There is a temple not far from my mom’s apartment, 30minutes distance by car.
Mom and I visited this temple one day.
It was not so cold when we stopped by.
The temple, Yong Ju Sa, has a historic meaning in Choson Dynasty.
This temple was built for the memory of King Jeong Jo’s father.
Sa Do prince had suffered the mental illness, so he could not succeed the throne.
So King Yeong Jo killed his own son.
King Yeong Jo was the one of the most brilliant and the best king in Choson dynasty.
But he could not but help sentencing his only one son to death to transfer his throne to his grandson.
And king Jeong Jo was a real good son of Sa Do prince.
In Confucianism, the most important ethical element was being a good son.
Being a good son is an utmost beginning behavior for everything in Confucianism.
After being a king, King Jeong Jo ordered to construct a castle in Su Won near the tomb of his father Sa Da prince to move the capital city.
And he ordered to built a temple for the memory of his father.
When we got there, it was afternoon.
It was a first visit for us.
The temple was located in the open place not like other temples built in the mountain.
In my guess, they built this temple in open place for King to get there easier.
What attracted my attention was a wall made up of the piled roof tiles.
It was so impressive.
The gate of the temple was also impressive.
At first, I could see Hong Sal Mun gate which was to be stationed in front of Confucian Architectures.
The main gate seemed to be made after the Confucianist Architecture.
The animals in front of the gate were as same animal as that of the palace.
But the carved mark on the pillar was the symbol of Korean Buddhist order ‘Jo gyeo’
So in my view, Yong Ju Sa temple was an example of the combination between Confucianism and Buddhism in its architectural style.