Bulam-sa  [Buddha-Rock Temple]   불암사
of Bulam-san in Eastern Seoul
Bul-am-sa [Buddha Rock Temple] has been located in a deep valley on the southern foot of Bulam-san
(at its juncture with Cheonbo-san) for over 1300 years, said to have been founded by the monk
Jungseon in the mid-600s during the Baekje Kingdom (history beyond that is unknown up until about 1800).  
It's in Namyangju City of Gyeonggi Province, just NE of the Taeneung area of Seoul.
On the Ilchul-mun Front Gate, unusually made with
natural tree-trunks, the signboard reads
R to L: Cheon-bo-san Bul-am-sa [Heavenly-
Treasure Mountain Buddha Rock Temple].
Two white Budo funerary-stupas are found behind a
gigantic boulder once used for San-shin worship
From humble beginings and utter destruction during the Korean War, Bulam-sa has
resurrected as one of the largest and most important temples of far-eastern Seoul
The Four Heavenly Kings Gate features them painted in 4 separate pannels on the outside, very unusual,
and a phoenix carrying yeomju prayer-beads under Bohyeon-bosal, the Bodhisattva of Benevolent Action
For most of Bulam-sa's long history,
the idea that the mountain itself, or
actually its spirit, is an incipient
enlightened being (a Buddha) was
enough to ensure its sacred
reputation and popular patronage.  
Better explanation of this concept can
be found here.   But just in the 1980s,
the monks here decided to create a
literal manifestation of the theme
behind the name, and had this triad of
Sakyamuni Buddha flanked by the
Bodhisattvas of Benevolent Action
[Bohyeon-bosal] and Compassion
[Gwanse-eum-bosal] carved on the
prominent gigantic boulder resting
behind their Main Hall, formerly their
site for San-shin worship.   
But the most notable and extraordinary stonework in this small temple is this Sanshin-biseok mounument.  
Its age is unknown, but it was on the San-shin altar at the above huge rock behind the temple on which
the Buddhas are now carved -- now displayed in front of it, off to the side, little-noticed by most vistors.

Written on the stone in Chinese characters is "Nam-u San-wang-dae-shin eui-bi" [Monument of I Take Refuge
in Mountain-King-Great-Spirit].  That "Nam-u" is a very common and famous Buddhist statement, used for
"taking refuge in" Amita-bul [Amibitha Buddha of the Western Paradise] or the holy triad of Buddha, Dharma &
Sangha.  Almost all Buddhists around the world recite such prayers frequently, as a declaration of faith or
stimulous to practice.  It is amazing to see them appended to the common chant in praise of San-shin!  This
elevates the San-shin to the status of a Buddha -- implied all over Korea these days, but rarely made so
explicit as this.  The abbot of Doam-sa on the other side of Bulam-san copied this inscription on his own cliff.
the modern pagoda above/behind
the Buddha-rock, a painting of a
sage visiting Bulam-san, and dol-
tap stone pagodas in the garden