Seongjusa Temple Site, Boryeong

Head east from central Boryeong into the valleys of Seongjusan and you reach a wide lawn ringed by mountains, with four stone pagodas standing in a row. This is the site of Seongjusa, once one of the great Zen monasteries of Silla. Its halls have all gone, but a National Treasure stele with a text by Choe Chi-won, Silla's finest writer, still stands here, which makes it worth the trip for anyone interested in Korean history.

From Baekje state temple to Zen centre

Seongjusa began as Ohapsa, a Baekje temple said to have been founded by the state to console the souls of those killed in war. After Baekje fell it lay in ruins for a time.

It was revived by the monk Nanghye (Muyeom), an eighth-generation descendant of King Muyeol. He sailed to Tang China in 821 with Prince Kim Heun to study Zen, returned in 845 and settled here, and King Munseong renamed the temple Seongjusa. It became the centre of the Seongjusan school, one of the Nine Mountain Schools of late Silla Zen, and is said to have trained more monks than any other. Nanghye died here in 888, aged 89.

The temple declined after the Japanese invasions of the 1590s and was abandoned in the late 17th century. Six excavations between 1991 and 1996 revealed the layout: a middle gate, pagoda, main hall and lecture hall in a north–south line, plus the site of a Hall of Three Thousand Buddhas. It became a national Historic Site in 1984.

What to see

• Stele of Master Nanghye (National Treasure): at 4.55 m it is the largest memorial stele of Unified Silla. Choe Chi-won's text runs to more than 5,000 characters and is one of his four famous stele inscriptions. It records how Nanghye's family fell from the true-bone aristocracy to the sixth head rank, which makes it a key source on Silla's bone-rank system. The turtle base has a round horn on its head and a double hexagon pattern on its shell, while the capstone is a tangle of clouds and dragons with a dragon's head jutting out at the front. The stele lay broken and half-buried until it was dismantled and restored in 1974.
• Four pagodas (Treasures): the five-storey pagoda in front of the main hall site and the west, central and east three-storey pagodas behind it are all designated Treasures. Four pagodas lined up on one temple site is a rare sight.
• Lantern and standing Buddha: a stone lantern in front of the five-storey pagoda, a weathered standing stone Buddha and the stone steps that once led to the main hall also survive.

Tripto tips

• Time needed: 45–60 minutes for the site, or around 90 minutes with the nearby Seongjusa Site Millennium History Hall (93 Simwongyegok-ro, Seongju-myeon). Visiting the hall first makes the layout of pagodas and building sites on the lawn easier to understand.
• Admission: the site is open-air and free. Check the history hall's opening times with Boryeong City before you go.
• Getting there: buses run from Daecheon Station (Janghang Line) and Boryeong bus terminal towards Seongju-myeon, but they are infrequent. A car or taxi is easier.
• Best time: late April to early May, when fresh green covers the hills. Late-afternoon light falling across the pagodas is best for photos.
• Combine with: Seongjusan Natural Recreation Forest is close by, and Daecheon Beach is about 30 minutes west by car.