Temple Stay- Golgusa Temple

So, i went on a temple stay with my friend Dan. it was one of the most exhilarating, infuriating, tiring, contemplative and energizing experiences i have ever had. It was a great experience for me. It also kind of made me see a bit deeper into the daily lives of monks. Although we may think of monks as non descript males, off in the wilderness sweeping dirt floors and making rock statues, that was hardly the case. Im not sure if it was simply the temple we were in, but because it is a smaller one, i doubted it. I suppose as all things have been, their religion seems to have become a bit jaded by the introduction of technology. My first connection with one of the monks was actually through email. I don't mean to say that they are not bathed in ceremony and dedication to themselves and their faith; but the shining images of old time monks that rang through my head was changed, just slightly. But first ill talk about my experience there...

the journey there was not as perilous as i imagined, yet it was quite the journey, two trains two buses and an hour walk later we finally arrived. the last leg of the walk was an uphill battle, quite literally. we had to walk for about 45-an hour up hill to the top of the temple, nice little walk. when we got there we were sweaty and out of breath and immediately offered water by one of the fine women checking us in. she told us our sleeping quarters were half way back down the hill and we were expected to be at dinner in 45 minutes back up at the top. we opted to carry our bags until after dinner and go check out the stone carved Buddha and the caves the temple is known for. the temple is called Golgusa temple, which literally means stone carved Buddha (or so we were told) . the hike up there was pretty interesting, the steps are all made of stone, and since its carved into the side of a mountain face, there isnt much room to walk. they have put railings and ropes for you to guide your way along the rock face without facing certain death. so dinner was a fairly standard korean meal- only is vegetarian, which i was VERY thankful for! prison trays, rice, two kinds of veggies and soup. we were told before the meal that we must finish everything that we take because, obviously, we are not to be wasteful or gluttonous. after dinner we had an hour of free time to get ready for the evening meditation and sunmodo training. 

Now, part of the reason we chose this temple was because of the sunmodo training. Dan is a martial artist and does taekwondo so we wanted to give it a try when we heard about them teaching martial arts as part of the practice. Sunmodo is about balance. balance of the whole body including within; your breathing, heart rate, muscles and nerves must all be in balance in order to practice this. when we started the training i could see why. First we had an hour meditation and chanting. this was to cleanse our mind and body from the days work and strengthen our minds to be in tune with the body. thankfully one of the monks spoke English and was able to guide us through the mediation without much problem. Then we started the sunmodo, which involved a lot of high kicking and balance poses. The monk instructing us was impressed by my kick and told me "good job" when we did the split stretching exercise (thanks to dance training for this!! haha) but the jumping bit i was less than great. you are supposed to be in complete control and come down and not move, and not have a change in breath... not so much...  haha. afterward we got to have a rest and watch a demonstration. they were having a master test the following week and needed to practice, which was lucky for us! these guys were amazing! one of them seemed as though he had no bones! so many contortions and high jumping. amazing! 

then it was time for bed. lights out is 10:00 and we were plenty thankful for it. our wake up call was to be at 4am. some of the girls and i chatted for a little bit before we went to bed. There were 4 others in the dorm style rooms (which also means you sleep on the floor). they were all teachers and 3/4 came from busan.
We awoke at 4am to the sound of the moktak, a wooden instrument played by monks every morning.. its a hollowed out wooden bell hit for meditation and to remind us to keep our lives open. at 4am that really the last thing i was thinking. but... we had until 430 to get to the meditation temple and be seated on our mats. we then had 35 minutes of chanting and 20 minutes of sitting meditation where we were quiet... i found it much more difficult to keep my mind quiet at this time of the day than i supposed would happen. But i eventually got there and was then able to be still, be quiet. The witnessing of the opening of the day is a Buddhist monk tradition. you must be thankful for each day that is brought to you, each moment. I allowed myself to shut off for a little while, and in that time, was able to hear and see things that i never thought i knew before.  after this we were slowly lead up to the top of the hill in a walking meditation. we were to keep 5 paces behind the person in front of us. This wasn't quite so pleasant, but the slow pace made the steep climb a bit less strenuous. We arrived at the dining shelter moments before our breakfast demonstration was to start. The monk leading us invited us to do some morning stretches as the sun rose into the sky and the other monks emerged from their meditative states and joined us in stretching out bodies to fit our minds. 

Then we had a traditional Buddhist breakfast, they do this ceremony every Sunday, so im sure if i do go to another temple stay i will be experiencing it again. The point of it is to be mindful. mindful of what we do and what we eat. We are supposed to think about how the food came to be on our plates (a lot of it is grown on the property and harvested by the monks- they know the labor of their own food) we are given a large bowl with three bowls inside of it and three pieces of cloth; one containing wooden chopsticks and a spoon. we are to place the bowls beside our right knee and take the first cloth and place it on the floor, this is our place mat. the place the bowls on the left corner of the mat remove the lid with the other two coths on it and put it back infront of your right knee. you have to use your thumbs only, and place them inside the bowls removing them one by one from inside the larger bowl and placing them clockwise on the mat so that you now have four differnt sized bowls. then take the chopsticks and spoon out and place then in the bowl on the top right corner. this is the 'clean water bowl.' then the jr monks come around and give us our clean water in our rice bowl (the largest of the four) we rince out all the bowls pouring the water into each bowl and ending by pouring them over the chopsticks and spoon and leaving the water there. The food is then served to us. The jr monks come around and give us each a scoop of rice. because this meal is less about eating and more about being mindful; the rice is literally the size of a small meatball. then we are given a scoop of soup in another bown and a tray with tofu, kimchi and spinach is passed around for you to take on your own.  you take one piece of kimichi and rinse it off on your soup and place the clean piece beside in your rice bowl *do not eat*  you then eat your meal. this is done QUICKLY. when the head monk slaps his stick you must be done everything (do not waste) and ready to start the cleanup. the jr monks then come around and pour hot water into your now empty (except for the clean piece of kimchi) bowl. you use the kimchi and your chopsticks to wash out the bowl and then pour it into the next bowl and so on until you have one bowl with your clean water and one with your dirty water. then you have to drink the water and eat the kimchi. at first, i thought this was kind of gross, but its actually just everything you just ate, with a little bit more water. so.. i drank the warm water and ate the sour kimchi. then you take your clean water and pour it into the first (noe supposedly clean) bowl. this water needs to remain clean at all times. if you did a good job on cleaning your bowls it will. and if it does then the monks come and take your water and pour it into a bucket for later use. Mine wasn't so clean, i could see a layer or something sitting on the top and i was made to drink the water. then you take the third cloth and wipe everything dry. put the bowls back together, fold the napkins and you are finally done. 

If it seems like a lot of work for a meal, it really is. haha. and its only 7am at this point mind you. so we went back for a little nap after it was done, my tummy still grumbling but my mind and heart full. 
after the break we had a ceremonial tea which was great! i loved it so much. the monk that poured our tea invited us to ask any questions we wanted of him. many people asked rather silly questions like "is there competition amoung religions" like, seriously. are you living under a rock. there is war based upon religion, even within certain religions there is competition. the monk answered in the way only a monk could. "i live within the walls of this temple and we keep to ourselves" it was awesome. (the guy had been getting on my nerves all weekend) after that we decided to take a walk around and head home, we were invited to stay for lunch a few hours later if we wanted, but decided against it since it would mean i wouldn't get back into my town until around 10 that night. and i was already exhausted. thus began the journey home, a much different one than the journey to the temple even though the same road was taken...



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