Overview
Bonwon Jeongsa (本願精舍) is a temple affiliated with the Daegakhoe of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, located on Samgaksan Mountain in Suyu-dong, Gangbuk-gu, Seoul. Bonwonjeongsa enshrines a wooden seated Bodhisattva statue said to have been moved from Taegosa Temple during the Korean War. Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva is a great Bodhisattva who teaches sentient beings in an era without Buddha, between Shakyamuni Buddha and Maitreya Buddha. He is especially known as a bodhisattva who enters hell to teach and save sentient beings suffering in hell. In the early 1980s, Venerable Wonseong, who served as abbot, was inspired by this Kṣitigarbha statue and made vows to follow its original monastery. Therefore, the temple was renamed Bonwonjeongsa. Since then, Bonwonjeongsa has been developed into a place to treat the physical and mental ailments of sentient beings in the Saha world. Additionally, as an always-open temple, it provides Seoul citizens and Buddhists with a place to rest their busy minds and adorns Bonwon Jeongsa as a place for prayer.
