A lotus unfolds
I’m reflecting on ⛩️Buddhism, seeing 🚉different parts of the country and people moving rapidly and constantly, and 🏞️riverbeds and streams.
⛩️ I was fortunate to visit a Temple Stay program at the Golgulsa 골굴사 temple near Gyeongju 경주 (in the Southeastern coastal region). It was an action-packed 48 hours. And despite being distracted from the roller coaster of culture shock feelings, I still managed to learn a lot. This particular temple is small, indeed was renovated a mere 30-some odd years ago, however has a steady stream of tourists (international and domestic alike) due in part to the grotto surrounding a set of Buddha carvings dating back around 1000 years. The Saturday we stayed at the temple, a joint cultural presentation was given which included traditional Korean instruments, Pansori (dramatic recitation and singing), and a martial arts demonstration.
This location also houses the Seonmudo University, which trains monks and others in the zen-style martial art Seonmudo. 선무도 - 선 is approximately “Zen” as in Zen Buddhism. We got two sessions of kicking and pushing practice, as well as two sessions of stretching, a session of more intensive yoga, and several meditation sessions (all in one day, mind you…) I found the brochure in our antechamber which stated that if you come to train as a Seonmudo instructor at the temple and you succeed after one month, they don’t make you pay for the rest of the year. Growing up I never had fantasies of being a warrior monk, exactly, but this was certainly a tempting daydream.
Perhaps a little less so after the intensity of the soreness on day three…but of course the delights continued throughout this visit by sneaking in a couple of moments to create watercolor paintings with new global traveling friends and a trip to the oceanside. It was memorable, and despite the creeping guilt about not practicing my Korean with the ajumonis also there, I felt a sense of connectedness to my 할모니 again, which helped me ground myself. I wonder if I would have been a monk if I were born “female” in prior centuries here.
🚉 Taking trains and buses in a country with functioning public transportation is a delight. The signs are good, the bathrooms clean, the views spectacular. It’s also really remarkable how straight a line the trains can speed along - going through countless long tunnels straight through mountains. I noticed several vegetable fields edging right up to the border of the train line, and in some cases right next to the tunnels as well! It seems like such a surreal contrast. I accidentally booked a train from 청주 Cheongju (the city I was staying in…) which meant I had to take a slow, old train to Daejon before transferring to the line that took me to the temple area. I was informed that there is a direct connection at a different station closeby. Newbie error, but actually I really enjoyed scoping out the small station building and seeing its historical posters, imagining my parents there decades ago.
🏞️ I’ve seen numerous, possibly countless streams and riverbeds from moving vehicles. They are mostly wide and flat, gentle even. The rice paddies are flooded right now (makes the flood irrigation in Phoenix look like nothing). I think I saw a special tractor-like machine planting little plants one by one in a row. I tried my hand at sketching them a little, including the 두루미 cranes (or are they egrets?) and also some of the ancestral gravesites on the nearby mountains.
To be concluded soon…
🌌