Temple Stay

Well, I finally did it! One of my to-do things in Korea was to go to a "Temple Stay". That's when you go to a Buddhist temple to stay over night and just learn about Buddhism and Korean culture at the same time. It was probably the most interesting and cultural thing I've done in Korea. We went to a really big temple in Haenam. It's a place in Southwest Korea. Very far from where I live.

Anyway, there are some amazing pictures, which I'll put at the end, but here's the story.

We took the KTX from Yongsan at 7 in the morning (that's the train that goes 300km/h). That trip was about 2 hours and 40 minutes. We got off the train and took a bus for 2 hours, then we took another bus for 20 minutes then we took a cab for about another 15. After all that transport, we found ourselves in the most beautiful place I've seen in Korea. We were in a valley between tons of tree covered mountains with nothing but silence around us. It was a most welcome break from the really crowded, busy streets of where I live.

We got our outfits (they supplied us with temple stayer clothes) and we started our journey. There were about 100 people staying at the temple, maybe a bit less. We were the only foreign ones though, so we stuck out like crazy. The monks were really hospitable and they gave us really special treatment because we were foreign! Among that special treatment was our own private house in the mountains to stay in, and tea with one of the monks IN HIS HOUSE (again, a pagoda style thing nestled away in the mountains).

Well, we walked around and took some pictures, then we had the 6:30 ceremony where they gather and pray to Buddha and things. I didn't really know what was going on, but Jenny explained a lot while it was happening and now I understand way more than when I went there.

They started the ceremony by beating a massive drum and ringing a bell - sounds that echoed throughout the ancient temple and surrounding mountains.  All the while the Buddhists chanted, waking and beckoning the spirits of the land and sea - they believe that when you die you're recreated into a different living thing.

It was complete immersion in a totally different world, thick with history and tradition. So cool. Anyway, Jenny taught us how to bow and what to do properly so that was ok. Picture this: you bow, then you get on your knees, and put your forehead to the floor and get back up. Sounds easy right? Try to do it 108 TIMES. I am SO sore.

It was sooo interesting though, so it's worth it. After that is when we had dinner (vegetarian), and we washed the dishes for them because of all of the special treatment we were getting. We had tea with the monk (who didn't speak English, but it was still an interesting experience), and went to bed.

The one girl I was with was looking at the stars and the monk came and stood next to her. She asked, "what do you think of when you look at the stars?" and he said, "what's your name". She said, "Amanda". He said, "what was your name before you were born?" (*confused look from Amanda*). He said, "who will you be after you die?" It was then that I realized I was standing next to a DEEP thinker. I don't compute such deep thoughts. Anyway, that's what he thinks of when he looks at the stars! (Jenny translated all of this by the way).

In the morning, we woke up at 5. (We were supposed to get up at 3:30, but being foreign, we got our special treatment once again!). We went and had breakfast, then we hiked up one of the surrounding mountains. It took a REALLY long time, and my legs were KILLING me (and still are) because of the 108 bows (or 'prostrations') the night before, but once we got to the top we found the most beautiful temple and a magnificent view! The temple was built around a rock that has been there since the 7th century. In the face of the giant rock, there is a huge sculpture of Buddha. It was hard to show how big the sculpture was with the camera, so I'm there in that picture with the big stone Buddha, just to the right of the bottom of it. All of that fruit is real by the way. It was a really beautiful place. Jenny did 108 more prostrations there, but I continued to climb up the mountain to see the nice view.

After that we just came home and now I'm sitting in my apartment reflecting on what a really awesome weekend it was. In case you're wondering - no, I'm not Buddhist now. I liked some aspects of the religion - the meditation, the silence and the beauty of the architecture, but I definately have other views about certain elements.

It's probably not necessary to repeat myself, but once again - it was the coolest, most amazing thing I did in Korea - challenging and rewarding, educational and eye-opening! Here are some pictures from the journey!

Oh ya, before we went, we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts for breakfast, and I saw that they had a garlic glazed donut, and something about olives. I tried the garlic glazed. It was confusing. After the temple stay, we found a dollar store (a 1,000 won store). It had a blow up clothes hanger, and I think that's important for everyone to see.