Sanbang-san [Mountain-Room Mountain] (with "mountain-room" refering to its famous cave seen below) is within sight of Jeju-do's southwest coast, and dominates the region.  In the photo above, its twin main temples can be clearly seen:  the new Bomun-sa (on the right) and the older Sanbang-gul-sa (left). 
Mt. Sanbang-san and the
Temples of Jeju's Southwest Coast
NEXT PAGE --->
        Jeju-do Opening Page

                  Site Contents Page
<---cave
Gwanmyeong-sa
Sanbang-gul-sa & Bomun-sa
A popular old myth says that a mighty hunter was shooting arrows at the white deer near the peak of Halla-san, but missed and shot the Halla Spirit in the buttocks.  The angry Halla-san-shin ripped the peak of the mountain off (leaving the Baek-rok-dam Crater) and threw it at the hunter.  It fell here on the SW coast, crushing the hunter to death.  However, he was then reborn as the (female) San-shin of this small but prominent mountain.


The Sanbang-gul [Mountain-Room Cave], high
up on the slope above those two temples (a steep 15-minute climb on stairs) is the only cave-shrine on Jeju, and has long been famous for Buddhist worship.  The Goryeo Dynasty zen monk Hye-Il (964~1053) lived here for some time.  Fresh water continuously falls at its rear, and collects in pools up the stairs; visitors drink it and make prayers before it.  Old stories say that if you drink three sips of it, you will enjoy longevity in good health.

People say that the Sanbang-San-shin mentioned above (a.k.a. San-bang-gok) became fully enlightened as a Bodhisattva of Compassion, and this water is the tears that she constantly cries for all the pain of this "ocean of suffering" world.
The spectacular view from Sanbang-gul Cave
On the lovely coast just south of Sanbang-san is the memorial with model-ship for Hamel, the Dutch sailor who was ship-wrecked here in 1653.
He became the first European to live in Korea (spending 13 years as a prisoner), eventually returning home to write the first Euro-language book on this country.