The Tae Go Sa was very impressive on its interior decoration and ornament.
One of the most impressive art was 3 Holy figure shrine. 3 Holy figures were embossed carving and coloured with gold.
The relievo carving was unique in the temple.
The relievo had been found in the mountain, but it was the first time to see in the temple, besides golden coloured.
Below is the front board.
Gold coloured calligraphy
Looking at the carvings in dark place with candle light was fantastic.
The center, Buddha
Left, Sacred monk who attained the Dao
Right, Mountain God
3 sacred figures were result of the negotiation between the Folk traditional religion and the Buddhism. I had posted on that before. At the time of introduction of the Buddhism, the ancient kingdoms were formed in Korean Peninsula. The Kingdoms needed ruling ideology, they wanted to use the Buddhism as a national ideology.
So they needed to mitigate the folk religion. The result was the mixture between the folk religion and the Buddhism. But the Buddhism had superiority over the folk religion.
In folk religion, the highest was the heaven god. But in 3 Holly figures shrine, the highest god in the folk religion was removed and the Buddha took the highest post. And only second highest god, the mountain god, took the last position.
Anyway, it seemed the result between 2 religions
Other figures. close shot
Actually I don’t know who they are
Figures were very realistic and the atmosphere was fantastic.
How about today’s posting?
Is it helpful to understand the religion in Korea ?
Thank You.