I spent this afternoon with a Buddhist monk. Not exactly how the day was planned, mind you, but it turned out to be perfect. One of the Korean teachers from Gimpo and another native speaker from Canada, Danielle, and I had a day planned on a really cool island near my house. Part of the tour took us to Deokjinjin, a military stronghold built in the 7th century of the Hyojong Dynasty. It's fortified with stone around the South and the West. The monk explained that this is because humans enter through these gates and only the souls of people enter through the other two. There are three temples on the land and because its the Chinese New Year there are lanterns strung between all of them. It was spectacular. One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen and it only became more so with the monks earnest interpretation of all of the architecture and customs in the most adorable broken English. Danielle and I got to write out wish on a piece of paper to be attached to one of the lanterns. If you married, you are supposed to wish for a long and happy life with your spouse. If not, then you're supposed to wish to find that person. So I wished to take complete advantage of the rest of my time in Korea (eight months and some change)....and to find my husband. :) I had to..It's a rule.
The monk invited us to have lunch with him and the other monks, but because we took too long on the tour, lunch had passed. We got free lunch anyway, just no monks. As a concellation, we got to go to the retreat in the mountains where the monks live and have tea with the chief priest. That was humbling. He was really nice. Looked just like you'd think a monk would look. Funky outfit and ridiculously happy. He even spoke some English, which made things a little easier. Pretty sure I've never been served tea by anyone that important.
Our monk also took us to the temple at the retreat and showed us how to do bow and show respect to Buddha. We got to light some incence and roll out mat out and bow a few times. I love Jesus but those Buddhists really know their stuff. We got to have a mini crash course on meditation. He kept asking us "What is human?"and "Who am I?" He showed us around the grounds and invited us all back for an official temple stay. Apparently, you can come and live as a monk for a weekend. I fully intend on taking advantage of that invitation before I come home. You sleep on the floor and get up at like 4 to chant and learn calligraphy and stuff. And NO talking. A weekend in silence for reflection and self discovery. Anyone that knows me, knows I like to talk most of the time. It's going to be a bit of a challenge to keep my mouth shut for two straight days, but I think I can do it.
Everything was soooo beautiful and I left my camera at school. I was taking pictures of Winter Camp and just left it in my desk. The island just happens to be about 15 minutes from my house so be expecting pictures from my next trip. Sometime in the Spring there's and azalea festival that turns the mountains purple with flowers. Come hell or high water, I'm getting pictures of that.
No comments:
Post a Comment