Baengnyeonsa (Seodaemun)

About this place

Baengnyeonsa, a thousand-year-old temple nestled at the foot of Baengnyeonsan in Seodaemun, was founded in 747, the 6th year of King Gyeongdeok of Silla, by the monk Jinpyo. At that time it was called Jeongtosa, and it was renamed Baengnyeonsa in the first year of King Jeongjong of the Joseon dynasty. Jeongjong, the second king of Joseon, stayed here to recuperate after handing the throne to King Taejong. It is said that Princess Uisuk, daughter of King Sejo of Joseon, lost her husband at the age of twenty and, wandering to soothe her grief, saw a prickly castor-oil tree here and awakened to the true meaning of life. Afterward the temple was designated as her votive shrine and its name was changed to Baengnyeonsa. According to one account, because it lay to the west when viewed from Gyeongbokgung it was called Seobangjeong or Jeongtosa, but one summer day white lotus flowers suddenly bloomed in the pond, and so the name was changed to Baengnyeonsa (White Lotus Temple). It burned down during the Japanese invasions of 1592 in the reign of King Seonjo but was rebuilt at once, and it was renovated many times thereafter. The temple includes the Geungnakjeon completed in 1965, the Muryangsujeon housing an Amitabha Buddha and the Wontongjeon housing Avalokiteshvara, as well as the Yaksajeon, Gwaneumjeon, Myeongbujeon, Samseonggak, Dokseonggak, bell pavilion and Haetallu, and it holds a statue of the monk Jeongpodae and a statue of the Jeongto Avalokiteshvara.