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Fire Breathing Dragon
One of the Floats on paradeLotus Lantern Festival
The city of Seoul and the entire country of Korea has been preparing for
Buddha’s Birthday for several months. The streets have been lined with neon
colored lanterns that are lit at night, and so are the temples.
The festivities started off with a Lotus Lantern Festival that took place the
Sunday before Buddha's Birthday, in downtown Seoul near Insadong. Earlier in
the day, Jogye-sa (one of the temples in the area) hosted a large lantern-making
event for foreigners. The places were quickly filled and since it was the day after
Meredith and I got back from Seoraksan, we missed out on the chance to
participate.
In Korean Buddhism, the Lotus Flower stands for purity, perfection and spiritual
enlightenment. Other than the lanterns, you will see halls filled with paintings
and sculptures containing these cherished flowers. It is also very common to find
different statues of Buddha posed on these blossoms.
That evening Su-jin (my roommate) and I, went down to check out the
festivities. We went to the main temple that was hosting the event and found
thousands of lanterns that covered the outside of the temple like a ceiling.
Inside the temple,
people were praying and monks were chanting, outside
foreigners ran around with their cameras snapping photos and carrying their
lotus Lanterns.
When it was time for the parade to start, Su-jin and I headed down to where
the crowd was. People filled the streets from all directions and there was a large
stage where the hosts stood and performers preformed. The TV cameras had
their large arms to wheel in and over the people to get the best views. The large
flat screen TV’s that are placed all over tall buildings also aired the program as it
took place. The children bought cotton candy and neon-light sticks while the
grandparents ran around trying to get the closest seating.
When the parade started, many lanterns filed by. There were lanterns of all
shapes and sizes. Women wore Hanbok and monks marched on with children.
There were huge paper floats of Buddhas and Temple Guardians. There were
floats of life-sized elephants, horses, and even 2 fire-breathing dragons.
Towards the end, there was a wall of about 20 people separating us from the
road where the parade was taking place. We had been pushed about all through
the night, so
Woman with lotus lanterns
One of the women in the parade in our frustration we gave up the fight and began to walk around.
We eventually found a café with second floor seating that faced a wall of glass
overlooking the parade below. Here we watched until the end with our warm
coffee and silent, peaceful atmosphere.
But the night couldn’t have been complete with out seeing the Monks 3-legged dog.
Buddha’s Birthday
Friday May 5th was Buddha’s Birthday. Jan and I went to Beonseensa, the temple where Meo Kyung Sunim was. The Sunims (monks) directed us up to the main hall where we watched middle schoolers perform in song, dance, and…mini skirts? There was a fairly large group of people who sat relaxed on prayer mats on the floor. After the performance we went back down where we ran into the man who was head of the temple. He invited us to the basement where they have a gallery of paintings done by a famous monk. We walked around and admired the joyous colors and simplicity of the paintings. We signed the guest book and were given a collection of all of the paintings as a gift. The man lead us into a coffee shop and
BUddhas
Paper light up buddhas from the parade told us that is was very important that we had dinner at the temple, but first we should have tea.
During tea with Meo Kyung we met an Ajuma (older women) whose name I didn’t catch. She talked with us a while about why we were in Korea, our interests in Buddhism and our further plans for travel. She then escorted us to dinner where they pilled on a ton of Korean food. It was like Bibimbab in the sense that there was rice and a bunch of vegetables to mix around in a red sauce, but they do not eat meat in the temples so it was strictly rice and vegetables.
After we ate, Ajuma came back with 2 watermelons (which are the size of a squash in Korea and are also bright yellow), four tomatoes, 3 bags of rice cakes, and several bananas. She said that since we were too full for desert we should take these with us. On our way out we went to the outside temple where they had a prayer booth (I don’t know the Korean name for it). Here we took a spoon of water and doused the gold
figure of a baby Buddha that stood under a conopy on a carts in the center of a rock bed that was then outlined with flowers. This was the symbol of the birth of a new Buddha and upon the dousing, one was suppose to have a wish in their heart.
When we left, she decided to walk with us a while because she said she knew a shortcut to Insadong. On one of the pathways that went through the towering buildings, we heard the traditional drumming and followed it in curiosity. It was across from Jogye-sa, the same temple I had been at with my roommate the weekend before. The Ajuma, who works with the temples some how and is also Buddhist, seemed to know what was going on and also knew a lot of the people. At one point she tried to lead us into the main hall from the back way, where we immediately found ourselves on a stage that overlooked several thousands of Koreans about to watch a ceremony. Jan and I quickly scurried off the stage; she looked around and took her time getting down.
The ceremony started with the younger
monks (under 30) drumming in the two-story tower like structure. Here they did a performance using the 4 instruments inside: the drum, the wooden fish, the cloud-shaped gong, and the Brahma bell. The drumming in particular was entrancing. It was fascinating to see the monks, who usually have a peaceful and passive presence, beat the huge drum with vigorous motion and movement.
After this ceremony we saw the “baby monks” come onto the stage to lead prayer. There were about 12 of them and they all sat down behind the older monks. These young boys of about 4 had spent the last two weeks living at the temple and learning the ways of the monks. Also on the stage were about 30 women in traditional dress. All faced the temple and led the ceremony.
Our Ajuma friend said she had to leave to go to another temple where her presence was required for the evening. We thanked her for everything and gave her our e-mail addresses. We finished watching the ceremony and then walked around admiring the temple.
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Lydia
non-member comment
wow!
girl, you are one fabulous photographer!!!! i can't wait to hear all the stories from when you get back! have an awesome last few weeks in Korea! :) i love you!