Peace & Reunification Prayer Seon Temple
Temple story
Located at the foot of Palgongsan in Daegu, Giwon-jeongsa is a warm temple where families meditate together and pray for peace on the Korean peninsula.
- Official name
- Seonhakwon Peace & Reunification Prayer Temple (Branch No. 404)
- Founded
- 1984
- Abbot
- Beomryung Sunim (Shin Chil-ryong)
History
Giwon-jeongsa was founded in 1984 at the foot of Palgongsan in Daegu — a small Seon temple where lay families could practice meditation together and pray for peace and reunification on the Korean peninsula.
It is registered as Branch No. 404 of the Seonhakwon Foundation — a Korean Buddhist body that has continued the tradition of Seon practice since the Japanese occupation. The temple inherits Seonhakwon's dual commitment to traditional contemplative practice and active engagement with the issues of our time.
In 2017, we published the 33rd-anniversary anthology Good Connections (442 pages).
Peace spirit
Peace is not only an absence of war — it begins with one breath, one mind. Every prayer rite at this temple is dedicated to families divided across the peninsula and to all who long for a peaceful, reunified Korea.
We hold a Peace & Reunification Prayer Rite (평화통일 기원법회) every month — open to people of all faiths, no advance registration needed. You may also leave a short prayer message on our online wall.
Buddhism at Giwon-jeongsa
Buddhism is not distant information. It is a practice of noticing suffering, softening speech and action, and making shared life more peaceful. At Giwon-jeongsa, these teachings continue through family meditation, prayers for peace and reunification, and care for the environment.
First steps in the Buddha's teaching
An accessible guide to the Three Jewels, Four Noble Truths, and Eightfold Path.
Breath and awareness
Practice that can begin in a chair, in a room, or while walking in the temple yard.
Practice with family
The precepts and compassion explained through speech, meals, and care at home.
Environment & service
Since the early 1990s, the most distinct ongoing practice at Giwon-jeongsa. Fifty women practitioners (led by Kwon Daeja Bosal) work less like a devotional group and more like a hands-on environmental NGO.
- No chemical detergents · dishwashing with collected water
- Hand-made rice-bran soap · 100+ boxes shared at low cost on World Water Day & Environment Day
- Stream restoration outreach · local environmental campaigns
- Cooperation with Great Nature Conservation Association · environmental school study
What is practiced at home is the most effective and lasting.
Leadership
주지 · 사업자 대표
Beomryung Sunim (Shin Chil-ryong)
Founding Abbot and Executive Director. A longtime Seon practitioner of more than three decades. After years of mountain hermitage, the sunim opened Giwon-jeongsa in 1984 to bring quiet practice into the everyday lives of families.
운영위원장 · 환경봉사팀 회장
Kwon Daeja Bosal (dharma name: Daegakhwa)
Board Chair and Environmental Team Lead. Leads the lay community board for the temple's direction and member fellowship, and drives 41 years of environmental practice with a team of 50 women practitioners — refusing chemical detergents, making rice-bran soap, running Environment Day campaigns.
Directions
- Address
- 6 Palgongno 33-gil, Dong-gu, Daegu (Bullo-dong) · 41029
- Phone
- +82-53-982-9329
- Abbot
- Beomryung Sunim
- Nearby
- Bullo Tumuli & Palgongno area — pair with a walk or local-history visit.
Visit
Giwon-jeongsa
6 Palgongno 33-gil, Dong-gu, Daegu (Bullo-dong)
Search query: Giwon-jeongsa 6 Palgongno 33-gil, Dong-gu, Daegu (Bullo-dong)