Sogyeokseo Site, Seoul首尔昭格署遗址

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

South Korea · Seoul Special City · Jongno District · Around the Samcheong-dong and Sogyeok-dong area; the original buildings no longer survive, only the place name remains

First built

1396 (reign of King Taejo of Joseon; originally named Sogyeok-jeon) · Renamed Sogyeokseo with a reduced establishment in 1466 (the twelfth year of King Sejo); abolished in 1518 (the thirteenth year of King Jungjong), and permanently abolished after the Imjin War.

Overview

The Sogyeokseo was the sole state Daoist institution of the Joseon dynasty, established in Hanseong (Seoul) in 1396, originally named Sogyeokjeon and renamed Sogyeokseo with a reduced establishment in 1466. Within its precincts stood the Taeil Hall and the Samcheong (Three Pure Ones) Hall, and it presided over jiao offerings to avert calamity and pray for blessings, its liturgy descended from the tradition of state Daoist sacrifice going back to Goryeo. The present-day Seoul neighborhood name Samcheong-dong derives from the Samcheong Hall of the Sogyeokseo — "Samcheong" (Three Pure Ones) being the ideal Daoist realm, and the site being where jiao offerings were performed. In 1518 (the thirteenth year of King Jungjong), it was abolished at the demand of the Sarim faction led by Jo Gwang-jo; this was a key issue in the conflict between Confucian officials and royal authority during the Gimyo Purge (1519). Though briefly reinstated afterward, it was permanently abolished under King Seonjo following the Imjin War (1592–1598). This is a rare case in East Asia of "a state Daoist office abolished collectively by a Confucian bureaucracy," and is key to understanding why Daoism failed to survive as an institutionalized tradition on the Korean peninsula. Korea today has no organized Daoist religious body or active Daoist temple.

Highlights

• The sole state Daoist institution of the Joseon dynasty
• Taeil Hall and Samcheong Hall
• Origin of the Samcheong-dong place name
• Abolished by the Sarim faction in 1518