Spring at Seonunsa Temple, a Forest of Peace that Lacks Nothing

Spring is the season to enjoy the camellia flowers at Seonunsa Temple.
They seem to evoke tears upon just seeing them, and sometimes they seem to drip crimson blood from between the black-green leaves.
Only the camellia flowers are on display in the evergreen forest in spring while all the surrounding trees have not yet produced any leaves.
But they still say that the best time to visit Seonunsa Temple is “winter,” because the flower’s Korean name is dongbaek (lit. “winter tree”).
But when you look at the autumn maple tunnel that looks like red light flowing down along with the sound of clear water flowing down the valley, there is a cry that the scenery of Seonunsa Temple can only be embodied by “autumn.”
However, looking at the contrast of the deep blue sky that condenses freshness, and the red spider lilies on the ground, it seems that you should definitely come to Seonunsa Temple in “summer.”

How great it would be if you could visit Seonunsa Temple every season and meditate to your heart’s content.
However, the busy lives of modern society do not allow that kind of leisure.
So, the uncertainty of having to choose the best season follows.
Camellias that call for winter, red spider lilies reflected in the thick greenery that call for summer, and the red maple leaves of old trees projected on the valley stream that boast that autumn is best make the choice confusing.
Each person makes their own rational argument that winter, summer, or autumn is the best time.

That is perhaps why spring at Seonunsa may not seem attractive to visitors from the secular world.
Paradoxically, Seonunsa is a temple of spring.
Because the beautiful forest surrounding the inner court of Dosoram Hermitage (lit. Hermitage of Tusita Heaven) is not flashy and spreads evenly throughout the main temple and its hermitages, that is where one can experience the peace of home.

With the tiring daily life and the nerve-shredding news that we encounter every day, there is no place better than spring at Seonunsa Temple to let go of the pain that inevitably fills our hearts.
Spring at Seonunsa Temple reveals a forest of peace and tranquility that is so perfect that even passing clouds seem to stop and meditate.
Let’s enjoy spring at Seonunsa Temple, where tranquility itself is beauty.

The silence is not palpable until you enter the wide parking lot of Seonunsa Temple.
However, the moment you get out of the car, a change occurs.
If you take just a few steps from the parking lot and look across Seonuncheon Stream, a 1,000-year-old resident of the temple—that tells you this is a temple of spring—comes alive to greet you.
Just that experience alone relieves the burden of suffering you carry.
Hedera rhombea (“ever-spring vine”) greets you with gentle silence, as if smiling and telling you that you can rely on this place to relieve your burden.
You can feel the warmth of this vine that has endured for so long leaning on a huge boulder.
That is how you enter the temple of spring.

The Heavy Scent of the Blunt-lobed Spicebush’s Yellow Flowers The Jangsasong Pine Showing Off Its Strength

Leaving the Hedera rhombea behind, I feel spring with every step I take.
The salamanders that emerged in early spring have laid eggs in the stream, and woodpeckers greet me with clear cries.
This is enough for me to cast off my chaotic thoughts.
If I walk a bit farther, another tree of spring tells me I have truly arrived at Seonunsa Temple.
Rows of tea trees outside the temple wall seem to clear my mind just by being there.
The branches that suffered frostbite during the long winter radiate life as if they had never experienced winter.
Here, I encounter spring again and lean on my cringing heart.
Here, too, I find comfort in seeing trees growing while leaning on each other.
Two maple trees grew with an old zelkova tree between them, each spreading their roots and supporting each other.
Eventually, they grew as one, and I see that the weak can become strong by supporting each other.

Perhaps because they dwell in Tusita Heaven, the monks who welcome this weary soul also exude a sense of peace.
Serving me a cup of warm tea imbued with the spring of Seonunsa Temple, two monks—Hyogeun Seunim, the head of the training department, and Hyeonjeok Seunim, the head of the general affairs department—smiled brightly as if they were greeting a welcome friend rather than an unexpected guest.
The taste of tea cannot be this sweet.
The monks’ smiles I encountered here reflected the serenity this place offers.

The valley Seonunsa Temple nestles in fully reveals its true form after I pass through the Templestay center.
It has a different kind of warmth and affection not found at other mountain temples.
Even in a heavy rain, the water does not rise much, so the valley does not have a broad flood plain.
As expected of a deep river valley, the water flows constantly.
There are no concrete or stone retaining walls, often seen in some other temples, to distort the natural appearance, the creation of Mt. Seonunsan’s warm mountain landscape.
The valley appears completely natural, created by the water that flows through the forest while not interfering with it.
This brings to my heart the kind of warmth that melts winter ice.
As if trying to hide the river from the sky, broadleaf trees hide the river and appear to be just about ready to sprout young buds.
Some of their impatient neighbors are already putting out flower buds, and some of them reveal dark green leaves.
The yellow flowers of the blunt-lobed spicebush announce the scent of spring in the forest.
Their rich fragrance is strong enough to briefly disturb the peace of this visitor visiting this spring forest.
This is a peaceful valley path where one can walk while enjoying the valley and forest in peace, not a mountain path where one gasps for breath while carefully looking down at the ground to avoid tripping.
It is a path where one can walk while admiring the spring forest that grows in the valley.

In March, it is still too early for the leaves to come out in force, so I walk along imagining the colorful spring foliage that only broadleaf trees can create.
Then a strange splash of color suddenly catches my eyes.
The Jangsasong Pine Tree stands proudly, showing off its unique strength, and on its branches sit two woodpeckers busily preparing to welcome spring.
My peaceful heart is disturbed momentarily, but as I continue my walk to Dosoram Hermitage, there is only silence.
I enjoy the beauty of the forest, forgetting about the time, and I soon come across a rock-carved buddha enshrined in the center of Tusita Heaven’s inner courtyard.
It is a place where all worries disappear, and the comfort of heaven that the Donghak Peasant Movement so desperately desired to achieve still lives on here.
Unfortunately, this hike seems to tell me that I should not completely let go of all my worries.
I can’t ask the temple to reveal all its hidden secrets in one visit, can I?
The rock-carved buddha is being repaired, and it looks like the Buddha himself won’t show up for quite some time.

The Moment Van Gogh Wanted Ardently to Capture

From Nakjodae Lookout and Cheonmabong Peak, a distance that can be climbed with a short but strenuous hike that leaves one panting, the gentle broadleaf forest covers the inner courtyard of Tusita Heaven, a spectacular sight for the eyes.
In early April, when spring is in full bloom, the broadleaf trees reflect the light to create a gentle pastel painting.
It makes you feel as though all the colors that Van Gogh so ardently tried to capture, the colors of the moment when sunlight encounters spring leaves, are all there.
Since it is still early spring, I can only imagine the festival created by light and nature.

The beauty of spring on Mt. Seonunsan and the inner courtyard of Tusita Heaven that surrounds Seonunsa Temple, is largely due to its location.
Trees that live in the relatively warm southern region generally grow as far north as Mt. Seonunsan, and trees that prefer cold weather grow south as far as Mt. Seonunsan.
Trees that prefer the coast also grow here, so it is rare to find a place where one can enjoy such a wide variety of trees.
In addition, a valley surrounded by gentle hills tends to maintain a stable level of humidity.
Instead of having a single point of excellence, the absence of any shortcomings gives Seonunsa Temple an atmosphere of peace and affection.

The forest of Tusita Heaven is a forest of spring.
When you enter the forest, you can entrust your steps to the sunlight that shines down and covers each tree with its own color, and when you climb up the hill to look out over the forest, you can entrust your eyes to the feast of colors that will guide you through the forest.
The variety of colors created by the spring leaves seems to express the music of spring in color.
And the spring colors created by nature transcend the boundaries of digital technology.
Jitae Seunim, the head of the training department who accompanied me, casually utters words that seem to fall suddenly like camellia blossoms.
“Here at Seonunsa, we can endure what is uncomfortable, but cannot stand what is not beautiful.”

Embraced by nature, spring at Seonunsa gives me more comfort than words.
Spring in Tusita Heaven tells me to lean my heavy heart, weary of the secular world, here.
Just like Hedera rhombea, which has lived through 1,000 springs by leaning on a large boulder,
just like the twin maple trees who have become united at the roots to support each other,
just like the pine tree in the forest who supports and becomes one with a fellow tree about to fall,
if you need help, you can lean on someone.
Even if you are carrying a heavy burden, life is still beautiful.

 Hong Seok-hwan is a professor in the Dept. of Landscape Architecture at Pusan National University and an expert in the field of environmental and ecological planning. He loves and respects the vitality of forests and seeks to find solutions by thinking deeply about the role of forests in responding to the climate crisis. He is the co-chairman of the Climate Disaster Research Institute, a member of the Jogye Order's Environmental Committee, and a member of the Environmental Committee of Yeongchuk Chongnim Tongdosa.

※ The record on the founding date of Songgwangsa Temple (published in the winter issue of 2024 / vol. 53), is corrected to: “around the 8th century by Master Hyerin at the end of the Silla Dynasty.”