At the foot of Youngchuksan Mountain near Yangsan, Tongdosa invites visitors to notice what is absent as carefully as what is present. Its Daeungjeon, or main Buddha hall, does not contain a Buddha statue. Instead, the temple’s sacred focus is the Geumgang Gyedan, the Diamond Precept Platform, where relics associated with the historical Buddha are enshrined. The arrangement gives the temple a distinctive place in Korean Buddhist pilgrimage.
Local tradition dates Tongdosa’s foundation to 646, during the Silla kingdom, and attributes it to the monk Jajang. Yangsan’s municipal heritage guide says Jajang brought relics of Shakyamuni Buddha from Tang China and established the monastery under Queen Seondeok. The account describes a temple whose authority rests on relics and ordination, rather than on a central image. Visitors should treat this as a functioning religious precinct, not simply an architectural display.