English script of Guinsa(Guin Temple), 구인사 영문 소개문

충북 단양에 있는 구인사(Guin Temple)에 있는 영문 소개 책자가 있더군요. 외국인 템플 스테이트를 하는 걸 보니, 영문 페이지도 있겠다 싶었는데, 구인사 공식 홈페이지를 찾지 못했어요. 영문 소개 내용을 기록합니다.

Guinsa, Temple is the headquarters of Cheontae order of Korea Buddhism. The Cheontae order is the denomination that has merged Zen and Teaching, which can be called top two axis among Buddha's teachings.
It was founded by the great Buddhist priest, Tiantaimaster Zhiyiof China in 6th century and introduced to Korea by a Kroean monk named Taegakkuksa Euicheon in Koryo Dynasty. It disppeared completely due to policy of 'encourage Confucianism and suppress Buddhism' but reestablished by Grand Patriarch Sangwolwongak.

Guinsa Temple was a three-room thatched humble temple built by him under the slogan of 'Guinsa Temple for saving myriads of people and all sentient beings' in 1945. He reached the great moral principal through incredible self-discipline and devotion in Guinsa Temple which was made of arrowroot vines, and then he reestablished Cheontae order which had disappeared completely for five hundred years and registered 'Korean Buddhism Cheontae ordrer' to government authority in 1967. Now a days Guinsa Temple is the headquarters of Cheontae order of Korea Buddhism, which has succeed to Tiantai order of 6th century in China and subsequently Cheontae order of 11th century in Koryo Dynasty and it is the center of practice for Cheontae order's three instructions that is consisted of patriot Buddhism and life Buddhism and mass Buddhism. Guinsa Temple which has established the foundation of independent economy through practice of 'day time work and night time self-discipline', is now crowded with abouth 50 buildings including Iljoomun(Iljo door) and Daejosajeon.

Guinsa Temple Which can accommodate 10,000 people at a time, is famous for the best Buddhist seminary for prayer to GwaneumBodhisttva and so has become the place of devotion for many people as it is known to be the place where any people can achieve one wish through prayer and devotion.

Guinsa Temple welcomes anybody who wants to make his or her prayer and devotion and people can take time of both prayer and rest as surrounded with many places for history education and sightseeing including Mt. Sobaek National Park, 8 beautiful places of Danyangdistrict and area of various caves.

 

Cultural heritages owned by Guinsa Temple

One of the biggest achievement of Taegakkuksa Euicheon(1055~1101) in Koryo Dynasty was to collect theses which werefor Buddhist scriptures of great monks in history and were spread out in East Asia, and to build Kyojangdokam engraving office and to execute engraving work in Heungwangsa Temple. Based on these historical traditions, Cheontae order has collected Buddhism criptures and studied on them for long time since it was reestablished. So now Guinsa Temple owns thousands of artifacts including about 50 cultural assets such as First version of Daebangkwang-bulhwaeomkyung-jubon<29th volume> of National Treasure No. 257, Myobeobywonhwakyung-sammae-chambub<Second volume> of Treasure No. 1162 Amitahoobuldo of No. 210 Province designated cultural assets by Choongbuk-province, including 2 pieces of National Treasure, 9 pieces of Treasure and 24 pieces of Province-designated cultureal assets by Choongbuk Province.

 

History of Guinsa Temple

The headquarters of Cheontae school of Korea Buddhism, Guinsa Temple was founded by Grand Patriarch Sangwolwongak in 1945 as he built a three room thatched humble temple in the current location of OcheungDaeheopdang(5 story Dharma Law Hall) building and started self-discipline. Subsequently reestablishment of Cheontaeschool was proclaimed and found its position as temple for self-discipline and prayer and then lots of building were built as many Buddhists got together.

Unlike the wooden buildings of one or two stories that structures in traditional Kroean temples have, the concrete buildings of several stories that structures in Guinsa temple have should be appraised highly because they help to realize 'ractice of day time work and night time practice', judging from the viewpoint of creating new Buddhism culture in accordance with characteristics of Guinsa Temple and demand of era.

The concrete buildings of several stories tall in Guinsa temple have been distributed to nation wide Cheontae schoolsects as it led unique temple building culture. As its result, it appeared as a symbol of downtown propagating while it provided significant change to domestic temple style. Today in precincts of Guinsa temple, there exist about 50 small and large halls at the foot of Mt. Sobaek. They were built as minimizing the damage to rocks in nature by using the construction technology which was the same as traditional construction method for wooden house in which rocks or stones in nature were adopted and wood columns refined manually were put on the rocks or stones.