We have come to joke that the Lonely Planet Travel Guide for Seoul has become our bible of sorts. Only, we often get annoyed at its lack of clear directions and have come to take its suggestions with a grain of salt. Sometimes, it leads us astray, but other times it does offer up some legit information. A couple of weeks ago, I was thumbing through the book when I came across a temple that offers foreigners a guided tour with other activities on Thursdays. CSAT Day was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of this situation, so that was the main event on the day's agenda. We met at COEX Mall, which was across the street from the temple and had a delightful meal of Japanese Korean fusion. After a quick trip to Bandi and Luni's (the Korean version of Barnes and Noble), Diane and I set out to find the temple. LP (I've taken to referring to things in acronyms... I'm not sure how I feel about this new habit...) told us to leave COEX at exit 5 and according to the map, walk toward the Inter Continental Hotel. After walking a good ten blocks or so, we didn't see any signs of the temple, so we made a right turn. After a good amount of walking in this direction, there was still no sign of the temple. We made another right turn and saw the temple on our left. Across the street from COEX. Like I said, LP gives some sketchy directions...
For 10,000 won (less than $10), we purchased our admission to the foreigner templestay. This package consisted of a 50 minute temple tour, a traditional tea ceremony, a lesson in zen meditation from a monk and making lotus flowers. NICE. The tour didn't begin for about 40 minutes, so Diane and I explored a little. Here is what we saw:
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| Inside the entrance to the temple |
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| Temple doors |
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| Beautiful flowers everywhere! |
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| A look back at the entrance from inside the temple gates |
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| The temple is in the same neighborhood as Seoul's World Trade Center |
The grounds were beautiful, full of life and even more full of people! It was first established in 794 A.D., so the modern cityscape of Seoul has really grown up around it, especially within the last 15 years or so. The temple's location is literally across the street from where the G20 conference was held last week. It was mind blowing to be in this space where it seems as though time has stopped. When you are in the temple, you are surrounded by ornate buildings, nature and you feel a sort of spiritual connection. But, if you look up and out beyond the temple grounds, you see skyscrapers. The juxtaposition was really interesting to me.
As Diane and I explored, we walked up a set of steps to find hundreds of people gathered all around, praying. We stood, quietly watching them pray for a couple of minutes, and it sounds odd to say, but I was so enamored by watching people of another religion experience their faith. It didn't feel invasive, but rather that they were open to experiencing their faith in a completely exposed environment, without even realizing others were around. For me, it was a moment of intense introspection among complete strangers. My faith has always been a pretty private thing for me, especially prayer, but being able to observe others praying in a manner I have never experienced was eye opening in many ways. I also couldn't believe how many people were praying. It was almost 2:00 in the afternoon, so the volume of people and the length of their stay was a little confusing to me. This would be explained later.
Later, as I was waiting for Diane to emerge from the bathroom, a woman approached me. She asked if I was German (of all Western nationalities...weird, since, I technically, AM, German, ancestrally, anyway). I told her I was American and she asked what I thought of Buddhism. I confessed that I didn't know much about it, but as a Christian, I found it really interesting. She began to tell me what she thought of Buddhism, about her thoughts that it is more of a philosophy than a religion. I wasn't really sure where she was going with this, whether she was criticizing Buddhism for that or just explaining. Later, this, too, would make much more sense to me.
Next, we gathered at the temple's entrance to begin the tour portion of our templestay. Before the tour guide began her spiel, she explained that, since it was the day of the college entrance exams, the parents of students taking the exam spent the entire day praying for them. At any given time over the nearly 10 hour testing period (the test begins at 8:40 am and ends at 6:05 pm), the parents and other loved ones of exam takers were praying continuously for successful exam performances by their students. When the students took breaks, the people praying also took breaks. This biz is taken seriously, and rightfully so, as this day is the biggest day in their 17 year old lives. They spend years studying for this exam, studying from 7:00 am until midnight or later on school nights AND weekends. Given the diligence with which they study, and the importance this exam holds for their future, I can understand their families spending the day praying for them. It was different to see them in action though. The meaning of this exam became very real as I watched the prayers. Their diligence and commitment was both touching, as their level of support was evident, and mind boggling. In the days following the exam, I realized how much stock is put into this exam. Education is so different here, because as Toni mused at lunch on Friday, they are rooted in the ancient Confucian tradition of education, but are trying to compete for a top spot on the 21st century's world stage. That's a lot of pressure for anyone to handle.
The second bit of information the tour guide shared before the tour began was that our tour would be joined by an Australian film crew who would tape the entire experience for their travel show Coxy's Big Break. If you're interested, check them out on YouTube. So, this kid will appear on an Australian travel show at some point. I hope I didn't do too many awkward things in their footage, but let's be honest, it wouldn't be a day in my life if I didn't do something awkward at some point....it's just part of my charm :)
The tour was pretty straightforward with the guide taking us around the grounds with a focus on Buddhist thought and history. She explained that Buddhists don't adhere to a higher spiritual being like many other religions, but rather use the teachings of Buddha to show them the path to spiritual enlightenment. Meditation is important as well as living life in adherence to Buddha's teachings. It could be viewed as both religion and philosophy. Very interesting stuff! Normally, we would have gone into the various buildings, but that would not happen on this particular day so as not to disturb the prayers of the temple's guests on this important day. Because I didn't know much about Buddhism before this tour, it was interesting to hear the tour guide's explanation of Buddhist thought. Here are some pictures from the temple grounds:
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| There are instruments in this building that signify different types of worship |
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| This offers only a glimpse as to how many people were there praying |
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| Inside another one of the temple's buildings |
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| Another prayer spot |
Following the tour, we took part in a traditional tea ceremony. We sipped a couple of different types of tea and ate traditional accompaniment snacks as we chatted with a couple from near Seattle who were there to help celebrate a close family friend's wedding. Next, we learned the art of zen meditation from a monk. We did several stretches before we assumed the meditation position and they were all stretches with which I was quite familiar given my high school sports experience. I knew that would come in handy at some point :) though, my jeans were not exactly conducive to getting in a solid stretch. I also had a little trouble with the full bow, which requires you to go from standing to crouching on the ground while balancing on your toes. I fell. Diane and I tried not to laugh, but I failed. I've put it behind me. I enjoyed the meditation, but I had trouble concentrating on breathing with all of the new things I had just learned during the tour on my mind. Last, we made lotus flowers out of brightly colored paper. The women who were supervising our craft time were real quick to jump in and help with the glue sticks.
Next, Diane and I ventured back over to COEX to visit the aquarium housed there. We thought it might have some obvious aquarium fixtures, but we were so excited to see their extensive display! Aside from the normal fish on display, there were also otters, beavers, penguins AND MANATEES! So freaking cool! I've never been so enthralled to watch an animal eat romaine lettuce in my life.
For dinner, we indulged in some Korean pizza. Korean pizza is different from American pizza because they put corn on it. Every variety, no matter what. Corn. I honestly really enjoy Korean pizza and find nothing wrong with the corn, but I could see where pizza purists get a little thrown off.
What a great way to spend a day off! I did feel bad the next day at school, though, when all of the Korean teachers were tired and sore from standing in one place all day as they supervised the exams. I've read that the teachers who supervise the exams have a pretty crap day. They have to go to a different school to make sure that no cheating goes on , but they cannot move for much of the day because if a student gets a low score and accuses a supervising teacher of distracting them, thus being the cause for their poor performance, it could have serious consequences for their career. I guess it pays to be the foreign teacher...
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