Last, last, weekend, we went to Itaewon. Here are a couple pics from that day. Yes, mostly of the deliciousness that is poutine and falafel because these are rare gems that can only be found in Seoul.
Corey with Itaewon in the backdrop
Mmm a taste of home
Petra Palace--amazing falafel place!
Anyway, what I really want to write about is our Temple Stay weekend while it's fresh in my mind.
This past weekend we went to Geumsansa Buddhist Temple. We met up with other foreigners in Seoul and took a bus south to Jeollabuk-do region. We travelled high up into the mountains to reach our destination on Saturday afternoon. Soon after we arrived, we were given monastic uniforms to get into the spirit of the place. Then they divided us up and showed us to our rooms. I was with six friends from Incheon. We set up our quilts and blankets on the floor and settled in a bit before heading to the meeting hall to make lotus lanterns.
Reaching the temple
Pagoda
Making lotus lanterns
Afterwards we did some meditation, and had an early vegetarian dinner of rice, soup, tofu, and vegetables. Then the monks led us out into the courtyard to take turns ringing a big bell. We went into the Main Buddha Hall for the evening chant. There were many large statues of Buddha and a few monks beginning their chanting. We all followed along the best we could, since we'd been shown the basic bowing and hand positions in our earlier meditation instruction.
Buddhas
We went back to the meeting hall and had tea with a monk who answered many questions from our group. He had a translator, but sometimes he was eager to answer a question himself and skipped the translator. His English was very good and he admitted he had the translator there mostly because he was too shy to use his English in front of a big group. He answered some serious questions about what Buddhists believe in and why vegetarianism is important in keeping with the idea that they should not kill anyone or anything. He also answered those questions that people are often curious about, but sometimes embarrassed to ask like: "Do you do any recreational activities?" The answer was yes and that he really liked playing soccer with other monks a couple of times a week and no, they did not play in their long formal monk robes. One guy in our group asked if there was a special way monks had to shave their heads and the monk answered that usually his monk friend shaved his head; His choice razor was Gilette.
My ninja-monk room mates
At the end of the talk it was 8:30pm and time for bed. We were told there was an optional chanting session that we could attend at 3:30 am. Most of us wanted to try and wake up for the 3:30 chant to get the full experience so we had the lights out by 8:45 and I think everyone in our room was asleep around 9pm. At 3:00am the drums were sounded and four out of the seven of us actually got up to go chant in the main Buddha Hall. We put on our monastic uniforms and headed out into the early morning. The ceremony was almost identical to the one we had done as a group the night before, except this time there were only 13 people (out of our group of 40) and there was an extra surreal quality added to the ceremony because it was so dark that we could see the stars (which never happens where we are in Incheon). So we walked into the hall, took our places, and chanted. I can see why people would choose this experience as an escape from city life. It's the kind of space where you can actually hear and feel yourself think.
After the chanting we went back to bed for a bit and then woke up again at 5 to meditate. Most of the group was there by the time we had our traditional temple breakfast at 5:30 am. It's a very cool ritual with a lot of etiquette on how to serve and how to accept food. I have to say, I am not a big fan of rice and kimchi for breakfast. It was especially hard to stomach the piece of radish required for wiping down the bowl at the end of the meal.
Breakfast is served
passing along the place settings
Corey radishing his bowl clean
I felt better when we were done with radish-wiping (and then water washing) our dishes because we were led to the other side of the temple to see a beautiful bridge over a creek with the mountain as the backdrop. Some other people in our group who were not on dish duty were responsible for sweeping the pathways.
Sweeping the paths
The view
A peaceful bridge
Once our chores were completed, we followed a monk who led us on a refreshing morning walk in the forested mountainside. The pictures don't capture the beauty of the place, even with the trees still in there sparse winter state. When the trees start to blossom, I imagine it's even more like something from a fairytale.
Walking in the woods
Corey and the trees
The most amazing part, to me, was when we were given 108 beads and a piece of string. The monk instructed us to perform a bow and for each bow, to add a bead to the string (which works sort of like a rosary for keeping focused on prayers). The full bow is pretty much a yoga movement that I'm familiar with, but I'd never repeated it 108 times and wasn't sure I'd be able to. Still, Corey and I took our beads to the main Buddha Hall and began. One bow, one bead. I enjoyed the process and tried to focus on doing each bow as completely as the first. I finished my necklace nearly an hour later. I was really proud of myself for sticking to the process and for the final product.
We had lunch with the monks and with some Korean pilgrims who had hiked up to the temple. It was bibimbap and seaweed soup with apples and pears for dessert. Then we changed into our ordinary clothes, said our goodbyes to the monks and translators, loaded back onto the bus and headed to Seoul.
Serving up some vegetarian goodness
On the bridge
Mexican food and drinks time
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