The harsh summer humidity is finally subsiding, which means it's time to start doing some hiking. Abe and I spent a gorgeous early fall day doing just that with the Ts. 마이산 Maisan Mountain is about an hour and 45 minute drive. As we were driving, I looked up and our destination suddenly appeared out of no where.
Between the parking lot of Maisan Provincial Park and the sights, there was this quiet little market street full of trinket vendors and snacks. During non-covid times I'm sure it is anything but quiet, however, this particular day there were just a handful of people meandering about.
Right after the market street is 금당사 Geumdangsa Temple.
This particular stone pagoda is thought to be erected sometime between 918-1392, during the Goryeo period. Pagodas are a monument symbolic of the Buddha, but may only contain relics and not the actual remains. Either way, they are still regarded as a sacred place enshrining the Buddha.
This is a hanging painting that was created in 1692 through the efforts of several monks. It depicts a standing Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, which is the bodhisattva of great compassion. Scroll paintings like this were displayed outdoors on special occasions, such as Buddha's birthday, funerals, and outdoor rites. This painting in particular was said to have been used in rituals for rain. This bodhisattva is holding a lotus flower and his crown is decorated with 14 images of transformed bodhisattvas. There are a pair of phoenixes on each side of the man.
The inside of the different buildings are always different, but always very ornate.
The paintings on the outside tell stories, but I do not know what they are. Sometimes they are linear and the you can see the gist of the story, sometimes you can't.
There are often dragons with balls inside their mouths on or near temple buildings. There is also a bird on this particular one; my first thought was a rooster, but it's more than likely a phoenix.
I never go inside the temples to look around because I think it is disrespectful. However, this door was wide open and I could see right inside. The tail of the dragon and the phoenix are continued on the inside.
After a short walk there lies 탑영제 Tabyeongje Reservoir, complete with swan boats you can rent to paddle around. In the background you can see the two peaks of Mt. Mai. It is called Horse Ear Mountain, because the two peaks resemble horse ears. It is boasted that these two bare-rock peaks are the only 'couple' peaks in the world.
We continued to follow the road and the stream up the mountain.
Suddenly the pièce de résistance appears, nestled right into the cliff...탚사 Tapsa Temple ( /top/ meaning pagoda and /saw/ meaning temple).
Selected by CNN as 'Korea's most beautiful temple,' Tapsa was created by Lee Gap Yong starting in the late 1800s. Lee Gap Yong first came to Maisan at the age of 25. At this time the area was not yet a temple and Gap Yong was not yet an ordained monk. He spent the next 30 years creating the stone pagodas, presumably by himself. The pagodas are built mostly from local stones, but it is said he took some stones from mountains from all over the nation 'so as to reach a level of harmony with their overall spiritual energy.' Word on the street is he did all the work alone while living as a hermit.
Gapyong created 120 pagodas. The pagodas were created without the use of mortar, which makes it amazing that 80 of them have withstood typhoon winds and weathering for over 100 years.
This particular tower is called 약사탑 Yaksatap, or Pharmacist Stone Tower. It is so called because it is believed to protect people from mental stress and physical illness.
If you look closely you can see the golden statues that have been placed in the cliff.
The honeycomb holes in the rocks of Maisan Mountain are called tafoni. The holes are also called weathering pits because the surface of the rock is sculpted by water and wind over a long period of time. Apparently the tafoni holes in Mt. Maisan are substantially larger than most. There are two caves made from these tafoni that are so big they have a temple and gazebo built in them. Other areas of the mountain are called conglomerate rock, which looks like gray pebbles hardened in cement.
There is an air of feeling like you are transported to somewhere else when you approach the temple enclosed within the walls of the cliffs, with all the stone pagodas jetting up all around you. Something of interest, it is claimed that icicles form opposite here. By that I mean that they grow up, like a stalagmite in a cave, but there is nothing above it to drip.
Much later in life, Gapyong became a monk with the Jogye-jong Order and the grounds became a temple under this Korean Buddhist Order.
A sign was posted by the temple door. The translation is not crystal clear, but basically it lists 8 areas of prayer:
1. family's wandering spirit
2. family peace and wealth
3. descendants are safe and secure
4. business prosperity
5. wisdom rises to a high place
6. innocence disappears
7. all accidents are prevented by a bright light
8. "Bulja, when your body and family are having a hard time, reveal your back to the temple!"
One year's family membership fee of W100,000 (roughly $100 USD) is required to hang a prayer ribbon.
Nestled in the cliff immediately behind Tapsa Temple is the 천지탑 Cheon Ji Tap Stone Tower or the Heaven and Earth Stone Tower. It took Lee Gap-Yong three years to complete the Cheon Ji tower. The tower on the left represents yin and the right yang. It is said that the last stone at the top was raised after a hundred days of prayer.
There are 33 straight pagodas around the Cheonji Pagoda, which enclose the heavens and the earth and represent the 33 heavenly worlds of the universe.
The Cheonji Towers are the largest pagodas, standing more than 10 meters tall (30 feet), which is also amazing because in 1885 when he started there was neither scaffolding, ladders, nor tools as we know them. He placed smaller stones to fill in the gaps and that is the only stabilizing force to the structures. Pretty amazing.
These are called the 오방탑 Obangtap Five Stone Towers. It is said a person standing under the sky or on the ground is born with five elements, lives by five elements, and dies by five elements. Obang also means movement in the east, west, middle, south, and north, indicating that people live with a heavenly direction and orientation from Obang.
Just a short walk past Tapsa Temple leads you to 음스사 Eumsusa Temple. It sets at the base of the male horse ear. Eumsusa Temple is 700 years old. It is here that King Taejo stopped to give a 100-day prayer at some point in history. It was then that the temple inherited the name Eumsusa, which means Silver Water Temple, because King Taejo remarked that the water flowing nearby was as clean and smooth as pure silver.
순마이봉 Sunmaibong, the male peak, on the right, is 681m above sea level, and the female peak, 안마이봉 Ammaibong, is 687m above sea level. It is not surprising that there is an ancient legend about the creation of the dual mountain peaks, because the Korean landscape is filled with stories describing their creation. Long ago, a male and female fairy came to earth and eventually they were ordered to return. However, no mortals were allowed to witness their flight, so they planned to do it during the next full moon which would give them light for their journey. Unfortunately it was cloudy on that night so they waited until dawn... An early rising woman spotted the ascent of the two fairies and they were cast back to earth as large stones, creating this unique two-peaked mountain. Oddly enough, to this day Maisan Mountain is composed of entirely different rock than any others in the area.
This is the largest known 벞고 beopgo, or Buddhist drum used for rituals. It was made in 1982.
We climbed over 250 stairs; they were numbered from bottom to top and I only noticed when I hit #255.
About 150m up from where the two peaks are connected to each other, there is a natural cave called 홰옴굴 Hwaeomgul Cave. There is a small spring inside that flows all year.
The spring inside is fed from the water that trickles down from the peak of the mountain. There is a legend that a woman can get a son if she drinks this water.
From here we circled the female peak.
It was a peaceful hike that at times felt like we were in the jungle.
This time of year brings out a variety of mushrooms. Some you see often, others are more rare.
I like this little black guy.
I was impressed with the masonry that went into this stone path winding up the mountain. I have no idea when it was laid, but I am assuming they did not have the aid of modern-day tools.
Some signs said the peak had a 70-80% incline. It got steep enough that there was a little rope fence for safety, but it certainly didn't feel like it was 70-80% steep.
Sometimes you will come across large rocks on hikes that appear to be propped up with little branches. These little sticks are not doing jack, but it looks neat.
This is viewing the male peak from the top of the female peak.
This dude has his own little mobile cotton candy store set up on the walk between the mountain and the parking lot. If the kids would have known this was here we probably could have convinced them to join us. 😆
We made it full circle, back to the cute little reservoir looking up at the horse ears. The duck boats were open and running by this point, but we had worked up an appetite and were on a mission to eat at one of the restaurants along the cute little street we had passed earlier. We sat on a patio and enjoyed the fresh fall air and jazz music with our bibimbap. It was topped it off with a specialty of the area, fried ginseng. I love seeing so many new and unique sights.
[September 11]
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