templelife

I ever wanted to experience templelife but so far were too scared about spending a whole day meditating quietly from 4am to 9pm before going to bed. That's how real monks do it, or at least that's what they tell you.

Well luckily I found a temple that provides temple experiences that just last for two hours. Obviously very touristy, but better than nothing and at least you get some information about the temple.

Thus Fibi, Ursi and I headed across the river, where we found the Bongeunssa temple next to the COEX shopping mall in the central business area. Amongst a congested area, bustling businessman and traffic noise is a calm, quiet place where citizens find distraction from their stress and racy lifes.
I already visited that place before and was impressed by the peace one can find in the center of a a loud and never sleeping metropolis at a temple constructed in the 10th year of Shilla King Weongseong’s reign (794).

The templelife started with a tour of the temple park and heard some information about the buildings, the Buddhist symbols and a common day of a monk.We watched some people praying while a monk was singing and beating time with a wooden baton in the main temple building, learned about the symbols drum, fish, cloud and bell and beheld the Buddha statue. The 23-meters high Mireukdaebul Statue is the largest statue of Buddha in Korea and symbolizes hope for Maitreya - the Buddha of the future - to arrive and save all man kinds.

 

After the tour female Koreans demonstated the traditional tea ceremony and offered three different tea varieties with Lotus flower pastries. As the Korean tea ceremony places emphasis on ease and naturalness, there are few rules and rituals regarding its procedure. To me it was very interesting how much patience and love is spend on a single cup of tea.

Afterwards one of the ladies tought us in stretching and meditation which was a challenge in tight jeans!
Finally we all tinkered some lotus flowers with a paper cup, a piece of wire, some glue and small pieces of different coloured paper. I felt like a schoolgirl but it was fun sitting with a bunch of grownups doing handicrafts.