Greeting of Four Heavenly Kings and Bitter-Sweet Memory

 

On the third day of our stay in Pyeongchang county, we visited the Woljeongsa, which was founded by highly venerated Buddhist monk of Silla. The place was shrouded in the bitter-sweet memory for me. It is the last place that I and my deceased brother visited together when he was alive. The memory of catching fish together in the nearby stream, Odaechen is still quite vivid.

We walked the meandering avenue leading up to the main gate of the temple housing four heavenly kings, guardians of the temple. In ~27 years ago, we amazed at the four statues in the beautifully decorated pantheon and their overbearing and charismatic facial expression with demon stamping feet. Now, the temple seemed to be more crowded and bustling, many foreign tourists wearing uniforms for temple stay programs. For me, it is very different and even alienating scene, but the fragrant memory is not gone.

The statue of bodhisattva knelt in front of octagonal stone pagoda is the my most favorite ancient Korean artwork and his gesture resembles the posture of Johan the Baptist in the painting of Da Vinch’s ‘Madonna of rocks’. Unfortunately, when we visited the place, both the statue of bodhisattva and the pagoda are under renovation and encircled by iron pipe frames for protection. I took glimpse of the sculpture through the space between iron pipes.

The buildings of the temple were completely destroyed during the Korean War and they have been rebuilt since 1964. However, the abovementioned stone Bodhisattva (National Treasure No. 48-2) and the octagonal nine-story stone pagoda were survived the war.  The stone pagoda is more than 15m high and when it was not surrounded by fence, it outstands in the backdrop of other wooden buildings.  Because the decorations on the pagoda are made of bronze or gilt-bronze and vulnerable to major fires, people say that it is almost a miracle that this tower survived the fire.

Passing through the recently built structures I went to shore of the Odaecheon. I missed the time we were able to swim and catch fish in the stream, but I also understand such activities must be banned to protect the natural habitat of endangered species, Manchurian trout (yeolmogeo). I remember that we caught torrential catfish and other small fish.

After our tour of the temple premises and valley with crystal clear creek, we went to needle fur trail and a restaurant serving many mountain vegetables dishes. We ordered beef patties (LA Deokgalbi) and sanchae-bibimbab, which is steamed rice topped with different vegetables supposedly collected in the mountain. To enjoy the fresh botanic ingredient as they are, I intentionally did not add gochujang, which is the classic source for bibimbab. I felt like a monk or vegan that time, but no source or meat in the rice bowl seemed to be ok.

Since the last time I visited this place, Odaesan national park have been changed a lot. There are some hotels newly built and in the new commercial districts, many establishments were in business including coffee shops, traditional tea places, convenient stores and restaurants. For tourists, this must be good changes enabling more amenities in the park.