Geumyongam Hermitage (Busan)

Geumyongam is a small hermitage on Soemisan Mountain, a temple that seems to lie alone in the mountains like Mount Sumeru of the Buddhist realm, blending into nature along with the pine-forest path at its entrance. Geumyong (金蓉) means golden lotus, and the temple was named after symbols representative of Buddhist thought: the lotus, the diamond (vajra) or gold. During the reign of King Cheoljong in the late Joseon period, a bodhisattva (lay devotee) named Yi Indeokhaeng left home at Haeinsa Temple in October 1919, received the Dharma name Daebong, built a tile-roofed inbeopdang (a house-style Buddha hall) of 3 kan at the foot of Soemisan, and called it Geumyongam. The name Geumyongam is said to derive from Geumyongsan, another name for Soemisan, and the temple consists of the main hall Yeomhwajeon, Samseonggak, and the monks' quarters Wontongnyo and Hyangjeokdang, among others. Yeomhwajeon, built in 1992, has a hip-and-gable roof, 3 kan across the front and 2 kan on the side; inside, a seated Shakyamuni Buddha stands at the center, flanked by a seated Medicine Buddha and a seated Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, and at the rear are a hubultaeng (painting behind the altar) made in 1993 as well as the Jijangtaeng and Sinjungtaeng paintings. Inside Samseonggak there is a painting of the Samsin Grandmother, which is not a Buddha image but a depiction of three women. This Samsin Grandmother has long been widely known to answer the prayers of those who wish for a son. On the slope beneath the temple wall stands a monument to the temple's history with Daebong's upper body engraved in line.