Beopdang
Building enshrining Buddha and Bodhisattvas in Korean Buddhist temples
Beopdang (Korean: 법당; Hanja: 法堂), also called buljeon (불전; 佛殿; lit. 'Buddha hall') or geumdang (금당; 金堂; lit. 'Gold house'), refers to buildings that enshrine Buddha and Bodhisattva in Korean Buddhist temples.
Etymology
Until the early Goryeo period, Buddha halls were called geumdang, reflecting the wuxing concept in which yellow symbolizes the center. Later, Seon Buddhism used the term beopdang, which means house of Dharma filled with eternal freedom and truth. After the Goryeo period, the names of beopdang began to vary depending on the type of deity enshrined within them.
Meanwhile, in China and Japan, beopdang (fǎtáng in Chinese and hōdō in Japanese) refers to a space where sermons are delivered.
History
Originally, beopdang was a place for sermons and located behind buljeon (building where Buddha statues are enshrined). However, in smaller temples, beopdang and buljeon were not distinguished and sermons were delivered in buljeon. As Seon Buddhism flourished in Korea, buljeon was also called beopdang and most Buddhist events were held there.
The public source identifies “Beopdang” as building enshrining Buddha and Bodhisattvas in Korean Buddhist temples. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Beopdang, Building and enshrining.
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Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q139502673. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Beopdang” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.