Person

Jajang

Silla monk who, back from Tang, urged Queen Seondeok to build the nine-storey pagoda of Hwangnyongsa

A monk of true-bone birth, he went to Tang in 636 to study and returned in 643 at Queen Seondeok’s call. As great national overseer of monks he tightened monastic discipline, and he founded Tongdosa with its ordination platform. The Samguk yusa says he was told in Tang that "if a nine-storey pagoda is raised at Hwangnyongsa, the neighbouring states will submit," and came home to propose it. He is also said to have urged Silla to adopt Chinese-style court dress and reign titles.

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1 related event

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AD 645Nine-Storey Pagoda of Hwangnyongsarelated figure
On the monk Jajang’s advice, Queen Seondeok built a nine-storey wooden pagoda some 80 m tall at Hwangnyongsa, raised by the Baekje master builder Abiji.

People who appear alongside

Queen SeondeokAD 647
Twenty-seventh ruler and Silla's first queen, under whom Cheomseongdae and the nine-storey pagoda of Hwangnyongsa were built

Themes this person appears in

Changes in PagodasAD 634 – 1467
From Baekje stone pagodas copying timber ones and Silla pagodas copying brick ones, to Unified Silla three-story pagodas and stupas, Goryeo multi-sided pagodas and Yuan-influenced marble towers
Gyeongju57 BC – 1860
Silla’s capital for a thousand years — tombs, pagodas, temples and bells from every age of Silla, and the birthplace of Donghak