Korean Temples: Art, Architecture and History Paperback – 7 Jan 2016

Having lived in South Korea for 8 years and with a keen interest in Buddhism, I have found Dale Quarrington's work on Korean temples immensely informative. In a country where there is often little published work on the subject in English, Dale's books contain a wealth of knowledge covering temple history, art and architecture, as well as aspects of Korean Buddhist practice. This book is an excellent starting point for anyone looking to visit and learn something about the most influential temples in the country. It's a light paperback, so easy to carry with you when out and about exploring. It also contains helpful instructions on how to get to each of the 25 temples described in the book. These days, it is easy enough to search on the internet or Naver maps to find the location of the temples described, but the suggestions given here for public transport options still come in handy. The glossary of terms at the back is particularly welcome for those unfamiliar with the unique features of Korean temples and the Korean names for the Buddhist deities. Attractive colour photographs are included and these capture the gorgeous landscapes and some of the special characteristics of each temple. Highly recommended to any English language speakers visiting or living in Korea.

This book isn't what I anticipated. I thought it would discuss the art, architecture and history of the temples in a general sense so I could learn about what I saw when I was touring temples in South Korea. However, this book is much more of a tour guide in English (which is useful) if you are actually at the temple. It can be hard when touring the temple to know what to look for and what you are looking at. This book serves that purpose well. However, outside the brief introduction, this book does not give any general information and is useless if you are not actually at the temple.

This is an excellent book that introduces the most important Korean Buddhist Temples for visitors and pilgrims to see. With one or two beautiful photos for each of the monasteries, and a quick summary of their history and main features, it's a very useful work for those interested in this nation's religious traditions. This guy book version would be very useful on a tablet or phone while traveling around Korea; I highly recommend getting it. David A. Mason, professor of Korean Religious History.

I just received this book. I am not amused. For 20 dollars is a cheap printed book, including a bad cover photo. Everything about the book says: cheap. That's one thing. Second, now I am about to learn where all these temples are so I can incorporate them in my itinerary. No map! How can there be no map? Seriously, I will now spend time on google maps figuring out where all these temples are. For a new visitor to Korea, how do I know where lies the Beopjusa Temple in Boeun-Gun, Chungcheongbuk-do?Again, 5 dollar book: I can live with how the book looks like and the lack of a map. 20 dollars? Not.I just hope that when visiting all these temples and using the book as a reference, I will be happy again. If that's the case, I'll happily add another review here saying so.

This book is easily five stars. Why would anyone give it one star if they haven't actually read it? The title tell you everything you need to know what the book is about.. It is a very detailed and fascinating book it also has lots of very good images with appropriate descriptions. This book is super informative and great if you want to visit some of these temples. It's also is great if you just want to know about some these temples This book is also full of great photography. If you're looking for a book about Korean temples this is an automatic purchase. I like the Kindle version for walking around the temples but a paper version is a great addition to any libraryI included a couple of pages below from my phone. Perfect for touring the temples themselves.

This is a great read full of interesting tidbits. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in Buddhism in Korea or is just going to Korea to work or travel.