Sights and sounds from Korea (Part 3)

Well, we're back in the states, feeling energized from our trip, very joyful about Leo, and irritated with our Arizona agency, but no more wasting time on that nonsense. Instead, I thought I would share some neat photos from a tour of the Jogyesa Buddhist Temple and the surrounding Temple area in Seoul we took on our last full day in Korea. We saw monks in traditional garb walking around in sneakers and talking on cell phones; an interesting intersection between Buddhist "detachment" and modern technology.

Korean society is 1/3 Buddhist, 1/3 Confucian, and 1/3 Christian. Our Buddhist tour guide explained that Buddhists promote the acceptance of our own impermanence, as well as the impermanence of all things in nature. From the spider to the human, all things are part of nature and warrant respect; at the same time, attachment to things, people (even our children) is to be avoided. Attachment breeds greed, anger, and other negative emotions that lead to an internal hell, since hell exists within the person in Buddhism, not "down below." We were told all people can become Buddhas (men or women) if they want to, and there was a life-size golden Buddha in the temple of the original temple founder, to illustrate that an average person can attain that sort of enlightenment. The lotus is a very important symbol and represents Buddhist enlightenment; it's a common image that you see all over once you know to look for it.

This was the main room of the temple, with these huge Buddhas towering. We were told that the people we saw in the temple bowing to the Buddhas were not idolizing them, but rather bowing to express their own humility. It all sounded fascinating (and was) and then we were told that the special mass going on, filled with lots of praying women, was a special mass to pray about success on college entrance examinations, since competition for higher education is fierce in Korea (small country, big population and very motivated). We chuckled and asked our very kind guide how this fit with detachment and impermanence. She said with a smile, "They pray with sincerity, not attachment" and then she chuckled, too. We removed our shoes (as is customary), went inside, and took in the experience.

This is the view of the main shrine (big Buddhas are inside of it) from the bell tower.

This one of four instruments in the bell tower. 2 sticks are placed into the cavity of the belly and banged together. This is part fish, part dragon and represents internal hell, as well as all of nature that exists in the water.


This is a vegan temple food store, since Buddhists are vegans.


Contained in this sacred tower next to the shrine, is a small amount of the original Buddha's ashes. With our guide, we lit incense at the bottom of this tower to promote purity of air and self. We were told that out of respect Buddhists walk around the tower 3 times before approaching.


Insadong is the antique market area near the Buddhist shrine, and there we caught a glimpse of some sort of traditional military march. The market sells traditional Korean creations, including items made of mother-of-pearl, eel, and ostrich, porcelain servingware, silks, teas, and lots of nature-inspired functional art. Seoul has so much to it; every day we saw and learned something new and interesting!