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Published: November 29th 2010
Buddhism: a golden statue of a fat man drapped in cloth sitting in a temple where the smell of incense wafts through the air and over the heads of kneeling monks with gleaming heads deeply bowed and touching the floor. Chanting, barefoot, drums, and om. A sense of peace, happiness, and acceptance.
Basically, my storybook idea of a religion that intrigued me in how completely opposite it seemed from Western religions and cultures. Back home in the States, I hadn't really come in contact with it except for in some of my college courses, a few meditation seminars and going to yoga class. I had heard the word chakras, all I knew was it involved colors, and had
read "The Dharma Bums", in my days when I strove to be a part of the last vestiges of the beat generation, which was about Kerouac's experiences with Buddhism. It certainly sounded hip and enlightening. Being in a country that offers endless temples and (for a small fee..ok a decent sized fee) opportunities to stay in one overnight sounded like the ultimate
spiritual adventure. I peer pressured Margo to come with, paid my fee, and got on a bus to Gyeongju where
the temple named Golgulsa waited.
Our bus wove through the countryside as Margo and I looked out the window in anticipation.
Let me preface Margo's words during our temple stay with the fact that Margo loves sleep. She is also a night owl. As much as I love getting up early and watching the sunrise, she loves staying up late and going to bed after the sun has rose into it's place. Margo had discovered we would be getting up at 4am. To meditate. Most likely outside.
"Hannah, I'm scared. I want to go home!"
"Margo, it's going to be SO MUCH FUN! Really, it's gonna be cool."
She didn't seem convinced. Our bus pulled in on a gravel driveway with a big building on our right. I couldn't see much else but it looked rather modern. Sliding door and all that. We were greeted by a Korean woman and an American woman with bright red hair. It looked like we were checking into summer camp as the handed up info packets and a pile of clothes. Excuse me, where is the Dalai Lama and why is this place not decked out in prayer flags? We
were given our room keys and our roommate Laura and then up we went to 202 to put on our Alaadin outfits. A brown vest, worthy of Home Depot, and tan pants that velcroed at the ankles and then got pretty tricky up top with a tie and a vast amount of material that folded over. We looked..unattractive, but I felt oh so comfortable. First on the agenda was dinner. I was full of fear. Making a mistake and offending the monks kept me freaked out most of my stay. Everything in the temple is so particular that it's easy to be a fool; even easier when you are me. The rules stated NO TALKING during dinner and that one must eat every scrap of food they took. Thefore, only take what you need. I took the soup even though I didn't want it and immediately regretted it while having to force it down and finish it. There was about 30 or so of us on the temple stay (mostly Americans, a Brit, a Kiwi, and two Koreans) and everyone was chatting away. Seems the talking rule is suggested, not enforced. Dinner was standard Korean fare: kimchi, noodles, rice, fruit,
potatoes, and rice cake. Of course, no meat. It was good, but nothing too exciting. We finished our dinner on the floor and walked to an auditorium for the beginning of our temple stay.
Sunmodo:
We sat on mats and watched a video explaining the martial art of Sunmodo. Sunmodo is a meditative martial art that is meant to connect that body and mind in harmony. As we watched the first video of a dance show where two men kicked, jumped, and did impossibly flexible movements as a woman in a red flowing dress danced to Enya-like muisc, it seemed less agressive than other martial arts and more like a powerful dance. Sunmodo is not violent whatsoever, but is about using the body and pushing it's muscles to the limit. The music got fast, sounding almost like the Inception theme, and their movements became
mesmorizing. After the dance ended, the video continued to talk about Sunmodo and temple life in a documentary sort of way. It got a bit tiring, but there was some interesting information. Sunmodo is about finding inner peace. But if life is always changing how can we find inner peace? Especially with constant life
and death? Mediatation is about getting to know your inner self and understanding it. It's all about living in the NOW. We are a blip in eternity. These thoughts circled in my head when we stood with our palms facing each other at our chest, eyes closed, meditating on the chanting of the monks. We did a few bows, after being shown the proper way; hands and feet together, then knees to the ground, and forearms and forehead touch the ground and palms go skyward. The chanting got louder and faster and it made me feel like wildly dancing. I could see a girl in front of me bopping her head and it seemed like maybe we were all dancing just a bit in our
heads. Next we sat and mediated in half lotus position (left foot on top of right leg) but I couldn't concentrate with all that silence and my legs hurt. It made me sleepy but luckily it was time for Sunmodo training and we got our yoga mats out.
The monk sat in front of the group and spoke softly. His words were like moths floating by my ears; I could hardly hear a word.
We did some slow fluid movements with our arms and bodies, but then he kiced it up a notch in voice and practice. We put our legs in the air and our arms up and did a sort of sit up. Things had been quiet up till this point, but our abs
started to hurt and people were laughing as we all dropped like flies. We then laid down and did thrusts into the air which of course brought bouts of laughter as well. OUr legs and arms wiggled in the air as we giggled on our backs like stuck turtles. Throughout this, the monk did not seem bothered by the laughing. In fact, he lauged along with us and broadly
smiled as he took us through the exercises that he seemed to imensely enjoy. The best move was when we grabbed our ankles, stuck our feet straight out, and then had to roll back onto our heads. The first reaction to this was horror and then total
amusement which then lead to focus on doing it perfectly. It was a blast. Especially to watch the people around me. I'll say this, Americans are not the most flexible bunch.
Sunmodo is not violent, but it is very strong. We were taught the punches and kicks and how to grunt loudly. We also did a run and jump kick in groups which made me feel like I was in dance class. Everyone was smiling and nervous about their performance. Especially because we had to do it with Mr. Zen Monk, who was the assistant our main guide monk and was the epitome of serenity and focus. He also kicked like nobody's business. Afterwards, we sat in a circle and mediatated agian but my muscles wouldn't stop shaking so I couldn't concentrate at all. It was 10:00pm. AKA Buddhist bedtime.
4am Meditation:
After sleeping on a floor that felt made of ice, getting up at 4am almost felt like a relief because I could put my jacket and hat on! I got up and started dressing with determination that comes from many early morning rises. Margo and Laura still slept on.
"Good Morning Sunshine!", I said smiling sweetly at Margo.
I won't repeat what she said here...
We stumbled out of our room with the other bleary eyed folks and started up the hill into the dark that was punctuated by orange/yellow street lights that cast a dream like blur onto the trees. The hill got steep and everyone huffed and puffed thier way to the top where the temple sat. By this time, no one wanted to be wearing their winter gear. We sat and started
meditating as the monks chanted endlessly. I'm not sure how long we sat there for but my whole leg was asleep and I found myself opening my eyes and staring at things. The girl next to me straightened out her leg and started hitting it and I follwed suit and we started whispering about how numb our legs were. Bad form, but damn. I was in pain. As we sat there the miniature Buddhas in the back started glowing gold giving the room a surreal feel and I just kept my eyes open. The inside of my brain was far less interesting than what sat in front of me. Besides, during our standing meditation I felt that I had faced some truths and delved into my inner self quite completely and there wasn't anything at the present moment I needed to focus on. My brain was truthfully just running too fast through all my thoughts that I found it hard to concentrate. Sadly, I'm not made to be a monk.
108 Bows:
ONE HUNDED AND EIGHT BOWS. Sounds intimidating right? There aren't your grandma's simple bend over bows. These bows take time and energy and oh man do they take a toll on your knees. The bows were not required and many were tired from the early wake-up so they opted out. Margo, two American guys, another girl, and I decided to give it a go. I was scared when one of the guys said that he heard it took an hour and a half to do, but I started and then went gung ho on the bows. It wasn't neccessarily meditative, it was more like a focused work-out. It took me 15 min and my pad that I had been kneeling on had sweat marks from where my forehead had been hitting it. I had given up on my beads because it was taking too long to bead and bow but Margo beaded away as I waited for her to finish. There was no one in the temple, just us hooligans, which seemed odd and gave our bows a less spiritual feeling. It felt more like some crazy waygooks hanging and shooting the breeze in a Buddhist temple, which actually was rather fun.
Ceremonial Meal:
This was terrifying. Heather, our red headed guide, taught us the intricacies of eating the meal. There was about 20 steps which included setting out your bowls in the correct manner, cleaning the bowls with hot water and a piece of kimchi which you wash in your soup, and then cleaning them with cold water and the correct cloth. There was also precise ways to have your silverware throughout this process. I was so worried about messing up that my eyes were glued to the guy next to me watching his every movement. A monk served me rice and a big old spoonful at that! We have to eat everything we are given, remember, so I freaked but I had been told we could put some rice back later in the dinner so I kept looking around for my rice savior. He never came. I attacked the rice with gusto as I saw the next monk coming down the line, pouring the hot water we would clean with into our RICE BOWLS. Oh god oh god OH BUDDHA. I looked across the way and Margo who mouthed HURRY. I shoved rice in as fast as I could but alas it was not fast enough. The monk arrived and we stared at each other. I shrugged my shoulders as if to say what do I do? He sighed and poured the water IN with my rice. Bollocks. Now each grain of rice was floating seperately from each other and my chopstick stills were not up to this challenge. I spooned it all in as my cleaning water disappeared with it. Now I only had a drop of water to clean with. Suffice to say I failed the monks hardcore. And ate way too much rice. You're welcome Buddha.
It comes to an end:
Overall I found my experience in the temple completely worthwhile and frankly it was HARD. We were out of our comfort zone and our bodies were pushed past their usual limits. My legs were sore for about 3 days, but it was cool to see that we COULD do those things. I also really admired the monks for their focus and lifestyle that they have commited to. I found Buddhism to be a beautiful religion based on ideas of love, harmony, and acceptance of yourself and others which I find to be worthwhile ideals for anyone, religious or not. My temple stay wasn't all gold statues and incense, but it was eye opening and spirit lifting which it turns out is even better.
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Marty
non-member comment
Blessedly Beautiful
Loved reading about your temple stay your honesty and humor, you make a mama proud, 108 bows, you go! Tell Margo hi!!