Daeunam (Cheongdo)

About this place

Daeunam, situated on the summit of Mount Oryesan—a branch ridge of Mount Yonggaksan, one of the Eight Scenic Views of Cheongdo—was founded in 1868 (the 5th year of King Gojong) by the Seon master Bueom, who had been practicing asceticism in a tiger's cave and did so in response to a revelation in a dream. After it burned down in a fire in 1900, the monk Sinbeomhae rebuilt it and moved a statue of Avalokiteshvara (the Bodhisattva of Compassion) from Ballyongsa in Jain-myeon, Gyeongsan, to enshrine it. When this Avalokiteshvara statue was regilded starting in December 1994, it was found to be a wooden statue, and enshrined relics were discovered inside; an ink inscription stating that it was made at Ballyongsa in Jain, Gyeongsan, in the 11th year of the Shunzhi era shows that it was created in 1654 (the 5th year of King Hyojong). There are woodblock texts and a commentary of the Lotus Sutra (Myobeop Yeonhwagyeong), which serve as valuable cultural resources for the study of Buddhist scriptures and of the Korean alphabet (Hangeul). Moreover, the boundless mountain summit view seen from here is a marvelous sight: the clear waters of the Cheongdocheon stream spread out below like unfurled white silk, and the beautiful succession of mountain peaks unfolds so that the whole landscape takes in the scenery at a glance.