It is said that there are 3 best Buddhist halls in Korea. The first one is Beopjoo-sa Daewung-jeon, the second is Maitreya hall in Murayang-sa temple, and the last one is Karwhang-sa in Whaeomsa-temle.
So Daewung-jeon in Beopjpoo-sa temple is one of those 3 great temple building in Korea.
I don’t know the standards of qualifying those 3 best buildings. In my view, there could be other standards, history or meaning, etc.
Daewung-jeon was 2 story building. As I posted before, even though it looked 2 story building outside, there was one space inside. The whole space used be made for setting the statues of Buddhas.
This building also had been fired amongst the war against the Japanese Invasion 1592-1597.
But the appearance of Daewoung-jeon was little bit different from the temples having been rebuilt after the war. It was the pillar that made temples different.
As I had posted before, they used natural appearance for making the pillars. The Pillars of Ssanggyeo-sa temple could be the most representative case of the architecture after the war against Japan.
But Daewung-jeon in Beopjoo-sa temple shows totally different style of the pillars. This hall had well crafted straight pillars. It seemed that they tried to maintain the traditional style of traditional architecture style.
But it seemed that they lost the cornerstones of Daewung-jeon. The halls for the Bodhisttva of the mercy and the medicine used their cornerstones though, Daewung-jeon seemed to change the cornerstones. It looked similar to that of Ssanggyeo-sa temple in Nonsan.
What attract my attention was the sculptures of the Monkey and the steps in front of the building. There are 12 animal gods in Oriental culture. When Buddhism accepted in oriental society, these 12 animal gods seemed to be absorbed into Buddhism. As you know these animal gods are related in time. In Buddhism, each animal god has the meaning on Buddhism.
It is said that Monkey in Buddhism represent the protector of the teachings of Buddha.
The ornament of the steps was also so impressive.
The patterns of the steps seemed to show the way to the truth and the paradise.