Browsing the archives for the Stories, legends & people category

23 Aug 10

Video: Seonmudo (선무도) Demonstration

Last month my University asked me to help guide a tour of Korean-American students around Gyeongju for a day.  That afternoon we stopped by Golgulsa (골굴사) Temple for a short lesson in Seonmudo (선무도), or Korean Zen martial arts.  In all the times I’d been to Golgulsa, I’d never actually seen what Seonmudo actually is.  [...]

0 Comments Posted in Buddhist culture, East Sea, Gyeongju, Stories, legends & people, Temples & shrines, history, video by Sherwin
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18 Aug 10

Top 10 Kings of the Shilla Dynasty: Part 2

Continued from Part 1…..

6.  King Munmu the Great (문무왕r. 661 – 681 C.E.):  King Munmu wasn’t dubbed “the Great” for nothing.  A nephew of the famed general Kim Yu-shin, Munmu was the Shilla Emperor responsible for finally defeating both the Beakjae and Gogoruyeo kingdoms (with some assistance from Tang China) and uniting the Korean [...]

1 Comment Posted in Gyeongju, Stories, legends & people, Tips for tourists, Top 10, history by Sherwin
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13 Aug 10

Top 10 Kings of the Shilla Dynasty: Part 1

Okay, so maybe I’m going a bit gaga with this whole “Top 10” thing here, but it seems like a quick way to sift through a lot of information and hit a few key points in just a post or two.  In keeping with a method tried and true, here’s my personal top 10 list [...]

3 Comments Posted in Gyeongju, Stories, legends & people, Tips for tourists, Top 10, history by Sherwin
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30 Jun 10

Top 10 ancient Tombs of Gyeongju: Part 1

One of the things that make Gyeongju noticeably unique among Korean cities are all of the ancient Shilla hill tombs scattered about. Some of them are pretty darn impressive actually, as they range from one to two millennia old and most of them are at least a couple stories high. Not to mention [...]

4 Comments Posted in Gyeongju, Sites to see, Stories, legends & people, Tips for tourists, Tombs, Top 10, history by Sherwin
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20 Jun 10

Gyeongju Guide Books

Over the last couple of months I’ve managed to collect a few really killer guidebooks on the Gyeongju, mostly through tips from friends and browsing through the Gyeongju National Museum book store.  If you’re visiting Gyeongju, you’d be doing yourself a big favor by picking up at least one of these books and giving it [...]

0 Comments Posted in Book Reviews, Gyeongju, Stories, legends & people, Tips for tourists, history, photography by Sherwin
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23 May 10

Dang-namu (당나무): Sacred Trees of the Village

If you’ve spent any time touring the Korean countryside, you might have noticed a single gnarly old tree standing nearby a farm village here or there. These trees are actually called Dang-namu (당나무) and according to Korean folk religion (a form of Korean Shamanism) they are actually one of the village’s Dong-shin (동신), [...]

3 Comments Posted in Gyeongju, Korean culture, Shamanism, Stories, legends & people, Temples & shrines by Sherwin
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9 Apr 10

Links: San-shin.org

Like a lot of posts on this blog, I’d meant to get something up on San-shin.org ages ago.  If you’re at all interested in traditional Korean culture, this site’s an awesome resource.  It’s a treasure trove of info on everything from Korean Shamanism and Buddhist culture to folk art, feng shui, hiking and green tea.
Share [...]

0 Comments Posted in Book Reviews, Korean culture, Links, Shamanism, Stories, legends & people, Websites by Sherwin
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30 Mar 10

The Four-sided Buddha of Gulbulsa Temple (굴불사)

Just a few blocks down from City Hall in Dongcheon-dong is one of the lesser known historical gems in Gyeongju, the four-sided Buddha of  Gulbulsa Temple (굴불사).  The original Shilla era structures of Gulbulsa are long gone, but remaining is a striking four-sided Buddha, or samyeonseokbul (사면석불), chiseled out of a large boulder.  In fact, [...]

3 Comments Posted in Buddhist culture, Dongcheon-dong, Gyeongju, Ruins & remains, Stories, legends & people, Temples & shrines, Tips for tourists by Sherwin
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29 Mar 10

Ichadon (이차돈) Continued

My wife and I went out for a short hike yesterday on Mt. Geumgansan (금강산) to get some exercise and enjoy a bit of the Spring weather.  As I’d just posted on the legend of of Ichadon (이차돈), I figured we’d take walk up to Baegyulsa Temple (배귤사), which was built on the spot where [...]

0 Comments Posted in Buddhist culture, Dongcheon-dong, Gyeongju, Shamanism, Stories, legends & people, Temples & shrines by Sherwin
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25 Mar 10

Shilla Legend: The Martyrdom of Ichadon (이차돈)

If you visit enough Buddhist temples here in Korea, you might come across some pretty gnarly scenes painted on the sides of these hollowed halls, such as the gothic  tortures of the Hell Realms or the gruesome image of the 2nd Patriarch of Zen, or Seon (선) Buddhism, chopping off his left arm (but more [...]

4 Comments Posted in Buddhist culture, Gyeongju, Shamanism, Stories, legends & people, Temples & shrines, Tombs by Sherwin
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