Yo-ho, yo-ho, the life of a monk for me

I've spent my morning deciding what to do next and making arrangements for its fruition. I’m headed out of town shortly to Golgulsa Temple. I am enrolled in a two day temple stay, which starts later this afternoon, so no blogging for a while. During the stays they prefer you don’t write or communicate, so hopefully I can remember everything long enough to find the internet on Thursday. Until next time, it’s the life of a monk for me!

Temple Stay: Day 1

I arrived at Golgulsa Temple around 1:30pm. I completed my registration and was provided a temple uniform, before leaving for my room. When I opened the door of my room, my first concern was verified: no bed, no mattress, no futon. That means two blankets, hard floor, sleep well. I also noticed another person was assigned the room and had already laid out her two blankets. Putting future discomfort out of mind, I donned my temple clothes and reported for community work. We were assigned to pull weeds around the contemplative pond at the entrance of the grounds. There is a big holiday coming up next Tuesday, so they are working hard to make the temple as nice as possible. Although this exercise is usually scheduled for two hours, the master had mercy on us in the heat and let us go when we finished our assigned area. Because I had some extra time before dinner, the master encouraged me to go up and view the sculpted Buddha and shrines above the complex.

The walk was 20 minutes uphill to get to the base of the highest temple building. I stopped to catch my breath, when the Buddha caught my eye. The carving is as old as the 5th century, is four meters off the ground, and stands out of the sandstone way up on the side of the rock face. It is probably my favorite sight in Korea. I climbed up stairs toward the relief, when I noticed other paths along the rock face. I maneuvered onto a ledge, holding tightly to the safety rope, and found a small rock outcropping with an altar and meditation area. I took some photos, then moved back on to the narrow, staired pathway. Again, I came across another rock outcropping, this one even more precarious than the last, with a different set of sculpted figures but the same meditation area. The last several yards of the path requires one to hold tightly to an anchored rope and heave oneself up "stairs" cut into the rock face. It may have been a chore to reach but to stand so close to the relief was worth it. It seemed as though the image was looking over the whole temple, providing protection from whatever might threaten it. I believe I read that the monks hid in these outcroppings and caves when the Japanese invaded in the 1500's. Apparently they were provided protection, as well. I decided to take a circuitous route because I could see a monk chanting in a shrine on the other side of the outcrop. I literally had to crawl through a hole in the rock, then lower myself with the safety rope to get there. But, again, I was not disappointed. The shrine was similar to the one at Bulguksa, where only half of the building is constructed from the rock and the rest of the shrine is in a cave. Inside, the vibrant colors surrounded the sitting Buddha at the altar, and the monk chanted loudly to the beat of some wooden noise thingy. I desperately wanted to take a photo but actually listened to my better judgment for once and just stood quietly and appreciated the moment.

I scaled down the rock to find more small outdoor shrines hidden in the mountain face, and then I hiked up to the chakra stupa. Not sure the significance, but it stands in an opening of pine trees with a view over the valley below. I sat for quite a while in the breeze, with the chanting monk below and the beaming sun dancing across the swaying pines.

A little about dinner: it’s always vegetarian (good), you must eat everything you take (tricky), and you sit on the floor for the meal (bad). Luckily the noodle dish I picked was very good, but the portion was a little much. I realized I needed to be more careful about how much I take. The Canadian sitting next to me got the bright idea to try all the food that was available. Unfortunately, she didn’t realize that the kimchi was scorching hot. The spices made her face turn red, sweat beaded on her brow, and I’m pretty sure she was tearing up. The only thing I could think was, “You know, you gotta eat the whole thing.” I left her, when she was still trying to swallow the kimchi whole, and later found out that a Korean woman finally helped her out by eating it for her.

The rest of the evening started out innocently enough. We had 30 minutes of chanting, followed by sunmudo training. Sunmudo is a martial art, and this temple houses the practice’s home. The first hour was easy enough with long stretches and a light warm up. The second hour was punishing. Even some of the students who are being trained in the martial art would stand there, refusing to do one more kick. The 60 minutes of physical activity went something like this: kick demonstration, slow kicks to the right, fast kicks to the right, slow kicks to the left, fast kicks to the left, and so on in every direction. Just when I thought we had done every up, down, front, back, right, left, the instructor would think up something else. I accidently laughed with disbelief, when he demonstrated some move that I probably hadn’t managed since I was in gymnastics in third grade. Really? You want me to roll on my back like a frog and do the splits? Being a trooper, I gave it a try. Of course I probably won’t walk for a week, but at least I’m getting the full experience.

I had to shower before bed because I was so sweaty. After getting cleaned up, I looked at the next day’s schedule: only one hour and twenty minutes of sunmudo tomorrow.Read more