In Search of the “Path to Live as Myself” | Trips to Korean Hermitages

In Search of the “Path to Live as Myself”

Gyubongam Hermitage on Mt. Mudeungsan

Yun Je-hak | Freelance Wrter 

On first glance, Mt. Mudeungsan looks blandly gentle, even insignificant. Despite its relatively high elevation (1,187 m) among Korean mountains, and large area (75.4 km2), most people would describe it as gentle rather than magnificent.

However, Mt. Mudeungsan was not born gentle. Once in the distant past (about 100-70 million years ago in the late Mesozoic age), the mountain’s heart was full of blazing hot magma, which after the mountain erupted, hardened into hexagonal basalt columns, creating unique rock formations. These are the three major stone wonders of Mt. Mudeungsan: Ipseokdae, Seoseokdae and Gwangseokdae. Of these, the basalt columns near Gwangseokdae, southeast of Gyubong Peak, are considered the best. These basalt columns surround Gyubongam Hermitage like a folded screen. 

In the book Revised Academic Geography for the Eastern Country (Sinjeung dongguk yeoji seungnam) is a section titled “Buddhist Temples in Gwangsan County,” which calls Gyubongam Hermitage “Gyubongsa Temple” and says it was established by Ven. Deoseon. In a different section for Hwasun County is a more detailed explanation about Gyubongam. In addition to the previous remarks, it cites the records of Gwon Geuk-hwa, a civil minister of late Joseon, who wrote, “Called Gyuam it was established by Ven. Uisang, who found a spring in the midst of rocks which mysteriously didn’t dry up even in drought. Uisang established a monastery there, and later Ven. Bojo and Ven. Jingak studied there and attained the Way.”

Based on these conflicting accounts, the founder of Gyubongam Hermitage cannot be confirmed, but it must have been established some time during the Unified Silla era at the latest, and was called Gyubongsa until the Goryeo era. In the Joseon era, the hermitage declined, and by the late 1950s, it had been reduced to a hut with a tin roof. Beginning in 1991, Ven. Jeongin, the current abbot, began to create a foundation by moving rocks loaded onto an A-frame (a type of pack frame used to carry heavy loads) on his back. And he kept building new structures until the hermitage achieved its current status. Considering it’s at an elevation of 850 m, it is a sizable monastery, and its main Buddha hall is the Hall of Avalokitesvara. Behind this hall, a spring flows out from between the rocks, and here on a mountaintop stands the Shrine of the Dragon King. Perhaps Ven. Jeongin empathized with Ven. Uisang, who had established a monastery near a spring and gave the water divine properties. Today, Gyubongam regards Ven. Uisang as its founder.

“Mudeung” is one of the epithets of the Buddha, and it is traditionally interpreted as “incomparably noble one.” This seems too narrow an interpretation to me because nothing can compare to the Buddha. That’s why he is the Buddha, and he represents a state of being that is difficult for sentient beings to attain. Whoever or whatever comes his way, “he becomes it”; he becomes water encountering water, and fire encountering fire. That is Buddhahood. 

Mt. Mudeungsan is a mountain that has no consciousness of height; that is why it is peaceful. It has a heart like the Buddha. To reach Gyubongam Hermitage, you must follow this heart. If we can at least just let go of the mind that keeps measuring ourselves against others, we can find “the path to live as ourselves.” 

Photos | Shin Byeong-mun (Photographer)