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Society > The Expat Life ]
 mong Korea’s cultural assets, more than 65 percent are Buddhist in origin. Buddhist temples are among the most impressive and comprehensive of these assets. From ancient times to the present, temples have served as living museums that preserve an enormous and varied amount of national cultural heritage in the form of architecture, sculpture, crafts and paintings. This heritage represents religious and artistic creations spanning from the Three Kingdoms period of the seventh century through to the Chosun Dynasty, which ended in 1910.
Temples utilize and display traditional architecture, and are repositories of historical assets such as paintings, and living Buddhist arts including tan-chong (forms of coloring), seung-mu (dancing), and pum-pae (music).
Most Korean temples are located deep in the mountains. This is a unique aspect of Korean Buddhist culture. Temples typically blend harmoniously and, from an ecological standpoint, soundly with their environment. The presence of a temple, with its traditional architecture and serene way of life, seems to enhance the natural environment. Indeed, this is their aim. One can feel at peace in such a place, and also experience traditional Korean culture at these sites. Enjoy your temple stay, and learn!
 What is a temple stay?
For over 1,600 years temples have provided spiritual refuge for Korean Buddhists. The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism has opened its temples to enable visitors to experience the life of Korean sunims (monks), Korean traditional culture, and the inherent beauty of both.
Beginning with the morning yebul (ceremony), seon meditation, bal-woo gongyang (monastic meal), tea ceremony, your retreat will follow the pattern of daily temple life that Korean sunims follow.
What you will do
* Yebul (Buddhist ceremonial service)
All Korean temples perform three yebul (ceremonies) during the course of a day. The first morning yebul takes place pre-dawn, usually between three and four o’clock in the morning. The second one takes place around 11 a.m. The last one takes place close to sunset, between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Yebul is a paying of respect to Shakyamuni Buddha (the historical Buddha) and all his disciples. In addition, yebul also affords a chance for self-reflection. During this time, one contemplates the Buddha’s teaching and his life. All Buddhists vow to diligently practice yebul in front of the Buddha.
The chanting performed during yebul is to venerate the three “jewels” of the Buddhist religion, namely the Buddha himself, Dharma (Buddha’s teaching), and Sangha (the Buddhist community of sunims and lay people). Also, chanting is a means for all to attain enlightenment.
When performing yebul, one should allow one’s mind and body to become calm. On entering the main Buddha hall (bup dang) of a temple, it is required to bow three times: to the Buddha altar, the guardians’ altar, and the memorial altar. The visitor should then sit quietly and ready his or her mind and body for yebul. This involves chanting yebul-mun (sacred texts) and following the rhythm the sunim plays on the mock-tak (a hand-held percussion instrument). Even though a visitor may not understand the procedure, they should simply follow the example of the others present. When others bow, bow with them. When yebul has finished, the visitor should bow three times again, and leave the main hall quietly.
Even though visitors will not understand the words of the liturg y, the sound of such harmonious chanting will have a definite relaxing effect on both body and mind. In that moment, visitors are enjoined to try to understand the teaching of the Buddha in their hearts; this is the essence of Buddhist peace and calm
* Cham-son (seon meditation)
Since the time of Shakyamuni Buddha, Buddhist practitioners have followed his example of trying to attain enlightenment through the practice of cham-son.
The word son originates from the Sanskrit word, dhyana, which means contemplation, religious meditation and intuition. It was originally translated as seon-na, and truncated to son. Originally, dhyana was a method of meditation practiced in India. Sakyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment by practicing this form meditation. Seon means stillness of mind. Another word for this is sammae from the Sanskrit word samadhi. Chamson means entering into concentration. Through this meditation, it is claimed that anyone can find his or her true self. Chamson is of two types. One is sitting meditation and the other one is hang-son, or walking meditation.
* Da-do (Tea ceremony)
Da-do means not only tea drinking, but also enjoying life more fruitfully.
Tea came to Korea from China around 6 AD or 7 AD. It arrived after Buddhism, but was introduced by a Korean monk who brought it back from a pilgrimage to China. Tea is one of the six offerings to the Buddha, the others being incense, flowers, lanterns, fruit, and rice.
Buddhists believe that brewing and drinking tea integrates the Buddha’s teachings of “right mindfulness” and “right concentration.” Right concentration is judged essential to achieve the correct flavor, color and aroma of tea. Also, one should assume a correct posture to drink tea and do so quietly, as is customary in all Buddhist practice. Therefore, it is said that da-do is a form of meditation (da-son- il mee)
Drinking tea engages all five senses. With the ears, one can hear water boiling. With the nose, one smells the aroma. With the eyes, the beautiful color of tea can be beheld. With the tongue, one can taste the tea’s flavor. With the fingers, the warmth of the teacup can be felt.
In the process of drinking, five different kinds of flavor can be experienced. At the tip of the tongue, one first tastes bitterness, to be followed subsequently by astringency, sourness, saltiness and sweetness.
* The way of balwoo gongyang
When a visitor enters the room where he or she will eat, they are expected to put their balwoo (bowls wrapped in cloth) in place and sit. Balwoo gongyang is a mealtaking ceremony.
The balwoo consists of four bowls. The biggest is for rice, the second in size is for soup, the third is for water and the smallest is for side dishes. A bowl to hold rice is put to the visitor’s left and a bowl for soup is put on the right. A bowl for side dishes is placed in front of the bowl for rice, while a bowl for water is placed in front of the bowl for soup.
Visitors can help themselves to as much rice, soup and side dishes as they can eat, but custom demands they must not leave anything in their bowls.
Once visitors have finished their meal, they must clean and wrap up their bowls themselves.
* Making lotus lanterns
On Buddha’s birthday, on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month (usually in May), all Buddhists light lanterns as an offering to the Buddha. All Buddhists wish to spread Buddha’s compassion and wisdom throughout the world. Besides, it is the determination of all Buddhists to live as the Buddha himself did.
The bright light of the lanterns symbolizes the wisdom that believers claim is implicit in Buddhism. Incense and lanterns have been long been regarded highly as valuable offerings to the Buddha.
There are various shapes of lanterns. The most popular shape is that of the lotus flower. Lotus flowers bloom when planted in mud, just as the Buddha felt he was born of, and raised in a world of delusion and ignorance, but cultivated his Buddha-nature in this world. Buddists believe that through cultivation, all sentient beings will find their own Buddha nature. For this reason, the lotus flower is a symbol of Buddhism.
For visitors to make their own lantern, and lighting it for the Buddha in a spirit of sincerity, is a way to cultivate their own Buddha-like nature of compassion and sharing.
Where to stay
Fourteen temples participate in the Temple Stay Korea program. Each temple is ready to host guests with programs based on its distinctive practices.
How to join
* How can a foreign visitor join the Temple Stay program?
Visitors can make reservations via the Internet or by phone.
Internet home page: www.worldinn.com
Phone: +822-555-5555, +822-3279-5690
NB: Reservations cannot be made through direct contact to a temple. by Jung Yoon-Suh (jys0916@kotra.or.kr)
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