Cheonbuljeon Hall of Daeheungsa Temple, Haenam

This venerable hall enshrines one thousand Buddha statues, which implies the omnipresence of Buddhahood across time and space; therefore this hall embodies the main doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism that everyone can be the Buddha anytime and anywhere. It is said that this hall was reconstructed in 1813 after it was destroyed by fire in 1811, the 11th year of King Sunjo's reign. 3-kan wide, 3-kan long and featuring a dapogye or multiplex roof, the architectural style of this building is typical of the late Joseon Dynasty. Gwangsa Lee1705-1777, a most accomplished calligrapher of the 18th century, wrote the signboard. At the center of the hall, a large wooden Sakyamuni Buddha statue is enshrined together with Manjusri Bodhisattva and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva who are surrounded by one thousand Buddha statues(Tangible Cultural Heritage). These venerated statues were made from jade-stones quarried in Mt. Bulseoksan meaning "Buddha-stone Mountain" of Gyeongju. The ship transporting them to the temple was blown to Kyushu, Japan, by a heavy typhoon in 1817. They eventually made a safe return from Japan to the temple in 1818. On the shoulder of some of the statues is marked the syllable , meaning Japan. Once every four years the ritual of changing the robes of the thousand Buddha statues takes place, joined-in by a cloud of lay-Buddhists who believe that keeping one of the old robes of these statues would help their wishes to come true.

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