| Hwangnyongsa | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 A miniature reconstruction of what the main pagoda may have once looked like. |
||||||||
| Korean name | ||||||||
|
Hwangnyongsa is the name of a former Buddhist temple in the city of Gyeongju, South Korea. Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. More specifically it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated The Revised Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language Romanization system in South Korea. McCune-Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language Romanization systems along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which Buddhist Temples monasteries, Stupas and Pagodas sorted by location Gyeongju is an administrative division of South Korea and one of the most popular tourist destinations in South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː Built in the 6th century, it was the center of state-sponsored Buddhism during the Silla and Unified Silla eras. Silla (57 BC – 935 AD was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Unified Silla ( 668 CE - 935 CE or Later Silla is the name often applied to the kingdom of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of [1] Its name means "Golden/Yellow Dragon Temple" or "Emperor/Imperial Dragon Temple. "[1] Archaeological excavations and other scientific studies of the temple began in April 1976 (OCPRI 1984) and continue today.
Contents |
History
Hwangnyongsa was built during the Silla period, under the patronage of the Silla royal family, on a plain encircled by mountains near the royal palace compound of Banwolseong (Half-Moon Palace). Silla (57 BC – 935 AD was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Banwolseong (半月城 literally “Half Moon Fortress” also commonly known as Wolseong Palace was the royal palace compound of the Korean Silla monarchy at their capital Construction began in 553 under the reign of King Jinheung, and was not fully completed until 644. Events By Place Europe The Ostrogoth Kingdom is conquered by the Byzantines after the Battle of Mons Lactarius King Jinheung (540-576 was the 24th Monarch of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Events By Place Asia The Tang dynasty of China begins the invasion of Goguryo. King Jinheung originally intended for the temple to be the site of a new palace but when a dragon was seen on the proposed site, a temple was commissioned instead. [2] Hwangnyongsa was designed to be a place where monks prayed for the welfare of the nation by asking for the divine protection of the Buddha and a means to impress foreign dignitaries. [2]
Following the defeat of Baekje in the 660s, the Baekje architect, Abiji, was commissioned to build a nine-story wooden pagoda at the site. Baekje (18 BCE – 660 CE or Paekche, was a kingdom located in southwest Korea Events and Trends Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib is assassinated He is succeeded by Hasan ibn Ali as the Shia Imam and Muawiyah I as A pagoda is the general term in the English language for a tiered Tower with multiple Eaves common in China, Japan, Korea This fact indicates that the Baekje had superior knowledge or wooden architecture. The nine stories supposedly represented the nine nations of East Asia and Silla's future conquest of those states. [2]The pagoda stood until it was burned by Mongol forces in 1238. No wooden architecture from the Silla people survives today but the ruins of Hwangnyongsa suggest a Goguryeo influence. Goguryeo or Koguryo was an ancient Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean peninsula, southern Manchuria, and [3]
The temple site in a valley within Gyeongju National Park near Toham Mountain and about 150 yards from Bunhwangsa Temple, was excavated in 1972, revealing the temple layout and covering 40,000 artifacts. Gyeongju National Park is one of 20 national parks in South Korea. Toham Mountain, or Toham-san, is a mountain in Gyeongju City in southeastern South Korea. Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. [4][2]
Legends Surrounding the Temple
Buddhism was strongly resisted by the nobles of Silla while the king personally supported the new religion. The king's Grand Secretary, Ichadon, suggested that he forge the king's royal seal and create an order that the people adopt the new religion. Ichadon (501-527 also known as Geochadon (거차돈 or by his Courtesy name Yeomchok (염촉 or Yeomdo, was a Buddhist monk and advisor When the forgery was discovered by the nobles, Ichadon suggested that he be made the scapegoat and that through his death the power of Buddha made manifest. The king agreed to the plan. The nobles were predictably outraged when they discovered Ichadon's forgery and the king ordered his execution. When Ichadon was executed, a series of miracles occurred which proved the power and reality of the Buddhist faith and the nobles converted to the new state religion. Ichadon's sacrifice was the impetus to the building of Hwangnyongsa Temple. [2]
Another legend concerns the giant golden Buddha statue that the temple possessed. It was cast in the reign of King Jinheung as the temple centerpiece. The legend states that the gold for the statue came from King Ashoka of India. Ashoka ( Devanāgarī: अशोकः IAST: Aśokaḥ, aɕoːkə(hə Prakrit Imperial title Devanampriya Priyadarsi Ashoka had apparently attempted to cast a golden triad but failed. He then put the gold in a boat along with scale models of Bodhisattvas. Each country that received the boat was equally unable to cast the statues, and not until the boat had arrived in Silla could a statue be cast.
Dimensions of the temple
Only the massive foundation stones of the temple remain in current times. The original complex took seventeen years to complete. [2]
- The main hall was 155 feet in length and 55 feet in width. [2]
- The longest outer wall of the temple was 288 meters in length and the area enclosed by the outer walls covered approxiamately 80,000 square meters. [4]
- The temple ruins also contain pedestle stones which were for monumental Buddhist statues. One statue of the Sakyamuni Buddha was five meters tall. [5][4]
- The temple was originally arranged in the "three Halls-one Pagoda" style which meant that the pagoda was in the center of the complex and flanked by three main halls on the left, right, and behind the central pagoda. [4]
- The famous nine-story pagoda, which was commissioned by Queen Seondeok after the main temple was finished, was the largest Korean pagoda ever built. Seondeok (Sŏndŏk reigned as Queen of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, from 632 to 647. It was reported to be 224 feet tall and the body was made entirely of wood. [2] Only its foundation stones remain today but they attest to the mammoth proportions of the original structure. The pagoda had a foundation area of 6084 square feet, was supported by eight pillars on each side, and had sixty foundation stones. [2]
References
- ^ a b http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0791449416&id=wi_PfU1yancC&pg=PA149&lpg=PA149&dq=Hwangnyongsa&sig=lggdQlduSNijcz-S892q5nXsdis
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Asian Historical Architecture: a Photographic Survey
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0750622679&id=Gt1jTpXAThwC&pg=PA716&lpg=PA716&q=Hwangnyongsa&vq=Hwangnyongsa&dq=Hwangnyongsa&sig=hiMUDjxVEe938FZSZioeaLY_eGg
- ^ a b c d Korea - Three Kingdoms Period
- ^ Korea - Shilla Period Sculpture (57 B.C.- A.D. 668)
- OCPRI (Office of Cultural Properties, Research Institute). 1984. Hwangyong-sa Site Excavation Report I [Hwangyong-sa Temple Excavation Site Report I]. Three Vols. Office of Cultural Properties, Research Insititute, Seoul.
See also
External links
- Asian Historical Architecture profile of Hwangnyeongsa
- The Center for Information on Korean Culture
- UNESCO
- Jennyhouse Architecture and Skyscraper Community of Korea
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic