3. Anyang-ru Pavilion of Buseoksa Temple

[Teacher]
"This Anyang-ru Pavilion is located opposite Muryangsujeon Hall, the main hall of Buseoksa Temple."

[Student]
"What is this pavilion?"

[Teacher]
"The pavilion is an attic-style building with its floor raised above the ground floor to see into it from every side. The pavilion is called Nugak or Nugwan in Korean, or high pavilion, because it is usually built on a high hill or a platform raised with stone or earth."

[Student]
"Oh, I see."

[Teacher]
"Anyang-ru Pavilion of Buseoksa Temple offers a unique function. It is leads to Muryangsujeon Hall through the passage below the pavilion. It sorts of acts as a door.”

[Student]
“Ah! Then this one building has two functions, a pavilion and a door?”

[Teacher]
“Yes, That's right. That's the unique characteristic of Anyang-ru Pavilion. Have you seen the signboard hanging on the back of Anyang-ru Pavilion?”

[Student]
“The back? Aha! That one over there? The one that reads Anyangmun Gate?”

[Teacher]
“Yes, it is. “What do you think Anyang here implies?”

[Student]
“Isn't that just a name?”

[Teacher]
"Anyang means paradise. Anyangmun Gate, in other words, also means the gate that leads to paradise. Muryangsujeon Hall that you can see over there is a building that symbolizes paradise.”

[Student]
"I didn’t know it had such a deep meaning. Each building carries a great meaning.”

[Woman]
The utmost bliss is an ideal world where the Amitabha Buddha resides, and it is also referred to as the Blissful Land of the Buddha of Infinite Life, the Blissful Land of the Buddha of Infinite Light, or the Blissful Land of the Buddha of Infinite Purity. The utmost bliss is a place of pleasure only, and the pleasure comes from the joy of enlightenment achieved by the original vow of the Amitabha Buddha. The utmost bliss was generally referred to as the Pure Land of the West to match the bearings and time of the people in India. Anyangmun Gate symbolizes the entrance to paradise.
Anyang-ru Pavilion may look like a two-story pavilion from the front, but it looks like a single-story pavilion if viewed from Muryangsujeon Hall. If you look down from the second floor of the pavilion, the buildings inside Buseoksa Temple stand out, and the Sobaek Mountain Range spreading out in distance gives an outstanding view. Kim Byeong-yeon, a wandering poet in the late Joseon Dynasty, also left a poem about Anyang-ru Pavilion.


[Kim Sakkat]
I have been unable visit any place of interest due to no time for leisure throughout my life,
but I am finally here in Anyang-ru Pavilion today after losing my job.
The picturesque mountain lies southeast
and heaven and earth float day and night like a duckweed.
As if all things in the past have been riding horses and running amok
this body of mine swims like a duck in the space.
How many times would anyone be able to enjoy scenery like this in a hundred years.
The years are heartless as I have already grown old.

- A poem of Kim Byeong-yeon in Anyang-ru Pavilion of Buseoksa Temple.