Haeinsa Temple

I visited the Heinsa temple in the first week of May 2016. I participated in temple stay program - 1 night 2 days.

I was expecting guided meditation and stuff, but we were allowed to explore and do everything on our own.

It would have been great if it was more organised, guided and if we were informed of the tea with monk timing(I Missed that) and about the meal timings etc.

You are supposed to bow whenever you encounter a monk. Sometimes the elderly monks are friendly and has a small talk with you while you explore the temple.

The temple is famous for its Tripitaka Koreana - the whole of the Buddhist Scriptures carved onto 81,350 wooden printing blocks which have withstood the test f time. The temple has housed them since 1398.

Not sure if they allow the pictures of Tripitaka Koreana. I was told off by the Security. The temple has a stone lantern, a three story stone pagoda in front of the courtyard of the Main hall (Daejeokkwangjeon).

There is a bell pavilion in the first courtyard - consisting of The “Four Instruments” of a Buddhist temple. This include a bell, a drum, a wooden fish and a cloud plate symbolically used as elements for broadcasting Dharma to beings of the earth(bell), beings who are dead (drum), beings of the waters (fish), and beings of the air (cloud).

Do not forget to visit the Hill of scholar there. …

I visited this WHS in April 2017 while following a 2 day 1 night regular program templestay. I enjoyed getting a general overview of meditation and different insights from a Buddhist monk even though my primary aim was to enrich my visit to this WHS and be able to appreciate its OUV without the presence of busloads of tourists.

For this reason I was very pleased with the templestay in general although I'd recommend staying at a less famous mountain temple if possible to get a less touristy approach. I had already experienced Buddhist monastery life in Laos, Myanmar and Nepal and I found them to be much less touristy and more authentic experiences than the templestay in South Korea. Still it is a very interesting experience and a good alternative to the budget accomodation options available near most mountain temples. I enjoyed learning about the temple etiquette that lay Buddhists are supposed to follow.

Haeinsa Temple is located at 400 metres above sea level beneath the Gaya mountain at the heart of the Gayasan National Park. To reach the temple, I caught a bus to Daegu and another bus to Haeinsa proper. If you show your templestay reservation you won't have to pay the entrance fee to the Gayasan National Park which is collected at the toll station on the bus itself nor the entrance ticket to Haeinsa Temple itself. When I visited, the temple was colourfully adorned with prayer lanterns to celebrate Buddha's birthday (picture). The UNESCO stone …

Once or twice every year I try and put a little bit of extra effort into visiting a certain World Heritage Site. This is in the hope that it will reveal a little bit more about the place and also to stop me from getting blasé about consistently visiting some of the ‘most outstanding’ places on earth. This time around the site I picked out for a bit of special treatment was Haeinsa.

I decided to partake in the Korean government's Temple stay programme. I wasn't after some kind of spiritual awakening, just a slightly more unique take on the functions of the temple. And that is precisely what the experience delivered. I stayed for one night, arriving on a very busy Saturday afternoon I was surprised to see just how many people had trekked up through the national park to arrive at the temple. It was the anniversary of the Tripitaka Koreana so the crowds were extra dense, making this by far the busiest WHS I visited in Korea. Although it detracted a little from the atmosphere the people certainly had the right idea.

Staying in the temple overnight allowed me to see the compounds with the tourists gone, leaving only my fellow apprentices to view the life of the monks. The highlight for me was the drumming sessions that took place on the main courtyard on the giant Jingo-buk? (I am not very up on my East Asian drumming techniques but it was very reminiscent of the …

Haiensa temple is a very nice place to visit. The limite of the WH site seems to be limited to four wooden building atop the temple complex, which are depositories of the Triptika Koreana. I went in may 2010, not knowing what to expect, since the internet site anouned the site beeing closed for the year. In fact there is no guided visit, but the site not totally closed. You can still view the wooden building from outside. And you can get a glimpse at the woodblock though the windows (slatted windows thourgh which air can penetrate).

I enclosed a picture take through this window. There are signs banning photos, but many of the Korean tourists did not seem to care.

The rest of temple compex is completely open, as is the mountain trails around which allow very nice walks.

I was there on a sunny Sunday afternoon, the temple was overflowed by Korean tourists. But in the late afternoon, the place emptied. And in the evening, the place was almost empty.

You can stay the night in various temple lodge, or to a bigger hotel close by. The village nextdoor is full of nice restaurants.

From Seoul there are now fast KTX trains to Dongdaegu, and transferring from that station to the Seobu bus station can be easily effected by taking the metro to Seondangmot.

On the bus ride to Gayasan National Park I met up with a number of fellow travellers, both foreign and local. None of these prepared me for the climb up to the site. But the effort was worth it to say the least. To see such an important facet of Korean history up close was indeed a privilege.

One of the great temples in Korea, Haeinsa is located in Gayasan National Park about an hour Southwest of Daegu. The temple itself is worth exploring, but the woodblocks is what makes Haeinsa truly special. The number of woodblock prints is stunning and considering that these Buddhist sutras are numerous centuries old is something to marvel at. Indeed, these treasures were commissioned during the Goryeo Dynasty. The temple and national Park are both great sites. Plan additional time getting to the temple as its a bit out of the way.

In addition to basic logistics, there are factors worth considering. Haiensa is a great temple, but by no means is it the most authentic, exceptional, or representative of Korean Buddhist temples. Its OUV lies primarily in the Janggyeong Panjeon, which was constructed to house the Tripitaka Koreana woodblocks. 

Tuck away deep in the forest of Gayasan National Park is Haeinsa, one of the three most important Buddhist temples in South Korea and maybe the second most famous temple in this country after Bulguksa Temple in nearby Gyeongju. As I mentioned Haeinsa is located in the national park, the scenery especially along the path to the temple is very beautiful with small steams and many tiny waterfalls in the very bright green forest, a real reward after taking 1.30 hour bus from Daegu thru many uninspired villages.

The temple itself is quite big compared to other temple complexes. The most important structure in the temple is Janggyeon Panjeon the temple’s depositories for the Tripitaka Koreana woodblocks or Korean Buddhist bible. Janggyeon Panjeon is actually four plain storage buildings from 15th century keeping more than 80,000 woodblocks famously for its sophisticate design of conservative preserving all of the 13th century woodblocks without deteriorates. The masterly technique of this building is truly exceptional; however, for normal tourists it is really hard to appreciate these structures since there is no explanation for their uniqueness to differ them from other old buildings which is quite sad.

Since most people do not know the importance of the buildings or it’s just quite hard to appreciate them, the equally impressive Tripitaka woodblocks are the main focal point of Haeinsa. The woodblocks took 16 years to complete and now Haeinsa’s Tripitaka is considered the most complete set of Tripitaka woodblocks in the world and …

On March 28th, 2003 I walked from a Korean yogwan (travelers' inn) located near Haeinsa, up the path to the temple. I brought my two elementary school age sons with me to give them a feel for the Korean countryside, as well as the opportunity to see a Korean Buddhist temple and renowned collection of Buddhist literature. The inn itself was worth the visit for its wide "maru" porch and delightful dinner of "kimchee" dishes made from all kinds of roots, vegetables and seaweed. Sanjang Byeoljang is its name.

We had a brilliant cool day. The magnolia and cherry trees were not yet blooming at the temple's altitude, but the air was clear and there were only a few groups of visitors spaced out throughout the temple, so there was no crowding and everyone got a good look at the Buddha Hall and the wood blocks.

I visited the temple almost thirty years ago for the first time, and it is certainly in very good condition now. The monks on this visit were deep in meditation and conducting sutra chants in all the halls, even the smallest ancilliary buildings had a monk beating a wooden bell and chanting. An older monk came out of a small building just above the Buddha Hall and spoke with my sons. He made them promise not to fight and to treat each other with respect. He performed the promise handshake with each of them, linking little fingers and pressing the thumbs together. A promise …

This is probably the best sight I have seen in Korea. Beautifully located in the mountains (in a national park actually), miles from everywhere. Haeinsa is a big and colourful temple complex. There is a lot to see and to do in the area.

The wooden blocks are of course the main point of interest. They are housed in 4 buildings behind the main temple. You can look at them via the windows.

Remarkably, the blocks are still in their original housing, and due to the way of construction, they are well preserved. A few years ago a new building was erected for them, but the condition of the carved blocks started deteriorating quickly. So they moved them back, to their original places.