Seokguram

Seokguram  (석구람) is a mountain side grotto that contains a 1,000+ year old Buddha statue. The Buddha, carved into the granite mountain side, is considered to be one of the greatest examples of Silla dynasty Buddhist art. Seokguram is considered to be a part of the Bulguksa temple complex, but it is theorized that historically that the Seokguram grotto was used primarily by Silla royalty.

Driving up to Seokguram is one of the most beautiful drives I’ve seen in Korea. As you wind around the mountain, you are greeted with long fields of green and mountains dotting the horizon. If you suffer from car sickness, be prepared; the road up to the grotto is long and twisty.

Once you have arrived, there are several viewpoints to see some of the stunning scenery. Make sure to bring your camera!

 At the entrance, there is a large bell which can be rung for good luck. To ring the bell, they ask for a 1,000 won donation to the temple. Even if you don’t want to donate or ring the bell, the view from the bell house is quite amazing, so donate the 1,000 won and check it out.

 The log is heavier than it looks!

To get to the grotto, you must first take a 15-20 minute hike. Don’t worry though, like everything before, the view is to die for. Once you reach the grotto site, the area is filled with hundreds of colorful lanterns. During Buddha’s birthday, there are even more lanterns near the grotto.

Unfortunately, due to issues with preservation, the grotto itself is not often open to the public. There are a few days a year where you can actually go inside the grotto (one of which is Buddha’s birthday). If you can enter the grotto, you first you must take off your shoes. Once inside, there are mats where you can pray to Buddha if you so choose. However, cameras are not allowed due to the fragile nature of the grotto. If you visit on a day in which the grotto is not open, you can still see it from the outside.

Once you leave the grotto, you can continue on to see the small Seokguram temple. While modest, any fan of Asian architecture will be happy to see the classically designed wooden buildings. As we visited on Buddha’s birthday, the temple was giving out free bibimbap (비빔밥) (actually, most Buddhist temples do this on Buddha’s birthday).

Since we visited on Buddha’s birthday, entry to the grotto was free, but on regular days, the temple costs 4,000 to enter. To get to Seokguram, you can take a car, taxi, or bus (Bus 12 from Bulguksa Temple). The ride up to the grotto takes roughly 30 minutes depending on the traffic. You also have the option of hiking from Bulguksa Temple to the grotto. The hike is about 4 kilometers and takes roughly 2 hours to complete. 

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.