Buddahist Temple Stay

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Our most recent adventure in Korea has been our weekend trip to a Buddhist Temple. This trip was not my idea and i protested going but I think when we were finished I (josh) was the one who had the most fun. Jenna, Stacey, Julie and I went to stay for a weekend, one night at Bubheungsa Temple. This Temple is about three hours away from where we live. The trip started at 7:30 a.m. and we rode the subway to a bus station an hour away. From there we rode a bus for a good two hours to get to a river and short walk through the woods. This was really nice and we got to hangout by the river for about a half hour or so. From there we got to the Temple very quickly. Now a Temple stay is no joke there is no booze and no smoking and you have to act like a monk... really.

When we arrived at the Temple we immediately were given uniform which we wore for the rest of our stay. They were pretty much big pajamas. From there we had a short introduction on what this temple stay was to include and we learned how to bow in nine simple steps. Our first activity was to have a nature walk. Now this wasn't just any nature walk this was a meditation nature walk lead by what I think was a monk. First we walked out to a small path that was just a little ways away from the temple and we had a briefing of the plan. Now what we were doing would be clearing our minds of unnecessary thoughts and we would focus on a very simple task. This task was WALKING... walking very, very slow. As our "master/ guide/ monk" told us, "people have many thoughts and we can do many things without thinking so we will think through walking and by the time we finish our minds will be clear". Great!! So as explained by the master we were to walk very slowly and think of nothing but what we were doing. He said "walking is basically three steps, 1 lift the foot 2 move the foot forward and 3 put the foot down." So with that we walked single file very, very slowly for about 30-40 minutes... it felt like. All I was thinking was lift the foot, move the foot, put down the foot. It was weird but kinda relaxing.

When we finished our walk we were in a large clearing looking at a beautiful mountain. After everyone arrived from our very slow walk we had another "lesson/ activity". This one was called yell very, very loud at a mountain... Yup. So we did, the master said "everyone has a lot of stress, the way we can release stress is by yelling, so take all your stress and yell it at this mountain." It was kinda fun and the view was really nice. I think I forgot to mention one think, our monk only spoke Korean so we had another guy who spoke decent English translating everything the monk said.

After the nature walk we had a large monk style cafeteria dinner. Now this was a lot better than we expected it to be. Except for a few things that made all of us laugh uncontrollably. First off we had pre-formed medal trays with the spots for the food, like in jail. Then don't forget that we were all wearing the same outfits, like in jail... and to put a cherry on top of this hilarious comparison we were not allowed to talk when we were eating... like in jail, I think. So needless to say the meal was hilarious and we took pictures acting like we were all in jail, we all made mean faces. I do have to say that the food was good, we ate only vegetarian while we were there but it wasn't bad, and it actually gave me a lot of energy, or that could of been all the laughing we did.

After dinner we had a tea drinking ceremony and a dialogue with a monk. We were to talk to the monk about dreams. At first everyone was confused about what exactly we were talking about because we were thinking dreams you have when you are asleep. The monk was thinking dreams like what do you want to do to be happy in this life or the next. So this was kinda funny because everyone told the monk there dream, and they were all along the lines of being happy with your life and job blah, blah, blah. Then when it was the monks turn he told us that his dream was to become Peter Pan in a next life or possibly Batman.

After drinking tea with the monk we traveled up the mountain to our sleeping quarters. But we were not going to sleep yet we still have to do our bowing for the day. So we all walked to a small temple and we were shown a hill with stones covering an "entrance". What this was actually the temple where the monks in the ancient times used to pray. And when I say ancient I mean around 2000 years ago. So anyway we were taken into this temple which had a statue and hundreds of lotus lanterns hanging from the ceiling. We all took a mat, this was where we were to do our 108 bows. So we did or most of us did and when we were finished our legs were shaking. Now it was 11 p.m. and time to go to bed. Now everyone from back home is thinking going to bed in a bed right? Well no in many Asian countries you sleep on the floor a wooden floor. My "bed" consisted of two comforters one was the "mattress" and one was my blanket. Also I slept in a large open room with about 15 other guys.

The next morning we were woken up at 3:30 a.m. to once again bow in the temple, this time we didn't bow 108 times. But we did participate in a prayer of some kind lead by a monk. It was interesting because there were other people there attending this "service", it was kinda like church for Buddhists. So all the tired foreigners and about ten random Korean people from the surrounding area did the morning prayer. After our prayer we walked to another larger temple and we had a lesson on meditation. This was cool but it was about 4 a.m. at this point and everyone was exhausted. Anyway we had an introduction to how to meditate how to sit and what we should think about and then we had a twenty minute meditation. I enjoyed this very much it was relaxing and I got to think about "where my soul or energy was, before it has come to be where it is now". Try to figure that out... So that was cool but some people were very uncomfortable sitting cross legged for so long. And actually the monk walked around with a bamboo stick which was to "wake" sleeping people, and she actually had to use it on someone who fell asleep. She basically hit him on the shoulder three times firmly. After this we had an hour break which I and everyone else slept for.

When we woke up we ate breakfast. Now this was a traditional monk breakfast. We had bean sprout soup, kimchi, yellow radish, seaweed, rice, bean spout something else, and one more unrecognizable side dish. This meal was more show than eating. We had to watch a video on the proper procedure to eat. We first got four bowls which fit inside each other, we were to take out each bowl with our thumbs very quietly and place them in a square. We had to be quiet because there is a belief about a hunger horse or giant or something that if you are loud he will eat your family or something... It was difficult to understand everything because the monks spoke only Korean and our translator did not speak very good English. Anyway monks are required to finish all of their food so as not to waste anything. So when we were taking food we were very careful not to take too much; for one because we didn't want to be too full and for two because the food was gross, but we were hungry. So being very silent we each took our portion, I (josh) was first and I took about a spoonful of each "side dish" then Jenna took her food and then the other two girls we were with. Then the food was passed on. I was curious to see how much Jenna had taken because I had taken such a small amount. So I leaned over to look in her bowl and she had one slice of yellow radish, three bead spouts and a small piece if seaweed. So naturally I started giggling a little. Then I looked in one of the other girl’s bowls and she had one bean sprout. So we all started laughing and we were basically shunned by everyone else on the trip. After breakfast we rang the large bell in the center of the Temple grounds. We were told that this bell is positioned over the ground so that ringing it will help the people who are in hell...

Next on the agenda was to hike back up to the temple we were at in the morning and make our 108 bead necklace. Now this was not any 108 bead necklace because this necklace represented the energy and commitment we had to achieve our dream. Earlier we had written down a dream and placed it in a dream pouch. This pouch is currently still at the temple and the monks said they would pray for our dreams to come true for one year. So back to the necklace, we were to make this necklace and we were supposed to bow one time for every bead we put on it. So another 108 bows... Most people bowed one time and then put 5 beads on, this helped speed up the process. I on the other hand was committed to my dream and did all my bows... Well I did all my bows because otherwise I would have just felt like a pansy. I made a short video of me bowing and making my necklace, so when you watch that short clip that is the story. After our long session of bowing we walked back down and made beautiful lotus lanterns. It was fun and relaxing and a break from all the exercise. And after the lotus lantern it was back on the bus to have a long ride home.

Here is a link to the bowing video. I couldn't put it on here because the file was to big.

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Comments

[Mom]

AMAZING!!
I am so totally in awe of you guys.....how cool the things you are doing. Those bows look like 'stand-up' crunches, I think I'll try about 108.......lmao!! Box of beach stuff left this morning....have a wonderful vacation :-) Love Ya Both Mom