Bongwon Temple is a South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

n Buddhist temple in Bongwon-dong

Bongwon-dong

Bongwon-dong is a legal dong, neighbourhood of the Seodaemun-gu district in Seoul, South Korea and is governed by its administrative dong, Sinchon-dong's office....

, Seodaemun-gu

Seodaemun-gu

Seodaemun-gu is a gu located in northwestern Seoul, South Korea. The name derives from Seodaemun, meaning literally "Great West Gate", which was once located in the district...

, Seoul

Seoul

Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

 near Yonsei University

Yonsei University

Yonsei University is a Christian private research university, located in Seoul, South Korea. Established in 1885, it is one of the oldest universities in South Korea, the top private comprehensive universities in South Korea, and is widely regarded as one of the top three comprehensive...

.

Situated to the northeast of the university on the hillside of Ahn Mountain, this is the head temple of the Taego Order

Taego Order

Taego Order or Taego-jong is the second largest order in Korean Buddhism and is a Seon order. Seonamsa is one of the head monasteries of the Taego Order and over 8,000 monks and 3,100 temples belong to this order...

 of Korean Buddhism

Korean Buddhism

Korean Buddhism is distinguished from other forms of Buddhism by its attempt to resolve what it sees as inconsistencies in Mahayana Buddhism. Early Korean monks believed that the traditions they received from foreign countries were internally inconsistent. To address this, they developed a new...

. Originally founded in 889 by Master Doseon and located on the current site of Yonsei University, it moved to its present location in 1748.

Part of the temple was destroyed in 1950 during the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

. In 1966 a new hall was built but this was later moved to another part of the city. In 1991 while a new Hall of 3000 Buddhas was being built, a fire destroyed the Main Buddha Hall, which was rebuilt in 1994. In the summer of 2004, it was discovered that serial killer Yoo Young-Cheol

Yoo Young-Chul

Yoo Young-chul is a South Korean serial killer and self-confessed cannibal. Although he admitted to murdering 21 people, mostly prostitutes and wealthy old men, the Seoul Central District Court convicted him of 20 murders . Yoo burned three and mutilated at least 11 of his victims, admitting he...

 had buried over one dozen bodies of his victims on the temple grounds.

Currently more than 50 monks live at the temple and are engaged in education and social welfare work.

See also

• List of Buddhist temples in Seoul
• Korean Buddhist temples
  Korean Buddhist temples
  Buddhist temples are an important part of the Korean landscape. This article gives a brief overview of Korean Buddhism, then describes some of the more important temples in Korea. Most Korean temples have names ending in -sa , which means "temple", or ancient temple.-Introduction to Korean...
  
  
• Korean Buddhism
  Korean Buddhism
  Korean Buddhism is distinguished from other forms of Buddhism by its attempt to resolve what it sees as inconsistencies in Mahayana Buddhism. Early Korean monks believed that the traditions they received from foreign countries were internally inconsistent. To address this, they developed a new...
  
  
• List of Korea-related topics