Pyochungsa Temple, Miryang, South Korea

Pyochungsa Temple, Miryang, South Korea

1338, Pyochung-ro, Danjang-myeon, Miryang-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, Republic of Korea

Travelling down the Gyeongbu Expressway toward Busan, one passes Ulsan and continues toward Yangsan, where a long chain of impressive mountains lines the right side of the highway. This is Gajisan, part of the range known as the Yeongnam Alps, famous in autumn for its sweeping festivals of silver grass. Numerous temples are scattered throughout these mountains, and on the opposite side of the Yeongnam Alps facing Miryang, one more great temple stands. Pyochungsa Temple in Gucheon-ri, Danjang-myeon, Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, is — as its very name suggests — a temple that houses a memorial shrine dedicated to the monk Samyeong Daesa, who rallied an army of warrior monks during the Japanese invasions of 1592 and played a leading role in the defense of the nation.

The site was originally home to Jungnimsа, founded by Wonhyo during the Silla period. It was later rebuilt and renamed Yeongjеongsa by the monk Hwangmyeon during the reign of King Heungdeok of Silla. In time, a shrine commemorating Samyeong Daesa was established nearby and given the name Pyochung Seowon, and eventually the temple that maintained the shrine took on the same name — Pyochungsa. The temple lies a considerable distance from Miryang city center. Buses run once an hour, but the journey itself takes the better part of an hour. From the parking lot at the temple entrance, the walk to the main complex is not particularly long, and a magnificent grove of pine trees spreads out before the temple, offering a striking landscape even in the depths of winter.

The grounds proved more expansive than I had expected. The sight of Gajisan and the peaks of the Yeongnam Alps standing in formation around the temple was truly commanding — wherever the eye came to rest, a distant mountain summit appeared at the edge of the view, yet the grounds themselves never felt hemmed in or oppressive. Once again, I found myself marveling at the instinct that had led someone to build a temple in precisely such a place. Pyochungsa is home to a remarkable number of cultural treasures, many of them connected to Samyeong Daesa. Among them are National Treasure No. 75 — a Goryeo-period bronze incense burner with silver inlay and phoenix designs, the oldest of its kind surviving in Korea — as well as Treasure No. 467, the three-story stone pagoda of Pyochungsa, and Important Folklore Material No. 29, the gold-thread kasaya robe and ceremonial garments of Samyeong Daesa.

The arrangement of buildings within the surprisingly spacious grounds is distinctive in its own right. Rather than making use of the sloping terrain through terraced levels, the complex is laid out on a single plane with its entrance facing south and all the principal structures aligned in a straight row. The most important halls occupy the innermost positions, with worship halls arranged in sequence leading toward them and monks' quarters placed closest to the entrance. Even in winter, sunlight fell evenly across every building in the complex, lending the mountain setting a warmth and brightness that felt anything but cold or dim. Having driven past signs for Miryang Eoreumgol — the famous ice valley — on the way, I had arrived with certain preconceptions about the area, but the atmosphere of the temple grounds felt entirely different: unexpectedly warm, and deeply welcoming.

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