Bulguksa

Located just outside of the city Gyeongju (경주), Bulguksa Temple (불국사) is the largest Buddhist temple in South Korea, and one of the few to survive the Japanese occupation. It is classified by the South Korean Government as the “Scenic and Historic site no. 1.” While the first small temple was built in the year 528, the temple that we see today was built in year 751 under King Gyeongdeok (경덕). This makes it one of the oldest surviving Buddhist temples in Korea.  

My friend and I had the opportunity to visit the temple on Buddha’s birthday, one of the biggest Buddhist celebrations of the year. Because of the importance of the date, the temple was quite crowded. We came relatively early in the day and were able to avoid much of the crowds.

Leading up to the temple is along path, climbing up the mountain. On the path are local vendors, selling food, trinkets, and souvenirs. The trinkets and souvenirs are what you see at every temple with the exception of some vendors selling Bulguksa themed trinkets. One of the vendors at the top of the hill sold some delicious mook (묵).

The temple itself was covered in paper lanterns, with each lantern attached a prayer; a prayer for health, for a loved one, for a prosperous year. Seeing all the lanterns strung out throughout the temple made for a beautiful and colorful sight. You could buy the lanterns at the temple and put your own prayer on them. The lanterns started at the price of 7,000 won and went up in price depending on the level of detail and intricacy of the lantern.

Bulguksa’s stone pagodas were a sight to behold, especially being draped in the colorful lanterns. People fought over trying to get the best shot of being in front of these historic beauties. As of right now, one of the stone pagodas is going through restoration and will be open again sometime next year. 

The temple itself had many prayer rooms for people to go to, each room offering a different thing to pray for (health, food, prosperity, etc.). In each of these rooms was a small Buddha, with a large Buddha in the main prayer room. It is considered disrespectful to photograph Buddha and those praying to him. Each prayer room has a sign forbidding camera use.

Since neither my friend nor I are Buddhist, we instead walked around the temple and observed. The entirety of the temple in quite beautiful, and nestled at the base of a mountain, it offers some pretty spectacular view, especially at the entrance of the temple.

 

Since we visited on Buddha’s birthday, entrance to the temple was free. However, on other days, there is a nominal 2,000 won entrance fee. You can get to Bulguksa by bus for 2,000 won (which is a little less than an hour ride), or take a cab for around 35,000 won.