Temple Stay 9/11 - 9/12

Hey oh! (again) I told you that I'd post two new posts! The last one covered what I did on the fourth, but this one will be talkin' bout what I did this past weekend which is a temple stay! Woot!

So, a couple people had been talking about doing a temple stay and one of my friends already had, and so I wanted to, too. Mostly because it would be a stay at a Buddhist temple and Buddha is awesome. Why not, right? :)

on the stairs up towards the main grounds of the temple

Anywhos, went with Adventure Korea, again. Excellent. Took off from Seoul on Saturday morning. Got to Geumsansa temple at around 2ish. Once we got there, we all went into a building and got some monk clothes and checked in and what not. We were shown our rooms; girls had one dormitory and boys, another. After everyone was dressed in our monk clothes, we met back at the main place (I say "main" cos that's where we spent a good portion of our time). We met up with our monk guide guy. He was super duper cool and chill. And funny, too. We learned how to walk in a temple, how to bow to Buddha, and other cool stuff. I think this is when we made our lotus lanterns, too. Super neat oh. I was going to bring mine home, but it was falling apart, so I left it. Le sigh.

our monk clothes

my awesome lantern

We had some free time in there, too, so Nate and I went on a nature hike around the temple. Such a gorgeous place. So very green and nature-y. It was lovely and relaxing. The temple buildings were immaculately done. Bright colors, just waving people into their buildings. So very beautiful. Temples are one of my favorite places ever.



After a bit, we met back up with the rest of the group and walked in two silent lines to dinner. It was pretty delicious. Rice and curry and soup and kimchi and other Korean delicacies. Yumsters. After dinner, the group went to the bell tower. Here, we learned about the three different bells that are struck three times daily. So very interesting. I love it! And we even got to strike one! Really cool. After the bell tower, we went to the main Buddha hole to witness an Yebul service, which is a monk chant. The monks are... well, chanting and praying to Buddha for the creatures and the world around them. We got to practice our bows and it was a beautiful sight. I really am not very good at describing this, and so I apologize. I walked away from this entirely relaxed, not a care in the world; I felt so at peace and loved, it was a mind altering activity for me. After Yebul, we had tea time with our monk and a woman monk. Here, people got to ask any sort of questions they wanted to them about themselves or about Buddhism. Pretty cool, some of the questions were funny and good, and some were just... yea. After tea time, it was lights out at 10.

Woke up bright and early at 3 am the next day to go to the morning Yebul. Once again, amazing. It was only til four o clock and we didn't have to be anywhere until 530, so everyone that woke up (it was an optional activity) went back to sleep til 515. Woke up and went back to our main "hideout" to meet with our monk for meditation. He did a quick tutorial for those who had never meditated before and we meditated two times for fifteen minutes each. Then at 6 oclock it was breakfast time. Walked, once again, in two silent lines to breakfast, where we nourished ourselves with delicious Korean food again! After breakfast, we were supposed to do monk chores (like sweeping and cleaning) but it was rainy and wet outside, so we got out of that and went back to bed until 815ish. At this time, we all woke up (again) and met with our monk for a tour and history lesson of the temple. I was so tired that I could barely pay attention, but I have a pamphlet, no worries, folks! The temple was founded in AD 599! OLD! Anyways, if you want to know more about the temple, I have this pamphlet, so just shoot me an email or something, kk?

the grounds at 530 am

ANYwhos, after our quick history lesson of the day, we went on a nature walk up and around the temple. On our walk we saw where the monks are cremated and placed into their own jugs (neato). Then we finished our walk at the love tree. This tree was tight. It started out as two separate trees, but in the middle, about half way up both of the trees, they join together. I've never seen anything like that before. Our monks talked to us (via translator) about the tree and how we should always help others and welcome help when we most need it, too. It was .. touching. It was good. Excellent, in fact. Magic.

the love tree

me and our monks :)

When we returned to the main temple grounds, we had a few moments before our Buddhist bead making, so we just chilled with our new friends, Anthony and Chris (yay!). Then we went to our main spot and learned how to make our beads and got to go to any temple we wanted on the grounds to make our beads. So, these Buddhist necklaces/bracelets have 108 beads on it. While making it, we had to bow 108 times, each time saying a silent wish or prayer for anything or anyone, while putting one bead on at a time. They said we could put 3 on at a time, but I did all 108 bows for each bead. I did not even run out of things to wish or pray about! Afterwards, though, my little pillow that I was bowing on was sweaty and gross and I was even sweatier, but it was so completely worth it. Once we got it all tied up properly, were allowed to wander around til lunch time. Went to lunch and then we had to pack up to leave the temple by 1pm.

almost finished product :)

Oh man. I am so so incredibly happy I chose to do this. It was a great experience. I feel like I learned a lot and I absolutely adore the Buddhist religion and what it stands for. This temple stay will never, ever be forgotten. I'm so grateful I was able to do this.

Love!