Bongeunsa Temple

Bongeunsa traces its history to 794, when it was founded as Gyeonseongsa during the Silla kingdom, and it was moved to its current site and renamed in the 16th century under the patronage of Queen Munjeong. Today it is one of the main Seon (Zen) temples in Seoul, set on a wooded slope directly opposite COEX. You enter through Jinyeomun, the temple's first gate, and walk past Beopwangnu pavilion to the main hall, Daeungjeon, with a three-story stone pagoda in front. Behind it stands a 23-meter Maitreya Buddha completed in 1996, the temple's most photographed sight, with office towers rising beyond the trees. Panjeon hall keeps 3,438 woodblocks, including commentaries on the Avatamsaka Sutra, and its signboard is attributed to the calligrapher Chusa Kim Jeong-hui, who is said to have written it three days before his death in 1856. A basic loop of the main hall, the Buddha statue and Panjeon takes about an hour. Services may be underway inside the halls, so it is a place to slow down rather than rush.