Yeongsan Hall

[Traveler]
Let’s move on to the dainty octagonal building on the right. (E – sound of footsteps) First you should see an ordinary gilt Buddha statue, but then you will notice that the room is so tightly packed with tiny figurines, it looks like a can of sardines. Has the Buddha been besieged by evil forces?

Of course not! It represents a historic event in which Buddha Shakyamuni gave a sermon to 500 of his followers gathered on a holy mountain. The name, Yeongsan Hall, literally means “Hall of the Holy Mountain,” and it was derived from that event. The famous historic event has been honored in numerous paintings and drawings in the Korean Buddhist community, but here the event is represented by the art of sculpture.

The people seated closest to Shakyamuni Buddha are his Ten Disciples, who are in turn surrounded by 526 saints who attained enlightenment through ascetic practices. Interestingly, all these figurines are arranged to look in different directions. By the way, did your eyes meet the eyes of any of the figurines? If you did, the first one whose eyes met yours is your guardian.