Colors in the Temple, Bulguksa Temple 불국사 Korea 2005

華麗江山 Ecological Inheritance, Youngdong Chungbuk Korea Summer 2006

曲線美學 History works for more Esthetic Arc of the Roof, Changkyunggoong Seoul Korea 2006

Whenever I go to the place for traditional Korean architecture, I am facinated by the formation of lines and arcs of the roof. With the long long time of history the arcs get more gravity of esthetics. The roof usually made of assemblies of woods and ceramic tiles. And since it is really well designed, as time goes by, the shape and mechanical stability of the archtecture get better.

佛畵 Buddhist Paintings, Sangwonsa Temple Jinbu Korea 2006

學古齋 학고재 Hakgojae Gallery, Seoul Korea Mar 2006

솟대 Pole of High Rise, Kyungin Gallery Insadong Seoul Korea 2006

表現 Portraits of Eternity- SangWon Lee, Gallery Sang Seoul Korea 2006

都市 City Life, Myungdong Downtown Seoul Korea 2006

空卽是色 Calm & serene but Rich and vice versa.., Younggooksa Temple Youngdong Korea 2006

目窓 Window of Wooden Spokes, Duksoo-goong Palace Seoul Korea 2006

門中觀宮 Looking at & through the Gates, Duksoo-goong Palace Seoul Korea

沒 People at the Mall, COEX Samsungdong Seoul Korea Jan 30 2006

漁村有情 Dring Fishes over the Sun & Wind, Port Village Pusan Korea Jan 16 2003

宮庭木 the Tree came into my sight.., Changkyunggoong Palace Seoul Korea Summer 2006

How many centuries the tree has been watching the things happened in the palace.. Mixture of couple of tens of glorious coronation events and cruel bloody cases of assassination and tortures against insurgents.. However he never tells anything on the history of the dynasty which waned and waxed for such a long period of time..

刹 Renovated Sangwonsa Temple, Jinboo Korea May 2006

塔 Pagoda and the Layout, Sangwonsa Temple Jinboo Korea

Elevated Artistic Sophistication over Buddhism, Sangwongsa Temple Jinboo Korea 2006

Esthetic Paradigm of "OLD" Korean, 榮國寺 Younggooksa Temple Youngdong Korea

Old Koreans who had been living here bit more than 100 years ago had admirable sense of aesthetics..
Pursuing harmony with surrounding nature, even pursuing balance among the components themselves, all the layout and arrangement of colors, lines, areas are well along with each and every constituents.

Nowadays in Korea however..
the descents are doing the thing in exactly opposite way.. shameful..

I love the openness of traditional Korean architecture. They tried to build house or garden as natural as possible minimizing the separation of people from nature. And they seriously took geographical positioning of the land into account for housing. Formation of mountain, river, and direction of sunshine are the major factors for consideration.

佛 Hall of Graveness and Colorfulness, Sangwonsa Temple Jinboo Korea 2006

巨 Old Trees in the Temple, Tongdosa Temple Pusan Korea 2005

美 the Inheritance, Changkyunggoong Palace Seoul Korea 2006

It's awsome for me all the time to see the voluminous roof with such elegant lines and arcs..
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I love to see this turtle neck at the very corner of the roof..

Wishing long live to King.. the Turtle errects his neck high to the heaven..

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The plates are for Ranking for the King's cabinet. They needed to be standing insides the position plates with the King sitting on top..

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Enterance gate to king's office..

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The ceiling of the King's Office.. shows a couple of legendary birds.. BongHwang..

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The glittering chair for my Majesty..

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The young couple might be listening to what the old pine tree are telling on the history of the Yi Dynastry.. hopefully lots of lessons to carry as well..

香 Balmy for more than 1,000 years, Sangwonsa Temple Odaesan Jinboo Korea 2006

色 Trees and Colors, Changdukgoong Seoul Korea 2006

丹靑 Colors on Wood, Changkyunggoong Palace Seoul Korea 2006

歸天 Back to Heaven, Poet's Tea House Insadong Seoul Korea 2005

歸天

나 하늘로 돌아가리라.
새벽빛 와 닿으면 스러지는
이슬 더불어 손에 손을 잡고,
나 하늘로 돌아가리라.
노을빛 함께 단 둘이서
기슭에서 놀다가 구름 손짓하면은,
나 하늘로 돌아가리라.
아름다운 이 세상 소풍 끝내는 날,
가서, 아름다웠다고 말하리라..

천상병

Where is Nature and Where is Not?, JeonDeungsa Temple Kwanghwado Island Korea Fall 2004

都 Peter's Image of Seoul 2004

佛 Jade Colored Temple in the deep mountain, Chilbulsa Temple Jirisan Guryae Korea 2004

지리산 칠불사는 1세기경 가락국(駕洛國)의 시조 수로왕(首露王)과 허황후 사이에서 태어난 일곱 왕자가 그들의 외삼촌인 범승(梵僧) 장유보옥선사(長有寶玉禪師)를 따라 이곳에 와서 수도한 지 2년 만에 모두 성불(成佛)하였으므로 지어진 이름이다. 11동의 건물이 있었으나 1948년 여수·순천사건으로 완전히 소실되었다. 그후 여러해를 지나 현재의 모습으로 복원되었다.

범승(梵僧) 장유보옥선사(長有寶玉禪師)가 처음 수도하던 사찰은 경남 김해시 장유면 불모산 장유사이며, 이 사찰에는 장유선사 사리탑과 <가락국사 장유화상 기적비>가 보존되어 있다

1976년 12월 20일 경상남도유형문화재 제144호로 지정된 아자방은 하동군 화개면 범왕리의 지리산 반야봉 남쪽 해발 800m 지점에 있는 칠불사 경내의 서쪽에 자리 잡고 있다.

아자방은 신라 효공왕(孝恭王) 때 구들도사로 불리던 담공화상(曇空和尙)이 아(亞)자형으로 길이 약 8m의 이중온돌방을 축조하였는데, 온돌의 구조가 특이하여 아궁이는 지게를 지고 들어갈 만큼 거대하고 불을 한번 때면 49일간이나 따뜻하였다고 전해온다.

1948년 소실되어 그 터만 보호하여 오다가 1982년에 현재와 같이 복원하였다. 복원된 건물은 정면 5칸, 측면 2칸의 맞배지붕을 한 무익공계(無翼工系)로 정면 우측 2칸이 부엌이고, 좌측 3칸은 온돌방으로 되어 있으며 내부가 하나의 공간으로 트여 있다.

온돌방의 내부는 바닥 높이가 다른 2단 구조로, 정면 3칸 중 각 좌우 1칸은 중앙칸보다 45cm 가량 높고 경계면이 ㄷ자형으로 가운데가 팬 모양이어서 바닥의 전체 모양이 아자형이다. 굴뚝에는 열을 조절하는 놋쇠판을 두어 온돌의 열효율을 높이도록 하였다.

竹 Green Bamboo in the Temple, Tongdosa Temple Pusan Korea 2005

통도사의 대나무..
스님들의 무념의 손길이 좋았을까
키우기 까다로운 대나무들이
바랜 잎사귀 하나 없이
조용히 자리하고 있다


Tongdosa is a major Chogye Buddhist temple, and is one of the Three Jewel Temples of Korea. It represents the Buddha, and is located on Yeonchuk-san in Yangsan City, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea. It was founded in 646 CE by the monk Jajang, during the reign of Queen Seondeok of Silla. It thrived throughout the Unified Silla and Goryeo periods, when Buddhism was the state religion, and remained strong even in the Joseon Dynasty. Only one building, the daeungjeon hall, survived the Japanese invasions of Korea in the late 16th century; the other buildings were rebuilt after that time.
Tongdosa is often called "The temple without a Buddha" because it contains no outdoor statues of the Buddha, rather it is arranged around several stupas which contain Jajang's precious gifts, and reputedly, relics of the historical Buddha, including his robe, begging bowl, and a bone from his skull.

廊 the Corridor, Changdukgoong Palace Seoul Korea Mar 25 2006

門 Main Enterance Gate to the Palace, Changdukgoong Seoul Korea 2006

King's Office, DukSoo-goong Seoul Korea 2006

色 Celebrations, Budda's Birthday Insadong Seoul Korea 2006

The Lotus Candle fetival is the biggest event to celebrate Budda's birthday in May.
A week before the day, the pious people put lots of paper candle holders over the trees, lamposts in the street and facade of some buildings.. And some people write their wishes and post them inside the paper lotus.

秋 Sunshine over the Deep Fall, Rural Korea 2004

整 Wooden Roofing, Changdukgoong Palace Seoul Korea 2007

庵 for Tao, Ssanggyesa temple Guryegu Korea 2007

宮 Highnoon at the Palace, Duksoogoong Palace Seoul Korea 2006

深 Sea of Fog and Islands of Mountains, Jirisan Range Korea 2007

華 Surrounded by Maples, Jirisan Korea 2007

淸 la Blanche et le Bleu, Bukhansan Mountain Seoul Korea 2007

儼 Glory, Sunset at Nogodan Jirisan 1,200m Korea 2005

Temple in the Autumn, Ssanggyesa Jirisan Mountain Gurye Korea 2006