Haeinsa Temple in Hapcheon County, Gyeonggnam: A thousand years of great wisdom

-Sori-gil (Sound Road), a panacea for the tired soul

-The road to Haeinsa Temple, a visual paradise every step of the way

Chosun.com Media Report Team

Haeinsa Temple in Hapcheon-gun (county), Gyeongnam, is like no other temple you've seen in Korea. A cool breeze tickles your nose as you hear birds cheerfully chirping through the clear-blue sky, all the while looking afar at the elegant motions of a stream.
Other than the epic natural landscape, Haeinsa Temple is also renowned for storing the Palman Daejanggyeong, or Tripitaka Koreana.

 <Haeinsa Temple in Hapcheon County, Gyeongnam, the home of rich history>

There are several ways to arrive at Haeinsa Temple, like by car, mass transportation or on foot. If you're interested in hiking, try the Sori-gil (road), a 6km-long trail that stretches from the entrance of Mount Gaya to Haeinsa. It takes about 2.5 hours.

As you slowly walk along the road, you'll feel yourself internally healed by the touch of Mother Nature. The tender sounds of a valley, birds gently chirping from tree to tree, and wind chimes tinkling in the cool breeze are all exclusive features of Haeinsa Temple.

<Sori-gil (road) is frequented by crowds of tourists all year-long.>

After a 2.5 hour-walk, you'll arrive at Haeinsa Temple, founded over 1,200 thousand years ago. Some of the key places you must visit within the temple are Daejeokgwangjeon and Jangkyungpanjeon.

Daejeokgwangjeon, located at the center of Haeinsa Temple, is a shrine to Vairocana Buddha, or the Buddha of Enlightenment.

<A cultural tour guide shows the crowd around the temple.>

Right pass Daejeokgwangjeon, you'll arrive at Jangkyungpanjeon, where Tripitaka Koreana lies at. Tripitaka Koreana is a Korean collection of Buddhist scriptures carved onto about 80,000 wooden printing blocks during the 13th century. Daejeokgwangjeon is the oldest building at Haeinsa Temple, acclaimed to be a work of scientific architecture.

Where ventilation is most critical for quality maintenance of the wooden blocks, the doors at Daejeokgwangjeon are all different in size. Charcoal, salt, sand and lime powder are installed in the floors for control of humidity, too.

<Tripitaka Koreana lies at Daejeokgwangjeon in Haeinsa Temple.>

Now that you're through with the temple tour, it's time for dining! No need to go far away, for there's temple fare that includes shitake mushroom and mung bean jelly salad.

If you happen to visit a local restaurant nearby, side dishes are likely to be fresh vegetables collected from adjacent mountains. A steamy bowl of soybean paste stew will also be served to highlight the table.

<Restaurants near Haeinsa Temple serve a festival of healthy choices.>

※  Goryeo Tripitaka (Palman Daejanggyeong)

The 81,258 wooden printing blocks created for 16 years is known to weigh around 280 tons. When vertically stacked, that would make the collection higher than Mount Baekdu. When horizontally stacked, the collection would be 60km-long.

Palman Daejanggyeong was designated as the 32nd national treasure, as well as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage in 2007. The UNESCO committee described the blocks as one of the "most important and most complete corpus of Buddhist doctrinal texts in the world."

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