Ansimsa Temple, Cheongju, South Korea

Ansimsa Temple, Cheongju, South Korea

169-28, Sadong-gil, Nami-myeon, Seowon-gu, Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do, Republic of Korea

Ansimsa Temple sits on the outskirts of Cheongju City in North Chungcheong Province, a subsidiary temple of Beopjusa — the most prominent Buddhist temple in the province. Even many residents of Cheongju are unaware of its existence, yet it too stands as a temple of over a thousand years. According to tradition, it was founded in 775, the eleventh year of King Hyegong of Silla, by the monk Jinpyo. After its establishment, his many disciples named the temple Ansimsa — meaning "the temple that brings peace to the village." It was rebuilt in 1325 during the twelfth year of King Chungsuk of Goryeo by the National Monk Wonmyeong, and underwent several further reconstructions during the Joseon Dynasty, before being burned to the ground during the Japanese invasion of 1592 and falling into ruin. The temple survived only as a faint remnant until it was rebuilt in the 1980s, taking on the form it holds today.

Among the various halls at Ansimsa, the oldest surviving structure is the Daeungjeon, the main hall, which is designated Treasure No. 664 and dates to the Joseon period. No records survived to confirm its precise date of construction, but during a restoration project in 1979 in which the hall was dismantled for repair, an ink inscription was discovered indicating that the building had been renovated in 1606, the thirty-ninth year of King Seonjo's reign — confirming it as a Joseon-era structure from the early seventeenth century. Also believed to have been created and enshrined at the time of that same renovation is the Hanging Painting of the Vulture Peak Assembly, designated National Treasure No. 297. In other words, this is a wooden structure some four hundred years old. The building was originally three bays across the front and three bays along the sides, but through successive rounds of repair, one bay was lost from the sides and the roof was changed from a hip-and-gable form to a gabled form.

My first question upon arriving was why such a significant wooden structure had survived in so obscure a location — but standing before the Daeungjeon of Ansimsa and taking it in, I found myself nodding in quiet understanding. It is small in scale, yet it is unmistakably a work of beauty, one that carries within it the full grace of Joseon-period Buddhist art. The temple holds several other treasures as well, among them the Sejonsarip Stupa and its accompanying stele, which tradition holds were erected by the founding monk Jinpyo to enshrine relics of the historical Buddha. The stupa disappeared in the late Joseon period, only to be rediscovered on Guryongsan Mountain; it was moved to Gucheon-dong in 1881, the eighteenth year of King Gojong's reign, and then returned to its original home at Ansimsa in 1900, the fourth year of the Gwangmu era.

My visit to Ansimsa fell on a spring day, and the temple grounds were in full bloom with white hydrangeas. The sky was clear and deeply blue, and the white blossoms spread across the courtyard formed a scene of striking beauty in harmony with that sky. The cultural heritage we encountered at this little-known temple was, as ever, magnificent — more than worthy of the deliberate effort it takes to seek it out. If the chance arises, I would very much like to return in the autumn.

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