Samgwangsa Temple

SOUTH KOREA, Busan

Samgwangsa means Three Lights Temple. It is located on Baekyangsan (Poplar Mountain) and is the largest temple in Busan. Founded by Master Sangwol in 1969 as Gwangmyoungsa (Bright Light Temple), it was expanded in 1982 and renamed to Samgwangsa in 1986.
The temple covers an area of about 11.6 ha and consists of the Great Hero Hall, Hall of Calming and Contemplation, bell tower, relic stupa, Lotus Samadhi Hall, Judgment Hall, and Great Treasure Pagoda.
The four-by-seven bay Great Hero Hall has a hip-and-gable roof. It contains statues of Sakyamuni Buddha flanked by Avalokitesvara and Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattvas. Behind the statues are paintings depicting the Assembly at Vulture Peak, the illustration of the Western Pure Land, and the illustration of the Eastern Pure Land. The Hall of Calming and Contemplation is five stories high with a hip-and-gable roof. It is a large cultural center with modern facilities. It has a lecture hall with 10,000 Buddha statues and a large meditation hall that can accommodate 3,000 people, together with a museum and schools. The nine-tier octagonal Great Treasure Pagoda is about 30 m high and was built in the hope for world peace and the unification of North and South Korea. It is carved with 53 Buddha images and contains ten Buddha relics from Tibet, Myanmar, and India.