Buddha Boulder of Tapgol Valley, Mt. Namsan Gyeongju
5. The Buddha Boulder (부처바위) of Tapgol Valley (탑골): Tucked behind the quaint beauty of Oknyeongam Hermitage (옥룡암) in Tapgol (pagoda) Valley is a large rock outcropping covered with Buddhist carvings. There are dozens of cryptic images including meditating Buddhas, flying Devas, pagodas, and even winged lions! The quiet magic of Oknyeongam Hermitage and the mystery of Buddha Boulder make Pagoda Valley one of my favorite spots on Namsan.
Maitreya Buddha of Samneung Valley, Gyeongju
One of the cool things about Gyeongu is that it’s literally covered with ancient stone Buddhas from the Unified Shilla Dynasty (통일 신라), most dating back to around the 7th or 8th centuries C.E. Very little is generally known about the sculptors who chiseled out these masterpieces way back when, though they were probably carved as a form of Buddhist meditation practice. Heck, every mountain around here has at least one ancient Buddha on it and Mt. Namsan (남산) has at least a few dozen.
If you’re a history junky like me, or you’re just looking to do some hiking or sight-seeing, here are my personal top 10 ancient stone Buddhas of Gyeongju. As this post has snowballed into something bigger than I’d planned, so I’m splitting it into 2 parts. Here are 10 through 6 on my list. I’ll be posting my top 5 here in a day or two.
Korean Mountain God with 8 Daoist Immortals (from 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. read more
I know it’s all the trend these days, but I figured it was about time I sat down and wrote out my personal top ten “to do” list for Gyeongju. Some of these I’ve posted on already, and if I haven’t yet, I hope to soon. So here they are in brief; counting down from 10 to 1:
Bunghwangsa Temple, Gyeongju
10. Take a walk around the ancient, 3-storied pagoda of Bunghwangsa (분황사) Temple when the fall leaves are changing. read more
Chilbulam Hermitage (칠불암)
I’ve been running this blog now for almost 3 months and it’s nearly criminal I’ve not said anything yet about Mt. Namsan (남산) as I think it’s one of the coolest things about Gyeongju. Mt. Namsan’s not nearly as tall as some of the mountains around here (just under 500 meters actually) but what makes it so special is that it’s covered with over 100 stone Buddha’s and other Shilla Dynasty relics dating back about 1,500 years. It’s also got some pretty gnarly rock formations and a fair share of Buddhist temples, which can make for some fun hikes. read more
It’s been a little while since I’ve updated the links, so here’s a run down of a few websites and blogs I’ve dug up in the last month or so.
If you’re new to Korea or want to learn more about Korean food, my friend Pete hooked me up with a link to TriFood.com. It’s focus is on promoting Korean food in the tri-state area of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, but it’s got a very thorough glossary of Korean Cuisine. Not to mention, there’s a bunch of recipes worth trying out if you’re handy in the kitchen.
Speaking of Korean food, One fork, One spoon is a pretty awesome food blog by Grace Meng. Grace covers Korean cuisine along with a fair mix of Mexican, Spanish and Argentinean. She’s got dozens of posts including Korean recipes and restaurant reviews. Keep an eye out for her Korean cookbook coming out soon. read more
About