Bulguksa (불국사)

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. There are loads of temples in Korea, that’s for sure! However, there aren’t many temples as beautiful as bulguksa (불국사). Bulguksa (불국사) is considered a national treasure by the South Korean people and government. It’s located in the Gyungsang (경 상) province of Korea. Bulguksa (불국사) means Temple of the Buddha Land. (Somehow Bulguksa sounds longer in English than in Korean lol.) It’s made of stone and wood, with many restorations over the years.

Before you reach the temple, you’ll have to walk a pair of bridges. Well, they aren’t bridges per say, but a staircase. (Sometimes, the names for things in Korean are exaggerated to make something sound grander than what it really is.) You have the option of taking the yunhwakyun (연화교) or the Lotus Flower Bridge and the chilbokyo (칠보교) or the Seven Treasure Bridge or you can take the chong-un-kyo (청운교) the Blue Cloud Bridge and the bek-un-kyo (백운교) or the White Cloud Bridge.

The temple consists of the four main halls that contain a gilded gold Buddha statue. (I guess back in the day big bellied Buddhas were the ‘in’ thing. What happened to Buddhas who aren’t morbidly obese? You know it’s not setting a good example for your followers. Lol.) De-ung-jun (대웅정) is the Hall of Great Enlightenment. Mu-sul-jun (무설전) is the Hall of No Words. (I want the Hall of No Words as my personal room for when my noisy cousins come to visit for the holidays). Bi-ro-jun (비로전) is the Vairocana Buddha Hall, and the kuk-rak-jun (극락전) is the Hall of Supreme Bliss. If I had a choice of where to go when I die I’d choose the last hall. Somehow Supreme Bliss seems more my style!

The exterior of the Bulguksa (불국사) temple is stunning, but don’t forget the exterior as well. Before you reach the temple you’ll see two stone pagodas. One of them will be the da-bo-dap (다 보탑). The da-bo-dap (다보탑) is ornate and is supposed to represent earthly and material matters. The suk-ka-dap (석 가탑) on the other hand, is the stone pagoda that is simple in design. It represents the spiritual world.

Want to know what it looks like in more detail? Here’s a youtube video on it: