Jiri-san Cheonhwang-bong Beopgye-sa 지리산 천황봉 법계사 法界寺 1300 meters up Exquisite-Wisdom Mountain Heavenly-King Peak Dharmadhatu Temple in the Inner-Southeast Sector of Jiri-san |
Viewed from a higher ridge to the south, Beopgye-sa is clearly seen on the lower-left, beneath Jiri-san Cheonhwang-bong Peak upper-right. It's about 1300 meters high -- making it One of South Korea's Eight Highest Temples. Its name "Beob-gye" means the Sanskrit "Dharmadhatu" -- the 'dimension', 'realm' or 'sphere' (dhatu) of the Dharma, or in other words, Absolute Reality. |
close-up |
At the Beobgye-sa-ipgu trailhead, I found a new pavilion with Neo-Traditionalist Jang-seung poles and dol-tap cairns. Just 5 minutes up the trail, I passed the Kal-bawi [Knife Boulder], the ancient indicator of the path to climb up to the temple & peak. |
Beobgye-sa's sacred boulders and the pagoda erected on one of them -- a very rare positioning, implying that Shamanic rock-worship serves as a "base" for Buddhist practices, and that the pagoda serves as an "antenna" amplifying the conduction of Heavenly and Earthly energies [천기지기]-- concepts related to Doseon-guksa's theories of Bibo-pungsu-jiri. |
View from the Main Hall out to and beyond the south ridge (from which I took the photos at the top). |
Images of the Female Sanshin (below) and the famous Pagoda, on Beopgye-sa's new Bell |
as of about 2008, a Female Sanshin painting was added to this shrine, on the left wall. |
By 2013, it had been moved to beside the male one -- same size, likely the same artist; and they are enshrined in an equal and parallel way -- a "wife-and-husband" set...? |
The Jiri-san Cheon-hwang-bong Seong-mo-halmae San-shin is depicted in pure white robes, and as in attractive middle-age, as a black-haired "immortal" -- quite different from the male ones in king's red-gold robes and elderly appearance! |
Somebody put all three of the Samseong-gak icons together as a set.... |
Also as of 2014 or so, they have installed a new large stone statue of her -- and a sign nearby explicitly links her to the Chinese-Daoist deity Mago/Magu! This is a new step taken... |