Hayang 하양 is a town located on the eastern outskirts of Daegu, and when you take the newly opened subway east, you will arrive at its terminal station, Hayang Station 하양역. A Buddhist temple named Hwanseongsa 환성사 環城寺 is located about an hour’s walk from Hayang Station. After getting off at the station, you keep walking westward, leave the town, cross a mountain pass along a paved mountain road, and continue on for a while until you reach the temple situated on the mountainside deep inside a valley. Padyatri visited again after a long time.
It is said that the temple was named Hwanseongsa because the surrounding mountains encircled it like a fortress. It was first established in 835 and later burned down during the Goryeo period. After being rebuilt in 1635, it underwent multiple restorations up to the present due to the nature of its wooden structure. This temple is located not on the usual flat land or narrow mountain slope where ancient Korean temples were typically established, but on a wide open mountainside with a gentle incline. This little-known temple is one of the most peaceful and cozy places padyatri has ever visited.
When you arrive at the entrance of Hwanseongsa, Iljumun 일주문 一柱門 stands at the front. Iljumun is a gate that marks the outermost boundary of a temple. It is named for its distinctive structure, in which two or four pillars are set up in a single row rather than in a square, with a roof placed on top. The original gate had been burned down, leaving only four stone pillars, but it was restored in 2005. The left side shows the photo before restoration. Of the four stone pillars, the leftmost and rightmost are square, while the two in the middle are octagonal. Some say this represents the Buddha’s teachings: the Four Noble Truths 사성제 四聖諦 and the Eightfold Path 팔정도 八正道.
If you go up past the gate, you can look up and see Suwolgwan 수월관 水月觀, the pavilion, which was built in the 17th century. It means the moon reflected on the water, which symbolizes an illusion that disappears without having any real substance. Through this, a seeker learns the teaching that all phenomena in the world lack inherent existence, and that one must abandon attachment. As another story passed down in the temple's legend, when Suwolhwan was built, a large pond was present. The moon reflected in this pond was so beautiful that the pavilion was named Suwolhwan. The large pond that existed at that time has since disappeared. Instead, a small pond has been newly created on the right side of the path leading up to Suwolhwan.
Visitors proceed under Suwolgwan and climb the stone stairs directly ahead, reaching the courtyard in front of the Daeungjeon 대웅전 大雄殿, the main building of the temple, which features a Buddha statue in the center and bodhisattva statues seated on either side. The front courtyard is centered around a three-story stone pagoda, with the Daeungjeon standing at the highest point directly ahead, and the other temple buildings arranged in a quadrangular layout below it.
The view looking down from Suwolhwan toward the entrance, and the scene below it. Each of the foundation stones has a different shape.
Perhaps because it was a weekday, it was even quieter, and only one or two visitors appeared from time to time. A monk was leisurely sweeping the fallen leaves in the courtyard.
