Introduction:
Guinsa is the headquarters of the Cheontae (천태) school of Buddhism, the Korean version of China's Tiantai teachings. Once the largest and most powerful of Korea's 18 school, Cheontae gradually lost popularity over the years and disappeared entirely for some time, but was re-established in 1945 by Sangwol Wongak and now commands a respectable two million followers.
The temple is strikingly located, squeezed into a narrow valley surrounded on all sides by mountains. Unlikely many of Korea's temples, Guinsa is fairly new, being founded by Sangwol Wongak in 1945 as the head temple of his reborn sect. But this is partly what makes it so dazzling: unlike the musty National Treasures with fading colors and peeling edges locked away in glass cabinets at other temples, everything at Guinsa is shiny and new. The original was burned down during the Korean War, but the reconstruction of the first building was completed in 1966 and they've been expanding ever since.
