The temple we're about to see dates to the unified Silla period and was originally founded in 673 by the monk Uisang as a hermitage. It's one of the oldest temple sites connected to the Seoul area. An Indian monk named Jigong once visited this site and supposedly remarked that the scenery resembled Vulture Peak mountain in India, one of the most sacred mountains in Buddhism. Back then an old Korean word for India was Cheonchuk and according to legend that's where the temple got its name.

Musugol is a very old village within the neighborhood Dobong-dong. This village has been here for way longer than Dobong-dong exists. The village was divided between the upper middle and lower section. At the upper section, you had two clans, mostly the Jeonju Yi clan and the Andong Kim clan. The Jeonju Yi clan has mostly disappeared, but there are still 10 or so households from the Andong Kim clan living in this village. The further I walk into the village, the more rural it becomes. I'm not sure if I've ever seen or felt anything quite like this in Seoul before.

This used to be the site of Dobongseowon, an old Confucian academy. It's all gone. I think I see some ruins here and there. They're trying to excavate a few things. The carvings here are from the 17th century, done by Johnson Scholar, marking the entrance to the Seowon Confucian academy that used to be there.