Daeboksa Temple (Namwon)

About this place

Daeboksa Temple, situated on the western side of Namwon at the foot of Gyoryongsan Mountain, is said to have been founded by the National Teacher Doseon, a master of geomancy. Doseon viewed the topography of Namwon as resembling a boat fully loaded with cargo (seon, 船), and saw Gyoryongsan as a fierce wave that would capsize the boat. To reinforce the weak energy of the main mountain (Baekgongsan) and suppress the strong energy of the secondary mountain (Gyoryongsan), he founded Seonwonsa Temple and then built the precursor of Daeboksa, originally called Daegok-am (Great Valley Hermitage). From a geomantic perspective, Daeboksa functions like a breakwater that blocks the waves. In the late Joseon period, the temple fell into great decline; but a being named Daebok ('Great Fortune'), who had been released from the karma of transforming into a snake through repentance, repaired and reconstructed the temple, and its name was changed to Daeboksa after his name. Until the early 1980s the temple was very flourishing, with the Buddhist students' and youth organizations of Namwon actively centered here, and this became a source of lasting pride for the temple. As times changed rapidly the temple declined, but in recent times a movement has begun to reclaim its former fame, centered on those who remember the Buddhist activities of the old Daeboksa, reconstituting a students' association and planning various cultural activities including tea ceremony classes and weekend training programs for the general public.