Planes, Trains, and Wagons East

Revitalized with tired eyes and energized by pious cries,
Arrived to bind the conscious mind with unknown thoughts always left behind.
The shrine was lined from side to side, with bending thighs I knelt beside,
Trying to find a peace of mind, obliged to rectify self with divine.
Enlightened, surprised, mystified and clarified.
Glorified, deified, sanctified, and spiritualized.
I left the alpine shrine mesmerized, with a refined new thinking of the sublime.
The life of a monk on Buddha’s time collided with this little mind of mine.

And now for what actually happened. I had no intention of going on this trip. I didn’t have the money. Then I got offered a free spot on the bus because it wasn’t going to be full. So I jumped at the chance. It was a trip to Gyeongju, a place I had been wanting to go for a while, combined with a Temple Stay, and a trip to Haeinsa on the way home. A Temple Stay is a program allowing you to overnight at a Buddhist temple while participating in the daily routine of Buddhist monks.

Gyeongju was the center of the Shilla dynasty back in the day. It is the most respected religious and historical site in Korea. The Kings of this great dynasty are buried there in huge burial mounds surrounded by flat open fields, the whole of which is ringed by mountains. It’s an absolutely gorgeous place.


We left Seoul at 8am (requiring a 5:30am wakeup time) and departed on the four hour bus ride. Upon arriving, we first toured the aforementioned burial mounds and the famous temple in the area: Bolguksa.



After that we headed the Seokguram Grotto, carved into a cliff side, which houses a very large statue of Buddha, unfortunately kept behind glass.


The temple of the Temple Stay, Golgulsa, was the last stop. Dinner was served as we arrived: rice and Korean vegetables that I don’t like. It was a small dinner even though I was required to eat all the food on my place (or else I would be cursed with nine years of bad luck).

After dinner was Sunmudo training. Sunmudo is a martial art/meditation technique combining the skill of quick, explosive motion with control of the body and breathing. It’s incredibly difficult. I wobbled and stumbled and quietly contemplated my way through the exercise. An hour later I was in bed. You have to go to bed early if you’re going to wake up at 4am.

One of the most amazing things I have experienced is being woken up in complete darkness by the tapping of a woodblock in time with the chanting of a monk, echoing throughout the alpine temple complex. It’s a strange sensation hearing that sound resonate so clearly throughout the world from indoors. I trudged my way up the mountainside to the temple where the service had already begun. I snuck in the back and began to bow and listen. For thirty minutes I sat and meditated with the monks (and many other foreigners), trying not to move or make noise. That was more difficult than I thought, especially with an adorable dog resting on the mat next to me. I don’t know if it was the sleep deprivation or what, but the meditation was indescribably relaxing. When the sitting meditation was over I headed outside for the walking meditation. About ten laps around a religious statue (of some kind) in slow, cautious yet unnoticed steps, in the fading black, followed by a decent down the mountainside at the same pace brought me to breakfast refreshed and renewed. I was there, but I wasn’t. I remember all of it and I remember none of it. Is it possible to be inside and outside the mind at the same time? Do the opposite states somehow cancel each other out a la some ridiculous fundamental algebraic equation? I’ll leave those questions for my next meditation.

Breakfast was a ritual in and of itself. Here it is: Bowl (one big bowl with 3 smaller bowls inside) placed in front of right knee. Set placemat on floor. Put bowl at bottom left corner of placemat. Remove 3 bowls with your thumbs, place them on mat clockwise. Remove wooden utensils from sack, place in the water bowl. Rinse big bowl with water, pour in the next bowl, rise, pour, rinse, pour. Hold big bowl with both hands for junior monk to place in rice. Touch bowl to your head out of respect. Same with soup bowl. Self-serve vegetables. Rinse a piece of Kimchi in the soup to use as a scrub brush to clean the bowls when finished. Eat every scrap of food except that piece of Kimchi. Wash bowls with hot water, rise, pour, rinse, pour, scrubbing with Kimchi each time. Drink the remaining soup of hot water and food remains and eat the scrub. Rinse again with cold water. Pour out the clean cold water, drink the water if food specs remain. Dry the bowls with a rag. Return bowls and utensils to their initial state. It took more energy to have breakfast than I got from eating breakfast.

A brief nap after breakfast, followed by tea, followed by a bus tour to another temple and a trip to the East Sea, followed by lunch, consisting of the same food as dinner, and we were off on the road again.

Destination: Haeinsa. Haeinsa is a temple famous in Korea and around the world because it houses the world’s most complete collection of Buddhist texts. They are carved onto wood blocks and housed in four huge buildings. Incredible how much effort was put into the creation of this text.


We arrived back in Seoul at 9pm and I was home by 10; utterly exhausted yet strangely exhilarated.