Lord Buddha's Birthday,according to the Korean Buddhism celebrates every year almost in every temple in the country.Korea has a great history and Buddhism is one important part of it.
Befor Confucianism ,Buddhism was rooted in the country.Tamed people of its teachings and made the solid structure for Confucianism.Unlikely South Asian region ,where Buddhism is a major religion ,in Korea,China and in
Japan Buddha's Birthday celebrates in a different way.
Cermons,
prayings and teaching has its similarities though,celebrations are different even from the small
peice of decorative element.Specially the date that Buddha was born is different according to calender.Normally in
Sri Lanka we used to celebrate that "
Vesak" on the full moon day of the month of May.But,in Korea according to
luna calender it seems to be change from our region.21st of this month was celebrated as the Buddha's Birthday by K
orean Buddhist population.
As a routine of mine,in every important day in Korea ,I use to travel to a place that gives true nature of the celebration.This "
Vesak".The Lord Buddha's
Birthday ,my destination was "
Ponkuksa"temple.Which was barely known by most of the people,and situated in a remote area of
Chungchungnamdo Province. The Temple situated near
Onyang village.The scenic
beauty on the way to temple is delicate.The
beauty of paddy
feilds,Green mountains and water springs make visitors comfortable.The path way towards the temple along pine tree canopy , makes calm environment and
tranquality in mind.
The path to this Shrine along Pine tree canopy and other
various greenish ,flora and fauna.
Main Building or the shrine of this temple is the Image house which has every feature of Korean Tradition timber Architecture.It is colorful and
decorative in many aspects.
Daeunjeon is
a hall enshrining the Buddha statue.This hall is three
kan (one
kan =about 1.82m)by two and has a ㅅ -
shaoed roof with double row of eaves.A
datjip( a decorated roof over the Buddhist statue)was built in the hall.,and the inner parts of the hall were built by using timbers expressing nature beauty.The hall was destroyed during the Japanese invasion in 1592,was rebuilt in the 24
th year of the reign of King
Injo, and it was repaired into the present state by
Seobonghwasang in 1891 ( the 7
th year of the reign of King
Gojong).
Gobang is a warehouse This is there
kan by one
kan two-story building.It is one of the compartments of the building called "
yosachae"(building for resting,sleeping,eating,etc.)which is eighty
kan by one
kan and forms 'ㅁ' in layout,visible adjacent to the Main shrine.
Buddha statue in the
Deaunjeon hall building.
Double pitched roof structure with circular rafters with colorful decorative arts.
Inner roof structure with fine craftsmanship and decorations
Wall murals inside the shrine room,describing the birth of Lord Buddha.
Surrounding of the temple it self merge with its colors and decorated elements up to the maximum.In the temple structure used to
decorated with
several tones of green it
tempts to show temple is a part of the
surrounding other than a building stood out of the context.
Surrounding and the Main shrine building
Vesak lanterns with pure colors
Wisdom and
serenity,not
only the simple taste of crafts
manship,also the spiritual third hands blessing from the nature makes everybody to be free on their heavily souls for
a moment worth cannot be measure and cannot describe in words u
tterly gives descriptions what we can describe.
