Songchol Sunim 성철스님(1912-1993) is one of great Seon Masters of the 20th century in Korea. It was well known in Korea that he had been a living Buddha because he had lived an extremely ascetic lifestyle and practiced meditation very strictly. He has been estimated to show the true character of the spiritual seeker as a Buddhist monk.
The above photo shows a small temple attached to 파계사 Pagyesa temple on the foot of Mt. Palgong outside of northern Daegu, in which he had stayed from 1956 to 1963 for practicing meditation without leaving there. Gomusin( rubber shoes) is one of his only mementos including socks, wood staff, rugged clothes which he had worn for 40 years and glasses. All these photos were taken outside of the temple or in the legacy pavilion built near his birthplace in Sancheong-gun(county) in Gyeongsangnam-do(province).
