Stone Pagoda Courtyard: Pagoda Circling and Incense
Goyosa's courtyard is the wide yard that opens out at the top of the stone steps through the Gate of Non-Duality, with a three-story stone pagoda, a stone lantern, a stone lotus basin (seongnyeonji), chrysanthemum pots, and an incense burner. In the online temple Hapjang (합장), you can circle the pagoda once with it on your right (pagoda circling, or tapdori), offer incense, and sweep fallen leaves together with other visitors as shared work (ullyeok).
- Where
- At the top of the stone steps through the Gate of Non-Duality
- What's there
- Three-story stone pagoda, stone lantern, stone lotus basin (a stone pond on a lotus pedestal), chrysanthemum pots, incense burner
- What you can do
- Pagoda circling, offering incense, shared work (sweeping leaves)
- Incense
- Burns for 30 seconds and is visible to everyone; one stick every 25 seconds
- Together
- Everyone sweeps the 24 leaf patches together; up to 3 people can follow the elder monk's pagoda circling
What are the pagoda and stone lantern in a temple courtyard?
The pagoda began as a structure for enshrining the Buddha's relics, and Korean temples often set a stone pagoda in the yard in front of the main hall. The number of stories varies by temple, but three- and five-story stone pagodas are common.
A stone lantern stands in front of the pagoda and the hall, likening the Buddha's teaching to a light that brightens the dark. Pagoda circling, walking slowly around the pagoda with it on your right, is also a custom handed down from long ago.
What Goyosa's courtyard looks like
A three-story stone pagoda stands in Goyosa's courtyard, with a stone lantern and a stone lotus basin beside it. The stone lotus basin is a small stone pond set on a lotus-shaped pedestal. Chrysanthemum pots and an incense burner fill out the yard, and Pinewind Sunim spends his days here sweeping. Like the rest of Goyosa, it is an original, newly built temple ground, not a copy of a real temple.
Three things to do in the courtyard
- Pagoda circling: keep the pagoda on your right and walk once around it slowly, clockwise. You can go alone, or up to 3 people can follow Elder Elm Sunim when he circles it at 06:30, 15:00, and 15:45 Goyosa time. → Pagoda circling
- Offer incense: incense offered at the courtyard burner glows for 30 seconds, and its smoke is visible to everyone. You can offer one stick every 25 seconds. → How to offer incense
- Shared work: everyone who is online sweeps the courtyard's 24 patches of fallen leaves together. A patch someone sweeps becomes clean on everyone else's screen too. → Shared work (ullyeok)
Where to go from the courtyard
From the courtyard, paths lead to the Bell Pavilion with its bell and four instruments, the Lantern Courtyard where wish lanterns are hung, and the Main Buddha Hall, the heart of Goyosa.
Try it in Hapjang
Go near the pagoda or the incense burner and the things you can do appear as buttons on screen (on a PC, the E or F key works too). Start pagoda circling and you walk once slowly around the pagoda with it on your right; if you move on your own partway, the circling ends. Shared work means sweeping leaves in the courtyard together. Offering incense adds the stamp 香 (incense) to your notebook, and shared work adds the stamp 掃 (sweep).
Frequently asked questions
Which direction do you walk around a pagoda?
Keep the pagoda on your right and walk clockwise. In Goyosa's courtyard in Hapjang, you also circle once slowly in that direction.
When does Elder Elm Sunim circle the pagoda in Hapjang?
Elder Elm Sunim circles the pagoda at 06:30, 15:00, and 15:45 Goyosa time, and up to 3 people can follow. One Goyosa day is about 17 real minutes, so these times come around more often than you might think.
What is a stone lotus basin (seongnyeonji)?
It is a stone basin that holds water, set on a stone pedestal shaped like a lotus. You can see it in Goyosa's courtyard along with the stone pagoda and stone lantern.
Related pages
- Pagoda Circling: Which Way to Walk and How (Tapdori)Pagoda circling (tapdori) means walking slowly clockwise with the pagoda on your right. Direction, laps, mindset, and how to do it online at Hapjang.
- How to Offer Incense at a Buddhist Temple: Steps & EtiquetteHow to offer incense at a Buddhist temple: light it, wave out the flame, place it with both hands. Its meaning, etiquette, and offering it online.
- Ullyeok: Shared Temple Work, Sweeping Leaves TogetherUllyeok is the shared work of a Korean temple community. What it means, how to sweep mindfully, and sweeping 24 patches of leaves together at Hapjang.
- With the Monks: Tea, Pagoda Circling, and a Wrist MalaSpend time with Hapjang's monks through gesture, not words: a cup of tea, pagoda circling, shared work, walking to the moktak, and a daily wrist mala.
- Bell Pavilion: The Temple Bell and Four InstrumentsA Korean temple's bell pavilion houses the bell, drum, wooden fish, and cloud gong. In Hapjang you can ring the bell once a day and play all four.
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