Buinsa Temple (Daegu)

On the southern slope of Palgongsan, between Donghwasa and Pagyesa, sits a quiet temple. Buinsa is small, but it is said to have housed the First Tripitaka Koreana, Korea's first complete carving of the Buddhist canon in the Goryeo period, and it keeps a rare tradition of holding an annual rite in honour of Silla's Queen Seondeok, whose portrait is enshrined here. Terraces and a flagpole support below the temple hint at how large the monastery once was.

Queen Seondeok's temple

The temple's founding legend says Buinsa was established in 646 by Queen Seondeok herself, the year after she built the nine-storey wooden pagoda at Hwangnyongsa. A shrine dedicated to her has stood here for a long time, which lends weight to the story. Today her portrait hangs in the memorial hall, and every spring the temple holds the Queen Seondeok memorial rite. The 40th rite took place on 1 May 2026; it is one of very few cases of a Silla monarch being honoured with a Buddhist ceremony. Since 2014 the rite has been called a Buddhist jae rather than a Confucian-style je.

The Tripitaka and the lost monastery

Goryeo carved the Buddhist canon in the hope that the Buddha's power would drive off the Khitan invaders. This First Tripitaka was completed in the late 11th century and is said to have been stored at Buinsa, but in 1232, during the second Mongol invasion, all the woodblocks were burned. The canon was then carved again, and that second set is the Tripitaka Koreana now kept at Haeinsa Temple in Hapcheon. In the Silla and Goryeo periods Buinsa is said to have had some 80 buildings, 39 hermitages and around 2,000 monks, and it is also remembered as the place where a monks' market was held; nearby Donghwasa now revives the tradition with a monks' market festival. In 1203 the monks of Buinsa even rose up against the military regime of the day, a sign of how powerful the community was in the Goryeo period.

The temple burned again during the Japanese invasions of the 1590s. In the early 1930s the nun Heo Sang-deuk built the present Buinsa on the site of an old hermitage about 400 m north-west of, and above, the original temple site. It burned once more in the Korean War and was rebuilt in 1959.

What to see

• Sungmojeon (Queen Seondeok's shrine): the hall that houses the queen's portrait.
• Daeungjeon: the main hall, with statues of Shakyamuni, Amitabha and Avalokiteshvara.
• Stone pagodas and lantern: two three-storey stone pagodas, east and west, and a stone lantern remain in the grounds.
• Original temple site: the old site on the slope below is a Daegu monument; vineyards now grow on its stone terraces. About 200 m south of the temple stands the stone flagpole support.

Tripto tips

• Time needed: 40 minutes to an hour for the temple and the old site.
• Opening: the grounds are always open, entry is free, and there is a car park.
• Best time: late October to early November for autumn colour, and spring, when the old cherry trees bloom. The date of the memorial rite changes each year, so check with the temple (+82-53-982-5006).
• Getting there: the address is 967-28 Palgongsan-ro, Dong-gu, Daegu. It lies on the Palgongsan ring road, so it combines easily with Donghwasa and Pagyesa by car; you can also walk in on Daegu Olle's Palgongsan Course 3, the "Buinsa walking path".