"Yeonbiwon-bulsa
is located in the southern
part of Mt. Ohdo about 5km
away from the village to
the northwest.
A big rock was erected,
on which an image of Buddha
was carved, and it is about
30m high. It was constructed
in the 8th year of Jungkwan
in Dang Dynasty, and it
has a 6-story roof.
The shape of the building
is like wings spread in
the sky. Afterwards, it
was reconstructed twice,
but old materials were used
for the columns and beams,
etc."
According to the record
above, the construction
of the stone Buddhist
image and the castle seems
to have been carried out
in the year of 634 AD(the
third year of Sunduk Queen
in the Shila Dynasty).
Besides, it was found
out that even until 1608
when the book, Yeong-gaji,
was published, they were
preserved as it was.
However, the name of the
castle was gone, only
to leave Yeonmiwon-bulsa
recorded, which shows
that the original name
of the temple was already
lost. The following is
another record saying:
"Priest
Boduk had 11 prestigious
pupils, among whom Musanghwasang
had Gumdongsa built with
his pupil Gimchui and others,
both Priest Jukmyul and
Priest Eiyoong had Jingoosa
built, Jisu had Daeseungsa
built, Sujeong Yoomasa built,
Sadae had Jungdaesa built
with Gyeyook and others,
Gaewonhwasang had Gaewonsa
built and Myoungduk had
Yeongoosa built."
'Yeongoosa' shown in this
record indicates the very
'Yeonmisa', which is not
quite sure without a detailed
record capable to support
this assumption, but it
is quite desirable to
base the assumption on
the legends handed down
orally by the priests
in Yeonmisa and
the holes and foundation
stones seemingly used
to build the castle roof
above the Jebeewon Mireuk
Buddhist image.
In other words, the swallow-shaped
and many-storied building
covers the stone Buddhist
statue and even the rock
in front of it,
which indicates that the
way of constructing the
temple is similar to that
of a stone cavern temple,
and this space was the
Buddhist
sanctum, whose location
corresponded to the beak
of a swallow. That's why
the temple
has been called Yeongoosa.
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