Do-dong Daewon-sa
on Ulleung-do Island
Korea's Remote Isle of Rich Folklore
my photos from my visit in September 1998
The Yong-wang-gak [Dragon-King Shrine] (LL) and the Sanshin-gak [Mountain-spirit Shrine] of Daewon-sa
[Great Origin / Garden Temple, most common name], the main Buddhist site of the Dodong capital area of Ulleung-do.
The excellent Yong-wang Taenghwa [Dragon-King Altar-Painting] icon.
The modern Sanshin-gak [Mountain-spirit Shrine] of Daewon-sa --
it is really a Samseong-gak [Three Saints Shrine], also containing Dokseng and Star icons (next page).
The excellent modern Sanshin Taenghwa [Mountain-spirit Altar-Painting] icon.  He holds a sprig of bullocho, the Daoist
mushroom that grants immortality.  The obese leopard-spotted heart-headed housecat-tiger is a dose of folk-humor.
The simple but excellent antique Dokseong Taenghwa [Lonely Saint Altar-icon] that accompanied Sanshin
On the exterior walls of the Sanshin-gak are TWO nice, friendly murals of Sanshin!
On the exterior of the Main Hall, murals of enlightened Buddhist saints --
the 5th and 6th Seon [Zen] Patriarchs, and two images resembling the Dokseong [Arahant Pindola].
There is a Confucian Altar at Daewon-sa, enshrining spirit-tablets of great men of Ulleung history.
Interesting mural of a lay-woman offering a bowl to Buddha;  it seems to be the buddha-life common motif of
the housewife giving a bowl of milk to 25-year-old Sakyamuni as a starving ascetic, soon after drinking which
he attained initial enlightenment;  but, he is already an enlightened Buddha (note halos & etc), his face looks
elderly, and the setting is an alpine cave in winter, not a riverside deer-park forest in subtropical India.  Whimsy,
confusion or intentional variation by the artist for visionary reasons -- who can tell...?
A lovely mural of a monk contemplating craggy coastal landscape such as easily found on Ulleung-do.....