Daejeokgwangjeon, the Supreme Buddha Hall, of Yakcheonsa Temple

Daejeokgwangjeon, the Supreme Buddha Hall, is located by the seaside, next to Seogwipo-si City. Its structure is basically taken from the Gakhwangjeon Hall of Hwaeomsa Temple and added some majestic elements. In particular, it applied the elements from the three-story structure of Mireukjeon Hall of Geumsansa Temple in Gimje of Jeollabuk-do Province. The building contains the wish that the people in Jeju Island live well even though they are in a barren environment surrounded by the ocean all around.

As you step into the temple, you may have noticed its significant size.

The name of this hall is technically Daejeokgwangjeon, the Supreme Buddha Hall because Vairochana Buddha, the Dharma-body of the Sakyamuni Buddha is enshrined as the main statue. This hall is 29 meters tall and is made of the lumber from Baekdusan Mountain, the highest mountain on the Korean Peninsula, best known for its mystical power. The statue itself is about 9 meters tall, including the pedestal, making him the largest wooden Buddha statue in Korea. The painting behind him included 53 small Buddha statues aims to adorn and illuminate the statue. They represent the 53 Zen knowledges encountered by the Zen disciple in the Avatamsaka Sutra during the quest in obtaining the Buddhist scriptures.

Apart from using material from Baekdusan Mountain, this hall has another highlight that is different from other temples.

Inside of the large Buddha Hall, there is an inner passage to another Buddha Hall on the second floor, where 80,000 gilt-bronze Buddha statues are enshrined. Upon seeing it, we can truly understand the scale of the participation of Yakcheonsa Temple’s ardent devotees towards completing this temple. On the third floor, there is a Rotating Sutra Case called “Yunjangdae”, which is stacked with Buddhist scriptures. It is said that if you turn this wheel once, it is equivalent to reading the scriptures once. Also, the pedestal is too high to be seen from the first floor because it is 25 meters from the floor to the ceiling. To get a proper view of the dharma hall, you need to walk up the stairs to the second or third floor. From there, you can clearly see the majestic view of the whole dharma hall, which is as high as an eight-story building!