A monk's purple garden blooms in Mungyeong

By Hankookilbo

• Published Oct 11, 2026 12:05 AM KST

MUNGYEONG, North Gyeongsang Province —Every step along the country road reveals another pale purple flower emerging through the mist. Any visitor soon finds themselves surrounded by thousands upon thousands of blossoms.

A wave of flowers winds along the ridges of the wooded hillside, revealing here and there a statue of the Buddha or stately pine trees. It is a truly dreamlike and otherworldly scene.

Bongcheon Temple, a small Buddhist temple halfway up Mount Wolbang in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province, is blanketed in purple aster flowers every autumn. The sight is spectacular every year, but the flowers are particularly abundant this year.

Seven asters grow into a field of flowers

The flowers cover an area of 23,100 square meters, but began with just seven aster flowers.

When the abbot first came to the temple 12 years ago, the surrounding hillside was barren. It was covered with kudzu vines, with only a few small vegetable plots cultivated by local residents scattered here and there.

Looking for a wildflower that could thrive on the rocky, weed-covered hillside, the monk chose asters. After planting and tending them for three years, the flower field had grown to about 1,000 square meters. A year later, it had more than tripled to about 3,300 square meters, and photographers began arriving to take pictures of the unique scene.

An aster festival was first held in 2021. The abbot explained, “Photographers were coming from faraway places because they had heard about it, while people in the local area didn’t even know about the flower field, so we decided to hold a festival.”

More visitors than expected came from the very first festival, creating management difficulties. “There weren’t enough toilets, and so many cars came that the village access road was completely blocked,” the abbot said. “I realized we didn’t have the capacity to handle it and even considered getting rid of both the festival and the flower field.”

Starting in March, local residents start tending the flowers. “About five years after we started cultivating the field, there were more flowers and the soil had become depleted, so there was a lot of work to do, including adding fertile soil and preventing pests and diseases,” the abbot said.

Because water is scarce on the mountain, the villagers dug a well to supply water to the field. Maintaining the flower garden requires a significant amount of labor, so most of the festival admission fees are used to pay the workers.

Seven wildflowers have, in effect, grown into an attraction that helps support the village.

A field shaped by nature

The years of care have paid off.

White and purple cosmos have also been planted among the asters for the past four years, and they too have flourished. The idea was to plant the two together so that if the asters had a poor year, the cosmos could make up for them. This year, however, both have produced an abundant display.

That harmony is what sets Bongcheonsa’s flower field apart. There are larger, more systemically managed fields, but it is difficult to find one where flowers, rocks, a Buddhist temple, statues and pine trees come together as they do here.

It may be the difference between a merely pretty location and one that looks as if it belongs to another world.

The rocks hidden among the flowers are another point of pride. They were originally concealed beneath vines and weeds, but the abbot gradually uncovered them while tending the aster field.

These include "Jwaseondae," a rock that supports people's backs into the proper posture for meditation posture and "Bongcheonmaru," a rock which offers the best view.

The abbot has also given each site its own theme and meaning, collectively naming them the “13 Aesthetic Views of Bongcheon Temple’s Aster Field.” He personally selected each of the viewpoints.

The sightline from the temple extends all the way to Mount Hakga, offering a refreshing panorama.

The area around the meeting point of the Nakdong, Naeseongcheon and Geumcheon rivers, known as "Samgang," can be seen from the temple. The location has long been considered strategically important and many battles were fought here.

The "Samguk Yusa" records a tradition that Gen. Kim Yu-sin of the Silla kingdom defeated Tang dynasty forces led by Su Dingfang in this area.

The Bongcheon Temple Aster Festival runs through Oct. 18. The admission fee includes plum tea and acorn jelly, with the latter being a local delicacy.

The jelly is made by hand at the temple using traditional methods. It has a texture that clings gently to the tongue and a rich, slightly bitter acorn flavor.

It is not sold separately, so it is worthwhile to visit Bongcheon Temple just to try the jelly.

Oasis deep in the mountains: the Mungyeong Doline Wetland

There is another unusual landscape on nearby Mount Gulbong: the Mungyeong Doline Wetland.

The wetland sits along the mountain ridge. Wetlands are normally found in low-lying areas, but this one is found at 300 meters above sea level and deep in the mountains.

The wetland formed when rainwater accumulated in a dish-shaped depression known as a doline, created as the limestone bedrock in the area dissolved and sank.

Doline formations can also be found around Mount Mindung in Jeongseon, Gangwon Province, but most dry up seasonally. The Mungyeong doline is particularly unusual because it retains water year-round and supports a wetland ecosystem covering 494,434 square meters.

Limestone areas typically have numerous cracks in the ground, allowing water to drain rather than collect. At Mount Gulbong, however, fine clay accumulated over tens of thousands of years.

This reddish clay, known as terra rossa, filled the cracks in the ground and formed a natural waterproof layer. As a result, a wetland was able to form.

Surrounded by grasslands and forest, the Mungyeong Doline Wetland is a remarkable well of biodiversity. A total of 932 species of plants and animals live there, including eight endangered species that form a food chain within the small ecosystem. They include the Eurasian otter, a Class I endangered animal, as well as the yellow-throated marten, leopard cat and Chinese sparrowhawk.

The wetland was designated a national protection area in 2017 and became Korea’s 25th Ramsar wetland in February 2024. Of the more than 2,500 Ramsar wetlands around the world, only six — including the Mungyeong wetland — have formed in doline terrain.

People have benefited from the wetland. In the mountainous inland areas of North Gyeongsang Province, where water is scarce, the wetland serves as an oasis.

Local residents once turned the basin into terraced rice paddies and cultivated rice there. It is the only known case in Korea of rice cultivation in a limestone doline landscape. Some of the rice paddies are still preserved in the wetland today.

When visiting by car, navigation apps should be set to “Mungyeong Doline Wetland Parking Lot,” rather than simply “Mungyeong Doline Wetland.”

The road leading directly to the wetland is an unpaved road reserved for management vehicles. Visitors should park at the designated lot and take a free electric cart to the wetland.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.