Ganghwa Part II: Buddhism

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Bomunsa Temple, on a little island West of Ganghwa, is supposed to be one of three "great prayer sites" in Korea. A bit more complicated to get to than Manisan - an extra bus and a trip on the ferry - but well worth it, even including the steep climb reminiscent of Manisan's 900 steps. Apparently these Buddhists enjoy their stairs.

But walking around in a place where monks' chanting forms a sort of soundtrack made the steep trek worth it.


At the bottom.


I'm not sure what these rock piles mean, but I'm guessing they're pretty important. They were everywhere.


If the plaque explaining this had come with an English translation, I could tell you what it is. But your guess is as good (better, depending on your knowledge of Buddhism) as mine.


General view from the courtyard. I didn't realize at the time that the stairs lead all the way to that bare rock at the top of the mountain. That realization came when I, sweaty and exhausted, finally reached the end. But that's later.


Two strangers pose for my picture of the stairs. Following this, we had a mimed conversation where they asked me if I wanted them to take a picture of me with my camera (I think), I asked them if THEY wanted ME to take a picture of THEM with THEIR camera, we all got confused and laughed and walked away. It was a funny moment.

Of course, Murphy's law would dictate that somewhere nearby there was a bilingual Korean watching us and laughing.


Buddha's light: one of the 3 top prayer spots in South Korea, I'm told. Lonely Planet says women come here to pray for sons or grandsons.


The big guy himself.


The view facing away from the mountain wasn't bad either. Some of you may not want to know how much (or little) there was between tourists and steep cliff/total oblivion, so I'm not going to say.


Back at the main building. Isn't the artwork incredible? I could've stood there forever just staring at it, but older Korean women gave me funny looks, so I didn't.

I wasn't sure if I was allowed to take pictures inside the temples (darn the signs in that funny language; what's the use of being able to read Korean if you can't understand anything except 'hwa jong shil' (toilet)?), so you'll have to trust me that they were GORGEOUS. Sort of reminded me of visiting those fancy, ornate Catholic cathedrals in Italy.


This temple was supposed to be 1000's of years old. But the English translation could use a little help (I have students who have better grammar than that), so I can't be sure.


There was no English plaque for this. A choir of Buddhas? It was vastly entertaining, especially if you look at how many of these guys aren't looking forward. Some of them were looking up, or at each other. It reminded me of my classroom.

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