Monks and Hammer Pants

안녕하세요! Hello! Just got back from Jeondeungsa Temple on Ganghwa Island, about a two and a half hour trip from home. At least in perfect conditions it would have been that long. In my usual Korean adventure fashion, the trip there was a bit more complicated than we originally planned out. Katrina and I headed out to the brand new subway station located conveniently around the corner from our apartments to begin our trip. Neither of us had used this new station yet so we were both excited! It's very sparkly and clean...for now...
Here is the breakdown of our trip:
Sangdong Subway Station (Our station)--transfer-->
Bupyeong Subway Station-->
Gyeyang Subway Station--transfer to airport transport line to Gamam Station---
walk to bus stop across a few streets to see the following sign...

Our bus number is there...but which direction should we go?

 Not sure exactly if we were in the right place, I used my incredible Korean skills to ask a lady also at the stop whether the bus would take us to Ganghwa-do (do=island). She said no and pointed to a large staircase leading to the highway bridge above us. She seemed pretty trustworthy and so we took her advice to go up to the highway and look for the 700-1 bus or the 90 bus, both of which would take us to Ganghwa. When we arrived on the side of the highway, centimeters away from speeding Korean drivers, we saw the sign showing the estimated time of arrival for the buses. the 700-1 bus, which we had originally planned on taking would not arrive for another 90 minutes...90 minutes!! When we were just contemplating how to let the temple know we would be later than expected the 90 bus pulled up. With a quick glance to each other we jumped on with no clue where exactly the bus would end up. After a call to Seol, he told us that this bus, while it did take us to Ganghwa, would take us to the other side of the island from the temple, thus requiring another hour bus ride to get to Jeondeungsa! He gave us an alternate route. We jumped off this bus after figuring out what stop we needed (Yeongok) from the completely Korean map in the bus and walked...and walked...probably a little over a mile or a mile and a half to another bus stop (Sinyang). Here we sat and waited for the 3100 bus that would take us to the correct area on Ganghwa-do. As we waited, we came up with back up plans in case we got there too late to do the temple stay. Both of us are too stubborn to give up that easily though.

Once the 3100 bus arrived we squeezed onto the already packed bus. I stood basically right next to the bus driver hoping he wouldn't do any seat-belt checks resulting in a Laura-shaped hole in the windshield (sorry for the graphic images). After about 30 minutes we finally made it to the bus station right near the temple (Onsuri). As we got off the bus we looked left and right...now what?

Again, I asked a group of Korean women "Jeondeungsa audi?" meaning something along the lines of "where Jeondeungsa?" in my caveman speak. They got the point across to us that they were going there too! So we now had some guides to lead us right to the temple.

Our guides to the temple- 감사합니다!

The temple itself is up on a mountain which allowed us to see the gorgeous leaves changing on the trees around the area! We checked in with our translator, Judy, and then received our temple stay uniforms and bed linen. When we signed up for the temple stay we hoped to do the "regular stay" which meant hiking in silence in the morning and completing daily tasks just as the monks do around the temple. Judy informed us however that the regular stay was too crowded and had a large group of middle school girls signed up that we might not enjoy, so she took it upon herself to change our reservation to the "relaxing stay". We found out that this just means we have a lot more free time to explore the area and meditate on our own. I was most concerned with not being able to do the 108 prostrations (bows) which was something I was most looking forward to but she assured us that she added it to our stay schedule! This change in our reservation also meant that we could have arrived at the temple later...meaning the rush from subway to subway to bus to walking to bus was unnecessary, but too late to worry about that now! Off to our room.

Our room is broken into three parts, two sleeping areas and a bathroom. We learned that we would be sharing this room with 4 other foreign visitors, two from England, one from Canada, and one from the US as well. They were all very nice! We had actually gone on the wine tasting trip with the British girls. Small world! We all put on our uniforms, feeling a bit silly, but had strength in numbers as we walked around looking silly together.

Aw for us? Thanks!

Entrance into the temple

Comfy hammer pants

Gorgeous fall leaves

That evening we met with Judy to go over the temple rules and the proper bowing form, which we would need to use for the traditional Buddhist ceremony that night. A couple of rules for the temple include keeping as quiet as possible (she told us this rule as a child ran by the room screaming his head off), and bowing hello to the monks as you walk past them. Also, upon entering the main hall we must half-bow once at the entrance, grab a prayer mat, half-bow to Buddha to say the we will do our three fully bows, complete the three full bows (placing forearms and forehead onto the mat) and then do another half-bow to tell Buddha we are finished. The three full bows represent three things; Buddha, Dhamma (the teachings of Buddha), and Sangha (the followers of Buddha). I was looking forward to trying this! Judy then took us around the temple for a brief tour explaining different artifacts and buildings. Jeondeungsa has a large bell, made by the Chinese centuries and centuries ago that is now considered one of the Korean treasures. Monks will ring this bell to signify the beginning of prayer. We were able to ring the bell that night after dinner! It was an incredible feeling when the bell vibrated through you.

 There were several small temples nearby our rooms each with a significant purpose. One temple was the main Buddha's temple, a temple where one prays for relief from illness and disease, and then another temple to pray for relatives safety from Hell and that they may enter paradise. The main Buddha's temple had small women carved out of wood holding up the roof (shown below). The story behind this architecture is that the man who built these temples fell in love with a woman long ago. He gave her everything he had and she left him with his money to be with another man. In Buddhism, they believe in forgiveness, therefore instead of allowing her to live with her sin, he built these figurines of her holding up the temple roof so that she may listen to the prayers everyday. They believe that if you hear prayers every day you will be released from sins and enter paradise. I thought this story was so touching and truly representative of the forgiving nature of those who follow the Buddhist faith.

Buddha

Woman holding up the temple roof

When we finished the short tour it was time for our temple dinner. We were all hoping to be able to eat with the monks, but unfortunately that was not the case. We did get better food then expected though! The meal included rice, soup, kimchi, and a curry that was actually delicious! After dinner we gathered around the bell and giant drum to hear two monks perform.
The drumming was mesmerizing!
Watching the monks put complete concentration into their actions was breathtaking. I wondered how long it took them to learn the intricate performances, or whether they improvised the rhythms? I did not get a chance to ask that question though as it was time for the traditional Buddhist ceremony in the main hall.

This part of Jeondeungsa temple has just been built, and has been in the news for the variation of the Buddha statue in the middle of the hall. Usually, statues in the Buddhist temples are gold-plated, however at this temple they have a pure-white statue. The white statues were really striking. Around the main Buddha in the center are 4 apostles, which are followers of Buddha's teachings. Each apostle represents a different life goal they were chosen to follow. One saves humans from difficulties, another provides humans with wisdom, the third shows devotion to practice and prayer, and the last saves humans from Hell. This apostle is also seen in the temple I mentioned earlier. When we entered the hall for the ceremony we completed the bowing sequence and waited for the monk at the front of the room to begin. He chanted and drummed to signify when to bow, stand, and sit. The chanting and singing put me in such a calm state. I tried to concentrate on the sounds and my body completing the bows, and it was truly relaxing. After the ceremony we were free to do as we pleased until bed at 9:30. We decided to stay and try to meditate in the hall for a while longer as another monk began his chanting and singing. I realized that I am really not good at clearing my mind. I can't seem to stop thinking about something, whether it is useless like what I needed to do when I got home, or even just thinking about the words of the song and how to spell them in hangul. This will be something I plan on getting better at, because maybe it will help me fall asleep at night!

After meditation we retreated to our room and set up for the night to prepare for our 4am wake up call which came all to soon. We rose and walked back to the prayer hall to get ready for the prayer ceremony and our 108 prostration session. The 108 bows represent the supposed one hundred and eight defilements or compartments in the mind. Each bow takes away one defilement, cleans one compartment in your mind. Judy set up a video for us to listen to each bow's purpose in English. Some of the ones that have stuck with me include;

"I prostrate in repentance for being unmindful of all those who have contributed to my learning and education"

"I prostrate in repentance for having disregarded our only home, Earth"

"I prostrate in repentance for my lack of compassion for those who are stubborn or hard to work with." and

"I prostrate as a vow to be positive in everything I do."

These are only 4 of the 108 bows that we completed this morning. I noticed throughout the bows that several of the statements made me feel guilty for things, others made me feel sad, and more made me feel happy. It was an emotional roller coaster of kneeling and standing. After completing all 108 we felt good! You truly feel like you accomplished a spiritual goal. While my legs were wobbling, I was so thankful that we got the chance to do them! Wobbling could have also been that we completed them at 4am and before breakfast, but you never know!

After breakfast the 6 of us got the chance to have tea with one of the monks practicing at the temple. We arrived about 20 minutes before Judy, meaning it was pretty silent as none of us had strong Korean and he did not know much English. When Judy arrived we enjoyed our tea and got to learn a little bit about this man and his practice. I asked the question of how long he has been studying and Judy turned to me and said "there are two questions that are considered taboo that you cannot ask a monk...that was one". Of course I would ask that one! He apparently took no offense to this and answered that he has been practicing since he was 13 years old! He was probably in his late 30's? He was at a temple in Buson and completed the solitary practice that so many monks do for years at a time. He said that during this time he would bow 3,000 times a day, every day. We calculated it and found that he would have bowed over a million times in a year! Imagine we only did a little over 108 that morning. This man was incredibly happy. He smiled and laughed throughout our meeting with him. One question was if he ever felt stressed with the intense rules and regulations of being a monk. He said if he did not have ways of relaxing and controlling stress, he would not be there. This was absolutely my favorite part of the weekend. At the end of the tea time he expressed his wish for us all to come back and visit on a weekday to truly experience his home without tourists everywhere. He also said he would learn English so that we could converse better- we quickly assured him that we would learn Korean too! As a gift, he gave us 108 prayer beads representing the bow session we completed that morning. The beads are made out of wood from the trees around the temple. He said that if we have trouble meditating or clearing our mind we should count the beads as we sit. The gift will be a reminder of my stay here and everything I learned and experienced from the monks and the temple.

All of the monks we interacted with around the temple were friendly and open to visitors. We learned that there are about 14 monks total in the temple but 8 of them are completing their solitary practice and do not socialize with the other monks or visitors in the temple. This dedication and complete devotion to their faith is incredible. I really hope that I can visit a temple again, if not this one then another. This was a great first-time experience, but next time I want to do more of the daily activities and possibly try to be completely silent the entire time. I think it would be difficult but a life-changing experience.

The rest of the day we had free to explore and relax more in the temple. A few of us visited the tea room and tried some 대주차 (Daejucha) which is a traditional tea made from Korean jujube dates. The tea was absolutely delicious. It had a thick and pulpy texture and was so sweet! A great way to end our weekend trip in a cozy tea room with some warm tea, surrounded by gorgeous fall colored leaves.

The trip back proved to be much easier, only one bus and a few subway transfers. We made it back exhausted but completely content. It was such an incredible experience and I cannot wait until my next temple stay!

Until next time! xoxo

Korean phrase of the post:

 평화 (peongwha)- peace!