Namwonsa Temple (Iksan)

About this place

Most Korean temples are generally located in the mountains. In that sense, Namwonsa is a rare flatland temple. On an August day when rice ears are ripening, after the monsoon rains, the fields fill with the deep green of rice plants washed clean by the rain. Driving along the wide-open West Coast Highway through lush trees and forest and along a winding mountain road, asking elderly people for directions, one eventually searches for Namwonsa. Then, when there is no one left to ask, one looks around and suddenly a temple appears like a picture in the middle of the green fields — the moment of meeting Namwonsa. Namwonsa is a modest temple standing amid the footpaths between rice paddies and ripening rice. Pink lotus flowers blooming brightly after the rain welcome the weary traveler first. Passing through the main gate (iljumun) and entering the precinct, an unusually beautiful flower garden greets them. In the low flower beds, familiar Korean wildflowers quietly bloom. Anyone who arrives here will surely encounter different flowers blooming in every season, and seeing those flowers they will perhaps be enlightened to the truths of Buddhism. And upon entering the Mireukjeon (Maitreya Hall), they will encounter the simple and humble Buddha figure that resembles the modest rural temple itself.