Stupa of Master Bojo at Borimsa Temple, Jangheung

Standing at the precincts of Borimsa Temple, this stupa is enshrined with the sarira of Master Bojo(a.k.a. Chejing, 804-880). Leaving home when he was a child to become a Buddhist monk, Master Bojo became ordained to the Buddhist priesthood in 827 and crossed the sea to China ten years later to learn Chan Buddhism. He returned home as a Master in 840, taught the numerous monks of the new school about Zen that he had studied in China, and served as the head of Borimsa Temple in 859 at the request of King Heonan. When he died in 880 at the age of 77, the king honored him by granting him the posthumous title "Master Bojo" and his stupa the title "Changseong" (i.e. "Enlightenment of the Sacred"). The stupa features the typical style of Unified Silla stupas with octagonal forms from the base to the roofstone. The main part of the body is placed on a circular lotus with eight petals and carved to have pairs of doors on the front and rear faces and the Four guardian Kings on the rest. The finial consists of "inverted bowl" (bokbal), "treasure wheel" (boryun), "treasure pearl“ (boju), and other ornaments.

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