[KOREAN TEMPLE ADVENTURES] Dongguk Temple stays a reminder of Korea's tumultuous previous

By Dale Quarrington

Like an unseemly scar, Dongguk Temple in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, is hidden away in a facet road simply off the primary street. Dongguk Temple is a fairly peculiar-looking Korean Buddhist temple that doesn’t fairly seem like all the opposite conventional Buddhist temples in Korea. Dongguk Temple is one in every of solely 4 Japanese-style Buddhist temples that was constructed through the 1910-45 Japanese occupation interval that’s nonetheless in existence in Korea.

Town of Gunsan, earlier than it formally opened its west coast port to international commerce on Might 1, 1899, was nothing greater than a metropolis of 588 folks. With a large-scale land growth undertaking for town right now, in addition to by the implementation of a well-organized city growth plan, Gunsan was in a position to keep away from the pitfalls of different port cities. Because of this, Gunsan grew quickly in measurement. From a inhabitants of solely 588 people (511 Korean, 77 Japanese) in 1899, Gunsan would ultimately develop to have a inhabitants of practically 37,000 by the point of liberation in 1945. And of those 37,000 folks, some 9,408 can be Japanese, which was practically 1 / 4 of town’s inhabitants.

With the opening of the port in Busan in 1877, and after the signing of the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1876, not solely did it open Korea as much as commerce, but it surely additionally allowed Japanese Buddhism to enter Korea as effectively. This was achieved on the request of the Japanese authorities. And in 1904, a type of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism started missionary work in Gunsan. The rationale for these kinds of efforts was to introduce Japanese Buddhism into Korea by missionary work to assist culturally assimilate, on a much wider scale, Koreans into Japanese tradition, language and historical past by faith.

The Daeungjeon Corridor at Dongguk Temple, Aug. 9, 2021 / Courtesy of Dale Quarrington

So as to accommodate these efforts and the rising Japanese inhabitants in Korea, Buddhist temples like Dongguk Temple had been constructed all through the Korean Peninsula. When Dongguk Temple was first inbuilt 1909, it was often known as Geumgang Temple.

Geumgang Temple was a temple from the Soto Faculty of Japanese Buddhism. It was a missionary middle in Gunsan for Japanese Buddhists. The unique Geumgang Temple was situated in a rented home on Iljo Road. Then in 1913, and after receiving a big parcel of land in downtown Gunsan, Geumgang Temple was relocated to its present location. Like most Japanese Buddhist temples established in downtown Gunsan through the Japanese occupation, the temple loved a positive location close to shops, banks and authorities places of work.

In 1919, a temple bell was forged and a bell pavilion was added. In 1932, and in accordance with a ridge beam inscription discovered contained in the Daeung-jeon Corridor, the primary corridor, the Founders’ Corridor and the dwelling quarters had been all rebuilt. With its rising inhabitants, Geumgang Temple expanded its affect with the creation of three further missionary facilities in Gunsan in 1941.

The bell pavilion at Dongguk Temple, Oct. 3 / Courtesy of Dale Quarrington

As Korean monks began to reside at Dongguk Temple in 1947, they started to vary a number of architectural options. The previous Japanese tatami mats had been changed with ondol (conventional Korean heated flooring), and the set up of a furnace led to the removing of the sliding doorways in the back of the primary corridor, which was now often known as a Daeungjeon Corridor. Through the 1950-53 Korean Battle, the Daeungjeon Corridor was used as a headquarters for the North Korean Folks’s Military. Additionally, there was initially an exit to the south of the bell pavilion, however when Geumgwang Elementary Faculty was opened in 1953, the street was blocked and the temple exit was closed. Ultimately, Dongguk Temple would develop into a Jogye Order temple and its identify would change to its present identify of Dongguk Temple.

Now, as you go to Dongguk Temple, with Geumgwang Elementary Faculty to the south, you enter the temple grounds up an incline to the north. The unique identify of the temple, Geumgang Temple, can nonetheless faintly be seen on the entry gate posts to the temple. Nonetheless, they’ve been vandalized.

The entryway at Dongguk Temple, Oct. 3 / Courtesy of Dale Quarrington

Previous the entry gate, and now squarely standing within the middle of the compact temple grounds, the Daeungjeon Corridor is constructed architecturally within the type of the Edo interval (1603-1868). The Daeungjeon Corridor consists of a single eave with out the standard Korean dancheong colours. Actually, the complete Daeung-jeon Corridor is void of the standard dancheong colours widespread to all Korean Buddhist temples. Additionally, its roof is lengthy and sloping with a excessive pitched design. The outer partitions of the constructing have a number of home windows, which can also be unusual to Korean Buddhist structure. What additionally differentiates this Japanese-style Daeungjeon Corridor is the connecting hall that goes from the primary corridor to the monks’ dwelling quarters. The principle corridor was constructed utilizing imported Japanese cedar timber which are historically used within the building of Japanese Buddhist temples.

Whenever you first method the entrance entry to the Daeung-jeon Corridor, you’ll discover that there are a pair of sliding wood doorways that have to be pushed open to achieve entry. These steep, horizontal sliding doorways are one other function of Japanese structure. Stepping inside, the primary altar triad dates again to 1650, and it’s a Korean Treasure. The triad is a uncommon mixture inside a Daeungjeon Corridor with Seokgamoni-bul (Historic Buddha) within the middle joined by two of the Buddha’s principal disciples: Ananda and Mahakasyapa.

A glance contained in the Daeungjeon Corridor at Dongguk Temple, Oct. 3 / Courtesy of Dale Quarrington

The opposite temple buildings that guests can discover at Dongguk Temple are located to the left of the Daeung-jeon Corridor. And just like the Daeung-jeon Corridor, they’re Japanese in type. The primary is the diminutive Cheonbuljeon Corridor. Stepping inside right here, you’ll discover a statue of Gwanseeum-bosal (Bodhisattva of Compassion) surrounded by a thousand small golden statues.

To the left of the Cheonbuljeon Corridor, you’ll discover the Japanese-style bell pavilion with the small bronze bell inside it from 1919. Subsequent to the bell pavilion is “The Statue of Peace,” which is supposed to represent the struggling of Korean victims of wartime intercourse slavery. It was added to the temple grounds in August 2015.

Dongguk Temple is a glance again into Korea’s tumultuous previous. The temple is a reminder of the open wounds that also exist amongst Koreans after they consider Japanese colonial rule — and but, it’s been allowed to face, whereas so many different Japanese Buddhist temples have been demolished. Maybe it’s a reminder that by trying again on the previous, we are able to look ahead to a brighter future that hopefully by no means forgets.

Dale Quarrington has visited over 500 temples all through the Korean Peninsula and revealed 4 books on Korean Buddhism. He runs the web site Dale’s Korean Temple Adventures.