family. These white lanterns were placed for the annual ceremony acknowledging the dead. The building off to the right is the Buddhist school. When going to countries where Buddhism is popular, it is important to know that the swastika was actually first an important religious symbol meaning well-being and prosperity. The Nazi symbol was appropriated from this, but it lies on a diagonal and has a reversed direction. Westerners who aren’t aware of this may get a slight shock otherwise.
The main temple is off the left, and on the right is another, slightly smaller temple. There was a closed ceremony happening inside, so we couldn’t go in, but the outside was covered in beautiful murals depicting Buddha’s life. At the very back is another even smaller temple that is just as beautiful to explore.
By Zoe Richters
Judith Ehm Foundation Fellowship Recipient
Korean Intensive Summer Language Program (KISLP) Participant
Cheongju, South Korea, Summer 2023