Haeinsa Temple and its old woodblock print matrixes

A number of old Korean peasants get on the bus. They are wearing polyester dresses with floral patterns, and their shopping bags smell of fish and garlic. A huge radish tumbles out of one of the bags and rolls around the bus. The morning bus from Daegu is not particularly crowded, but on leaving the highway to tackle smaller roads into the mountains and towards UNESCO-designated Haeinsa Temple, it fills up.

The peasants, the bags, the fish and the vegetable – they all get off at another village. And after a short while we pass the Tripitaka Theme Park (hmmm – an amusement park built around Buddhist sutras?) and finally stop at a large but modern temple gate of Haeinsa Temple. A man gets on the bus to sell tickets to the passengers. Or at least the tourists travelling on the bus, although we do not understand what they are for: For Haeinsa Temple? For the Gayasan National Park? Whatever, as everyone is buying one and at 3000 Won (about 2.30 €) they are not overly expensive, we pay up.

Into the temple precincts

A few minutes later (and still further up in the mountains), the bus lets us off at the entrance to the temple precincts, from where a footpath leads to a modern museum building. And another 20 minutes’ walk then brings us to the Haeinsa Temple itself.

The stump of a tree near the entrance gate has been planted in 802, at the establishment of Haeinsa Temple. Most buildings and facilities in the front part of the temple are much newer reconstructions, however. For instance, we pass a number of accommodation facilities for pilgrims and lay visitors on a “temple-stay” programme also open to tourists. Then there is a larger gate housing the souvenir shop and a shop for devotional objects where visitors can also pay for prayers and other religious services.

A stone pagoda from the Unified Silla Period

Stairs then lead up to the main courtyard with the prayer hall and an old stone pagoda dating from the founding time of the temple during the Unified Silla Period (668–935). A few elderly women are walking anti-clockwise around the stone monument. The main hall behind is temporarily closed, with preparations under way for some religious celebration. No problem for us: it is a relatively new building – last refurbished in the 1970s – and the main reason for coming all this way is the plain wooden building further up the hill – the depository hall of the temple.

The woodblock prints at Haeinsa

The depository hall, Janggyeong Panjeon, is indeed just an old storage room. Built in the 15^th century, it houses around 80,000 woodblocks which are even older: print matrixes for 80,000 pages of Buddhist texts, all very accurately executed in Chinese characters without any known error. Back then, Chinese ideographs were the only writing used in Korea. This enormous body of text, commonly called the Tripitaka Koreana, includes many more related texts, stories and commentaries than the standard Buddhist canon of Sutras (Tripitaka). They were carved in the 13^th century when Korea was faced with Mongol attacks. Perhaps this was meant as a sort of spiritual defence measure against likely destruction. It is utterly astonishing that this huge old library has survived the ages intact.

Off-limits treasures at the Haeinsa Temple

To our disappointment, however, it is not possible for tourists to enter the storage rooms or even go near them – when we visited Haeinsa Temple on our Korea travels over 20 years ago, we remember, there was at least a small area open to visitors. We were so impressed back then that we have always wanted to come back. But alas, the only glimpse we can get of the woodblocks is from several meters away through an open, but latticed window.

When we pass the stone pagoda on our way back, another group of elderly women is debating the proper direction of the circumambulation. When we look again they have ended up walking clockwise around the pagoda. And in the museum down at the road, we can at least admire a replica of the woodblock storage shelves.

Is Haeinsa Temple worth visiting?

Yes, it is. Although you cannot see the old woodblocks close-up, it is a worthwhile daytrip out there. If you have an interest in Korean Buddhism – or in East Asian Buddhist temples in general, the visit is quite rewarding. Their overnight programs are in English and rather easy to arrange (Templestay Korea). The hilly surroundings are pleasant and the atmosphere with all the pilgrims is authentic.

How to get to the Haeinsa Temple

Haeinsa is an easy day trip (or a longish half-day trip) from Daegu. We went there on a short detour between a visit to Gyeongju and Gongju. In spite of their similar names, Gyeongju is famous for tombs and gold crowns from the Silla period (6th century). On the other hand, Gongju was one capital of the rival Baekje state!

Daegu is a major city and transport hub in the centre of South Korea. From the Western Bus Station of Daegu (Seobu Intercity Bus Terminal, 서부 시외버스 터미널, reachable by metro) there are regular intercity buses. About every 40 minutes a bus goes to Haeinsa and takes 1.5 hours. From the bus stop it’s a pleasant 20 minute walk through the National Park. The walk is slightly uphill but on good broad paths. There are several cafés and small restaurants in and around the temple.

***All expenses for our trip we paid and organised ourselves. We did not receive any funding or sponsoring.***