Gyeongju is an ancient city in the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula. It’s home to one of the most beautiful and renowned Buddhist temples in the country, Bulguksa Temple. Two famous stone pagodas stand inside the main sanctuary of the temple yard. These twin pagodas, named Dabotap and Seokgatap, were built during the Three Kingdoms period in the 8th century. Well known for their exquisite beauty and aesthetic charm, both pagodas have become national treasures. Seokgatap pagoda is also called Muyeongtap, meaning a pagoda without a reflection or shadow. A sad legend lies in this mysterious nickname.

According to the legend of the Bulguksa Temple, there lived a stonemason named Asadal in Baekje, one of the three ancient Korean kingdoms. He was known as the best sculptor on the entire Korean Peninsula. At the time, the neighboring kingdom of Silla began constructing new pagodas in the Bulguksa Temple in its capital, which is present-day Gyeongju. Silla needed excellent masons, and Asadal was invited all the way to the capital of the neighboring state. After completing Dabotap pagoda first, he started making another one, Seokgatap pagoda. Back in his hometown in Baekje, his wife, Asanyeo, waited for her husband to come back home.

Years passed without any news from her husband. Asanyeo missed her husband so much that she decided to travel to Gyeongju herself to see him. After a long, tiring journey, she finally arrived at the temple. To her disappointment, she heard that women were banned from entering the temple site where the holy project was underway. That meant she would not be allowed to see her husband until the pagoda was finished. Having traveled for so long and from so far just to see him, Asanyeo couldn’t give up. She hovered around the temple every day, hoping to catch a glimpse of her husband, even from a distance. A Buddhist monk at the temple took pity on her. The monk told her to wait by a pond near the temple until her husband finished the pagoda, which would then cast its reflection on the water.

From then on, Asanyeo stayed by the pond outside of the temple, waiting for the top of the pagoda to appear above the temple walls so she could see the shadow of the pagoda on the water. Several months passed, but there was no sign of a reflection on the water. Asanyeo found herself losing hope and faith. Exhausted and heartbroken, she couldn’t even summon the energy to return home. Calling out her husband’s name, she threw herself into the pond and drowned to death.

After the pagoda was finally completed, Asadal was belatedly told that his wife had been waiting for him at the pond. He ran to the scene, never to find her. What was waiting for him was the rumor about the tragic death of his beloved wife. While wandering around the pond in despair, he saw the image of Asanyeo appearing on the rock in the nearby mountain. To him, the smiling woman looked like the generous and benevolent Buddha. Asadal began to engrave the illusionary image on the rock. When the work was done, there was a fine, rock-carved Buddha sculpture. It was the last work of art that the stonemason left behind. Unable to bear the loss of his wife, the grief-stricken man took his own life, drowning himself in the same pond where his wife had died. The pagoda was later called Muyeongtap, meaning that it has no shadow.