The Biggest Iron Pot in Korea and It's Hidden History.

20171208

There was a not well known temple near Nonsan city. I had posted about Nonsan city on which there were several famous temples. I found a tiny small temple on the way to Nonsan city.
The history of this temple was written on the standing board.

Gae Tae Sa was the name of this temple.
Literally Gae Tae means opening the great thing.
Only with this name, we could estimate that this temple was closely related with an opening of Koryeo Danasty.

This temple had been built by the order of the First King of Koryeo Dynasty.
The very first king’s name was Wang Geon.
In the process of unifying Korean peninsula, Wang Geon had waged fierce battles in this area, so he wanted to built the temple to mitigate the animosity of the residents.

At that time, Buddhism was the best option to persuade people for the new Dynasty.
Gae Tae Sa seemed a very large temple.
The proof was an Iron pot which was a relics of the temple.
The size of the Iron pot was as large as 7feet of diameter.

With this iron pot, they could prepare the soup of 300 people.
It meant that there lived about 300 people in this temple.
I never had seen this kind of large iron pot before.

There were nothing left in the place of the temple.
After Korean War the monk found the Iron Pot which was half buried by a flood.
Now this iron pot became the symbol of Buddhist worship in this temple.
People put the coins and money to show their belief.

The only thing the monk could found in the temple place was a 5 story of Stupa which was scattered on the ground.

Nobody knows why this temple was destroyed, once more than 300 people had been living there.
A monk reestablished this temple in recent years.
At that time a buried Iron pot and a scattered Stupa were key existence to restart this temple.

Everything in this temple was diminished, but the left things became a starter of new beginning.

History flows carelessly.