Gwonseonmun (Words to Encourage Good Deeds) by Lady Seol

This letter was written in 1482 by Lady Seol (1429-1508), the wife of the civil official Sin Mal-ju (1429-1503), to encourage people to donate to the reconstruction of Gangcheonsa Temple. The letter included a prospective painting of the temple.

Lady Seol was prompted to have Gangcheonsa Temple rebuilt following a mysterious dream. The temple was once located in the area, but had fallen into ruin at the time.

Originally, the letter was on a single scroll, but the descendants transformed it into a 16-page folding screen in order to protect the document. Out of the 16 pages, 14 of them are the letter and two of them are the painting. On the back side of the folding screen, the descendants wrote the content of the letters passed down among the family.

This is the first text written in prose by a woman during Joseon period (1392-1910). It shows that a woman from an upper-class family in the early Joseon period was interested in rebuilding a temple, and it is noteworthy that she utilized the Buddhist concept of cause and effect to motivate people to donate to the reconstruction.

Source: Korea Heritage Service signboard ↗ · collected 2026-10-08