This past weekend Ben and I completed yet another thing on our what to do in Korea list. We did a Temple stay at a Buddhist Temple. We traveled east of Daegu to Haeinsa Temple. It is one of the most famous temples in Korea and it houses the Tripitaka Koreana. As with most temples in Korea, it has had its share of fires. The Tripitaka Koreana that is now housed at Haeinsa are actually the second version, however they were miraculously spared during the Japanese invasions and other wars, so even though these are the second version, they are still pretty old. So what are the Tripitaka Koreana you ask. They are wood blocks containing some of the world's most important and complete Buddhist sacred texts. It is on more than 80,000 wood blocks. These blocks are housed in a hall that gives the wood blocks the perfect ventilation, temperature and humidity control to ensure their preservation. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the actual blocks, but there were tons of them. Here is a picture of the stairs leading up to the building that houses these blocks.
We got to the temple a little early, so we looked around. Here are some views of this pretty cool temple.
We then checked in,looked at the schedule,
and changed into our training clothes. It was really cold, so I was wearing two layers under my training pants and 4 layers under my training shirt. Burr. Of course we pick one of the coldest weekends to do a Temple Stay. Before we joined the group, we took a couple pictures
I decided to wear glasses for the whole stay because I knew that getting up at 3 am wouldn't agree with contacts. So we joined the group in this hall,
and then the program began. First the office assistant talked to the group (which was four women and seven men - us being the only non-Koreans) and to tell you the truth, I'm not sure what she said. She spoke mostly (maybe 2-3 words) of English, the rest was Korean. In fact, all of the program was Korean. We were lucky enough to have a girl in our group that spoke English and she translated a little for us, but for the most part, I had no idea what the Monks were saying to us. We were taught how to bow and how to hold our hands. The bows were kind of hard on my knees. When we were taught how to eat like Monks, I was getting frustrated. Ben was next to the girl who spoke English and the message was relayed back to me. We had four bowls, each bowl was a different size, had a different use, and was put in a certain location on a brown place mat. The biggest bowl was for rice, the next biggest was for soup, then water, and the last for side dishes like kimchi and radish. You had to eat one bite at a time, quickly, and hold the bowl in front of your face so no one could see you put the food in your mouth. It was kind of hard to do. We had to eat everything and we didn't have a whole lot of time so we didn't really eat that much. After dinner we learned some more about Buddhism and then gathered to have tea with a couple of the Monks before lights out. Again, the tea time was a lot of conversation, so we didn't get most of what was going on, but it was still nice. The tea was really good. It was then time to sleep. Men and women had separate rooms and it wasn't too bad.
Yes, sleeping on the floor, but not bad. We awoke around 3 am and went out to the drums where two Monks would alternate playing the drum.
It was pretty cool. Then we went to the main hall and did the morning ceremony with the Monks. After that ceremony we went back to our hall and did 108 bows and then meditated for awhile. The bows were a little strenuous and not for those with bad knees. For the meditation part we had to sit very still in the dark with our eyes closed and try not to move. It was hard. Then it was time for breakfast, but we didn't eat like Monks this time. Same food though, rice, kimchi, soup, potatoes. After breakfast we cleaned our bowls and then went on a tour of the temple with one of the Monks. It was freezing cold and my toes were frozen. Again, the tour was in Korean, so we didn't fully understand what the Monk was saying. The nice Korean girl who spoke English translated some, but not everything. We didn't expect her too and definitely appreciated her help. We got a picture with her and her friend after the tour.
We cleaned our rooms and then had tea, lunch and then got back on a bus and went our separate ways back home. I would have liked to gone to a temple that had English translators there to help us understand, because I think I would have a better understanding of Buddhism had I known what the Monks were saying, but at the same time, it was pretty cool being able to experience the Temple stay with a bunch of Koreans instead of other foreigners.
We got to the temple a little early, so we looked around. Here are some views of this pretty cool temple.
We then checked in,looked at the schedule,
and changed into our training clothes. It was really cold, so I was wearing two layers under my training pants and 4 layers under my training shirt. Burr. Of course we pick one of the coldest weekends to do a Temple Stay. Before we joined the group, we took a couple pictures
I decided to wear glasses for the whole stay because I knew that getting up at 3 am wouldn't agree with contacts. So we joined the group in this hall,
and then the program began. First the office assistant talked to the group (which was four women and seven men - us being the only non-Koreans) and to tell you the truth, I'm not sure what she said. She spoke mostly (maybe 2-3 words) of English, the rest was Korean. In fact, all of the program was Korean. We were lucky enough to have a girl in our group that spoke English and she translated a little for us, but for the most part, I had no idea what the Monks were saying to us. We were taught how to bow and how to hold our hands. The bows were kind of hard on my knees. When we were taught how to eat like Monks, I was getting frustrated. Ben was next to the girl who spoke English and the message was relayed back to me. We had four bowls, each bowl was a different size, had a different use, and was put in a certain location on a brown place mat. The biggest bowl was for rice, the next biggest was for soup, then water, and the last for side dishes like kimchi and radish. You had to eat one bite at a time, quickly, and hold the bowl in front of your face so no one could see you put the food in your mouth. It was kind of hard to do. We had to eat everything and we didn't have a whole lot of time so we didn't really eat that much. After dinner we learned some more about Buddhism and then gathered to have tea with a couple of the Monks before lights out. Again, the tea time was a lot of conversation, so we didn't get most of what was going on, but it was still nice. The tea was really good. It was then time to sleep. Men and women had separate rooms and it wasn't too bad.
Yes, sleeping on the floor, but not bad. We awoke around 3 am and went out to the drums where two Monks would alternate playing the drum. 
It was pretty cool. Then we went to the main hall and did the morning ceremony with the Monks. After that ceremony we went back to our hall and did 108 bows and then meditated for awhile. The bows were a little strenuous and not for those with bad knees. For the meditation part we had to sit very still in the dark with our eyes closed and try not to move. It was hard. Then it was time for breakfast, but we didn't eat like Monks this time. Same food though, rice, kimchi, soup, potatoes. After breakfast we cleaned our bowls and then went on a tour of the temple with one of the Monks. It was freezing cold and my toes were frozen. Again, the tour was in Korean, so we didn't fully understand what the Monk was saying. The nice Korean girl who spoke English translated some, but not everything. We didn't expect her too and definitely appreciated her help. We got a picture with her and her friend after the tour. 
We cleaned our rooms and then had tea, lunch and then got back on a bus and went our separate ways back home. I would have liked to gone to a temple that had English translators there to help us understand, because I think I would have a better understanding of Buddhism had I known what the Monks were saying, but at the same time, it was pretty cool being able to experience the Temple stay with a bunch of Koreans instead of other foreigners. 
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