That time I lived with Buddhist Monks...

On Wednesday, I finally made the last check off of my "Things to Do before Leaving Korea" list. I had the week off from school, but unfortunately all of my friends who are still in Busan were working, so instead of doing nothing I thought a temple stay would be the perfect solo getaway. When you hear "living with monks" what comes to mind? For me, I imagined a lot of meditating and prayer, some communal work and plenty of chanting. It turned out to be a really amazing experience, though in no way what I was expecting.

entrance gate to the temple

After a two and a half hour journey to Andong, a little village outside of Gyeongju, I arrived at Golgulsa Temple in the mid-afternoon. I checked in with the a westerner who lives at the temple, and he briefed me about the temple stay and handed me a schedule which looked something like this:

5:00- dinner
6:00- orientation
7:00- chanting time
7:30- Zen martial arts training
9:00- bedtime

4:00 am- wakeup
4:30- chanting
5:00- sitting meditation
6:00- walking meditation
6:30- breakfast
8:00- Zen martial arts training
10:00- 108 bows and meditation
11:00- tea time
11:30 lunch

The official temple stay wasn't starting until dinner so I had about two hours to wander around in at least 95 degree weather, and explore the site. What I found was that the martial arts center as well as my room in the guest quarters were at the bottom of a very steep mountain and the main temple and shrine were located about a thirty minute climb up the mountain. I tried not to think about it, but looking at the locations on the schedule, I had a feeling I was going to be getting a lot of exercise.

temple dog

Before dinner, I had a chance to meet the other westerners who would be doing the temple stay, one girl named Leslie from Switzerland was a student in Korea and a couple from the Netherlands who were backpacking around the country for three weeks. It was nice to meet them and chant a little, but all in all there wasn't much time for talking on this trip. We went to dinner together and ate in silence among the monks and the three resident foreigners. Dinner was a delicious and simple meal of vegetarian noodle soup, rice, kimchi and radish, and we were instructed that we must eat every speck of food, as monks do not waste.

afternoon prayers in a cave shrine

After dinner, we had orientation and then participated in the first chanting session. In front of an alter in the martial arts center we bowed three times and then tried to follow along as several monks did their nightly chants. After, it was time for zen martial arts and I think all of us foreigners were surprised to see that this too was a "follow along" kind of situation. It occurred to me that this temple stay would be about experiencing life with monks, not being taught by them. After struggling through an hour of intense martial arts kicks, punches and series of fighting movements, we settled down for moving meditation. This was my favorite part of the evening. As calming Buddhist music played, we stood in a circle and followed the monk as he lead us through a series of flowing motions. It felt very spiritual and though no one explained to us what it meant, I could feel that it was all about releasing positive energy. It's hard to explain, but it was a very powerful exercise and I did feel both energized and released afterward. When it was finished, we made our way back to the room and tried to get some sleep before the early morning to come.

Sunmundo- Korean zen martial arts

this guy was intense!

I didn't have much luck with sleep, but I must have managed a few hours, as I was awoken at 4am to the sound of a wooden block drum. This was our wake up call, and we hurried out of bed and got ready, so that we could make it up the mountain to the main shrine in time. I did not want to miss the morning, not only because I was excited to participate, but also because I thought I would probably die before I could complete the punishment of being late- 3,000 bows.
We arrived in the main shrine and witnessed all of the monks present. They stood in front of the alter, and the rest of us stood in rows behind. We all did our 3 bows- one for ourselves, one for everyone else, and one for Buddha- and then the thirty minutes of chanting began. After, we moved outside to a deck protruding off of the front of the temple, with a stunning view of the mountains and valleys below. It was dark when we sat down, but as we meditated for an hour to the sound of monks chanting and hitting the wooden block drum, the sun began to rise, coloring the sky pink and purple. It was definitely the highlight of my stay, and although I can't say I learned how to meditate any better, I was still happy just knowing I'd tried.

It wasn't until after the sitting and walking meditation that I realized how tired I was. The rest of the morning was a grueling test of endurance. After breakfast, we took part in another hour and a half zen martial arts class. It was really tough, but the instructor pushed us to continue kick after kick, and you can't exactly say no to an expert martial arts buddhist monk. When we were finally done, I was hoping for a break to relax, but as I looked at the scheduled I saw that I was far from finished.

It was time for the 108 bows. Now, when I say bow, I don't mean bend at your waste and lower half way. A Buddhist bow looks like this: Hands together in prayer, bow your head once, then lower down to your knees, bend forward until your forehead is touching the ground, pick up your hands to your ear level, then place them down again, then stand back up using only your knees, ankles and feet. I calculated that it takes about 25 seconds to do one bow, so how much time would it take to do 108? About 40 minutes.

The purpose of these bows are for self-purification and every bow has a purpose behind it. We were given the english translation, and here are a few:

1. I bow to wonder where I came from and where I'm going.
17. I bow to feel that love originates inside of me.
51. I bow to know that happiness does not come from others, it comes from myself.
92. I bow to hope for peace in everything around me.
108. I bow for myself, realizing that my own precious life is like the universe.

It was a painful, grueling forty minutes, but it was well worth it. Once again, I felt proud for my effort and ability to endure the daily routine of a monk. Just when I thought that all of the hard work was over, we were told we would once again be climbing up the mountain to hear a speech from the grand-master himself. It was the first day of the lunar month, so he gave a speech, and although it was in Korean, it was still cool to be in the presence of this holy man.

grand-master

Finally the morning came to an end. I had one last meal with my fellow temple stayers and the monks and then we all parted ways. As I headed home, I tried to reflect on the experience. It really wasn't what I had been expecting, thankfully it was more real than I had pictured it to be. The monks were not there to give us lessons on being a monk, they were just living their lives and we were graciously welcomed to be a part of it for one day. It was a lot more physical than I had expected too. The combination of climbing that hill, martial arts, 108 bows, and waking up at 4 am was more work than I would've thought. And although, I didn't walk away spiritually enlightened or anything, I do have a much greater appreciation for Buddhism in general, and also how important presence is in our everyday lives. Taking time to meditate, reflect, and work on your mind and body not only benefits yourself, but also those around you. I think that's what I really took away from it.




One more thing- I apologize if my photography is a little disappointing, but all I can say is this isn't the sort of thing where you take a lot of pictures. There have been too many experiences where I felt like I was doing something just for the sake of capturing it on camera, and I didn't want this to be one of them. I'll always remember this amazing experience, even if I don't have all of the pictures to prove it.