Jogye Temple (Jogyesa)

This Buddhist Temple, Jogyesa or Chogyesa, is in central Seoul and is just a few steps away from my hotel. It was built in 1910 and would have been the only Buddhist temple within the walls of Seoul at that time.

Entryway to the temple

Apparently, during the Japanese occupation of Korea (1910 - 1945) many of the Buddhist fled into the mountains. At any rate, they weren’t well treated and this account is recorded in the teaching of the Buddha “bible” that is in a drawer in my hotel room.

The main hall

Construction of the main hall was started in 1937 the same year that Japan went to war with China. The main hall is brightly colored and carved in the same style of the palace buildings in Seoul. Do you see the sculpture of the child like Buddha in front of the main hall? I have never seen this before. All I can say is that South Korea is full of this kind of youthful imagery. I'll try to talk about this in a future post.

There are several large Buddah statues inside the main building. You can get a sense of the scale of the statues by looking at the people near the windows in this picture.

I think I counted 7 large Buddhas inside the main hall.

This stone carving is a known character in South Korea (I think). Their palaces have these kinds of carvings and each one of them has their own personality. I get the impression they are recognized much in the same way we know about Mickey Mouse or the Seven Dwarfs. I'll try to do a post on these guys.

I think these stone elephants represent elephants (but I don't know for sure).

A door in the back of the main hall.

A colorful panal on the back of the main hall.

This is the view I typacally see when I walk through the narrow street behind the temple.

There are several Buddhist clothing shops on the streets around the temple. They sell robes and all manner of the necessary Buddhist accoutrements.

The monks and nuns only wear gray, but the robes come in other colors (mostly for the women I think ). I like the colored robes and think they're pretty.