Temple story · Editorial summary, not a direct quote
The Plan Called a Fantasy
The founding of Yakcheonsa
Yakcheonsa website: 'History and Activities'
Many dismissed Ven. Hyein's plan for a three-story main hall as a fantasy, yet the hall held its completion ceremony in 1996.
In 1981, Yakcheonsa relates, Ven. Hyein was looking for a site on Jeju for a great temple that could hold its own internationally, and chose this spot, with a view of Hallasan's peak and the wide sea spreading out in front. At the time the temple plot held nothing but a thatched hut called Yaksuam; a medicinal spring had long flowed at this spot, but there was no electricity and no proper road in. When he drew a bird's-eye view of a grand three-story hall, Daejeokgwangjeon, and asked people for advice, many, it is said, brushed the plan off as a fantasy: 'Anyone can draw a picture like that.' According to the temple, he saved even the offerings he received for Dharma talks around the country to buy land, and drafted the design himself: three stories on the outside like the Mireukjeon of Geumsansa, modeled on the grand structure of Gakhwangjeon at Hwaeomsa. In 1993 the main hall enshrined a seated Vairocana Buddha that, the temple says, was made from wood brought from Baekdusan, and in 1996 it held its completion ceremony. Inside the main hall, look up at this Vairocana Buddha, which the temple describes as the largest seated wooden Buddha in Korea.