Haein-sa Temple is the second of the Three Jewels Temples, representing the Teaching. ＂Haein＂ means ＂reflection on a smooth sea.＂ It is the description of a state of meditation (samadhi) taken from the Avatamsaka Sutra. In this sutra, Haein Samadhi is a stage in which an enlightened person sees everything as it is: a world in which all dualities cease. Such a world has a surface like that of a calm sea. This total tranquility, unperturbed by the vicissitudes of life, is the stage of the Buddhas and it is also our True Nature.

At first a hermitage, the temple was built by Master Sunung and Master Ichong on their return from studying in China in 802 under directions from a grateful king.

The queen of King Aejang (r. 800-809) became ill with a tumor. The king asked Master Sunung and Master Ichong to help her. They tied one end of a piece of string to the tumor, the other to a tree and chanted special verses. Miraculously, as the tumor withered, the tree died. Out of gratitude for the monks' services, the king built Haein-sa Temple. Later the temple was greatly enlarged.

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