Golgulsa Temple - Gyeongju-si - South Korea

Located at the foot of Mt. Hamwol, Gulgulsa is the only temple cave in Korea. The temple was built out of solid rock during the 6th century, and was designed according to the architectural structure of India. In the 1980 Grandmaster Jeog Un Sunim took these martial arts and introduced them to the general public for the first time. In the early 1990 the Grandmaster established Golgulsa as the World Sunmudo Federation Headquarters.Sun refers to meditation. Mu means martial art, Do means discipline. Sunmudo literaly means "the way of doing meditative martial arts". It envelopes the dynamic and powerful movements of a martial art into the peaceful practices of meditation, yoga and chi qong exercises. Sunmudo has its origins in Shilla Dynasty. Throughout the course of the korean history, monk were called upon to both lead people spiritually and protect them temporally. Monks were often soldiers and during the history they fought against the invasion of foreing powers.

On the top of the temple stands a sculpture of the Maya Tathagata Buddha and surrounding the sculpture are twelve rock caves used as a prayer sanctuary. Seven of the twelve rock cave sanctuaries are still standing today. Golgulsa’s main attractions are the sculpture of the Maya Tathagata Buddha and the Gwaneum Cave. The Buddha sculpture displays the characteristics of the Shilla Buddha, and is 4 meters high. The Buddha has his hair in a topknot, has a calm smile, narrow eyes, small lips, and a long narrow nose. To protect the sculpture of any damage from the wind or rain, a glass ceiling has been installed in the Gwaneum Cave, which is the largest sanctuary of the seven still existing caves. The main Buddha of this cave is the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. Twice a day in Golgulsa, during the early morning and the evening, people pay their respects and make offering to Buddha, it's a time of prayers offered for the well-being of all the living creatures, a time that reminds one of the universal mysteries present in all sentient beings. Once you get into the main Buddha hall, you do 3 bows and then sit and wait for the chanting service. You will have a peacefull mind when you listen to the sound of the Moktak instrument.