Temple Stay - Golgulsa


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Asia » South Korea » Gyeongsangbuk-do » Gyeongju » Golgulsa Temple
August 26th 2007
Published: August 26th 2007
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Recently, I got a chance to go on my summer vacation. Some of my coworkers took the opportunity to go to Bali or Thailand, but I figured that I’d stay a little closer to home and see what’s in Korea. A program here called Temple Stay allows people to stay at Buddhist temples to see what life is like to there. A few temples in Korea make accommodations for English speaking visitors. Figuring that they are mostly the same, I just picked a temple and went.

I decided on Gogulsa Temple near Gyeonju about a four-hour train ride from Seoul. A bus ride and short walk brought me to the temple gate. From the gate, there was a 10-minute walk up to the temple office about ¾ of the way up a steep hill. (I got to know that hill pretty well over the next two days.) I signed in and got my temple clothes, went to my room, and then I took a wonderfully cold shower to wash off the sticky, somewhat oppressive humidity and heat.

The first thing on the schedule was to go down the hill for dinner. I had been looking forward to tasting the temple food.
View from my roomView from my roomView from my room

This is looking up the hill towards the main shrine and huge Buddha carving
They were serving a wonderful curried potato dish, which isn’t usual Korean fare. (I don’t think it is.) It was delicious. I ate it up wishing I had more, but it was all gone when I went up for seconds.

After dinner, I huffed and puffed my way back up the hill to take a nap in my room. I turned on the fan, opened the windows, and laid the blankets and pillow on the floor (no bed) and took a 30-minute power nap. I woke up in time to hurry back down the hill to go to chanting and then to Sunmudo training.

As a special feature of Golgulsa, people who stay at the temple participate in a zen martial arts training called Sunmudo which is a mixture of yoga and chi-gong. I liked the yoga part of it, but it wasn’t easy. The movements are very slow and we held the poses longer than I thought possible. Still, I was enjoying getting to move my body, which was a change from the sedentary lifestyle I’ve been living.

Afterwards, I trudged back up the hill to my room and another shower before bed. I had opened
My dormMy dormMy dorm

I'm on second floor.
the windows and turned on the fan to sleep, but an annoying roommate had to sleep with the windows closed and then turned off the fans. Koreans are afraid of “fan death”… the belief that if you sleep with a fan on in a room with the doors and windows closed, you will die. I thought I would roast, but I didn’t argue and it turned out okay.

I was nervous that I would miss the 4 AM wake up for the morning meditation. There were signs saying that if you missed morning meditation that everyone would have to do 1000 bows . My roommate felt the need to keep getting up and riffling through her bag and talking on her cell phone. I closed my eyes tighter and tried to sleep. Before I knew it I could hear a monk outside clacking a wooden block and chanting a call for wake up. I just lay there, but the clacking got closer until he was outside our door and he wouldn’t leave until we turned the lights on. No chance of missing morning meditation…

We hiked up a heart-pumping steep hill to the main shrine where the monks did
Morning meditationMorning meditationMorning meditation

Starting down the hill at the crack of dawn
some wonderful chanting and then we did a half hour of zen meditation. I’ve never been very good at consciously making my mind blank. I somehow manage to reserve a blank mind for moments like standing in front of a group of people I want to impress and trying to say something intelligent. When it comes to clearing my thoughts on purpose, I have a millions thoughts to try to get rid of. So, mostly I sat trying to stay still, but I’m not sure you could call it meditation. We then went on a walking meditation hike down the hill, out of the temple gates and along a country road next rice paddies just as the sun was coming up. I think this was my favorite part of the stay. The temple dogs followed along and the mists of the mountains in the morning made me smile.

We got back to the temple with a half hour to spare before breakfast. Breakfast consisted of rice, tofu, and vegetables. My eyes were bigger than my stomach and I piled the food on my plate. Then I found out about a temple rule that you have to finish ALL the food on your plate. Some of the veggies did not taste like what I had expected and I really didn’t like them. I struggled to get down the food I didn’t like and finish off all the food I had taken. For the rest of the meals at the temple, I made every effort to taste the food before I took it and to get smaller portions. It was an unpleasant lesson, but as someone who values environmental conservation, I got the point of eliminating food waste. This is one experience that has carried through to my daily life. I waddled back up the hill after breakfast and splayed myself out on the floor of my room for a nap.

I got up in time to run down the hill for 90 minutes of Sunmudo training, which wasn’t as easy as it was the night before. Afterwards, a climb back to the top of the hill to the main shrine for more sitting meditation and 108 bows. The meaning of the 108 bows is "repenting 108 times." It includes bowing 108 times to rid oneself of earthly desires. I made it to 95 bows ever so slowly, and had to
Reclining buddhaReclining buddhaReclining buddha

I have seen standing Buddhas and mostly sitting Buddhas. Personally, I prefer the reclining Buddha.
stop because they were locking up the shrine. I should have made it to 108 because I still had the very strong earthly desire to take another nap.

Instead of a nap, I opted for exploring the 6th century cliffside Buddha carved out of solid rock during the Silla Dynasty. It sits at the top of the hill above the main shrine. I loved the view and slight breeze. Just below the Buddha statue, there was a shrine in a cave where I had heard the monks chanting earlier. It was nice to take in the peacefulness of my surroundings.

The rest of the day was more of the same of going up and down the hill for lunch, zen meditation, and community work together… men moved roof tiles, women cleaned the temple floors (ahem! and a sniff to that!), dinner, chanting, Sunmudo training, and one last limp up the hill to bed.

The next day, as the monk came clacking at our door, I was able to wake up much more easily even though my body ached from head to toe. I had really gotten a workout the day before, but as much as I hurt, I also felt somewhat invigorated. I happily creaked up to the shrine for morning meditation, and back down the hill for the walk, breakfast, more Sunmudo. The last couple of trips up and down the hill seemed to get shorter and I was glad I stayed more than one night so that I could get to that point.

I managed to miss the second morning meditation and 108 bows as I satisfied my earthly desires of a shower and nap. I saw one of my roommates hobbling out of the shrine and I did not regret my decision. I packed up and ate lunch and got ready to go. This was not the relaxing trip, I thought it would be, but I have to say that it was worth it. I felt better than when I came, which in the end was the whole point.

I got a ride from my annoying cell phone roommate (who turned out to be a very nice lady) to a nearby, very nice temple named Girimsa. But that’s for another blog entry…


Additional photos below
Photos: 19, Displayed: 19


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Meditation SceneryMeditation Scenery
Meditation Scenery

It was nice to just walk in the quiet countryside.
Temple gatesTemple gates
Temple gates

Walking back through the temple gates after walking meditation.
Temple gateTemple gate
Temple gate

That other picture isn't of the gate...this one is
Temple dogTemple dog
Temple dog

Prayer beads make up the collar. The dogs followed us on the morning walk. It looked like they have pretty good life.
Up the hill to the main shrineUp the hill to the main shrine
Up the hill to the main shrine

This is the flat part.
Buddha from a distanceBuddha from a distance
Buddha from a distance

This Buddha was carved in the 6th century out of solid rock.
Mountain view Mountain view
Mountain view

from the top of the hill
My roomMy room
My room

The first door goes to my room.
Uh-oh!Uh-oh!
Uh-oh!

As I was reading this, my hand let go of the toilet paper. I skipped out on the bows. I'll deal with this karma in my next life.


13th May 2011

Nice report.
I was visiting Golgulsa in May 2011 as a side trip from the Taekwondo World Championships in Gyeongju. Everything is still as you wrote. The hill has not become less steep :-) I did not stay at the temple (because of my program with the World Championships) - but perhaps next time. I know many temples in Korea, but this one is special. Thanks and have a nice day.
18th January 2012

happy to read your blog
Hey, there. Your blog is so funny to read. I may visit Golgulsa Temple and Temple stay next week. Do you know how to get to Golgulsa Temple from Gyeongju ? Which bus No. ? Thank you! :)
9th February 2020

temple-stay research
I really enjoyed your description! Currently, we are doing a research on the temple-stay program at Kyunghee University's tourism department. Our research purpose is to investigate visitor’s experiences and to find the factors that influence the most their positive memories and future behavioral intentions. We would really appreciate it if you could complete our survey and help us with your insights on the program. The survey takes around 5 minutes. Thank you! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdoLPC_OoIPLiW8JiX29JEjE5VTb2BohHBMyv7_7im5aXFA3A/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1

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