Posts tagged Buddhism
The New Frontier
What you focus on expands in your life...
Beautiful doors at Haien-sa.
Haein Temple houses the Tripitaka Koreana, 81,258 woodblocks containing the entire teachings of Buddha, made in 1236. The woodblocks were nearly destroyed during the Korean War. North Korea established a temporary base very close to the temple. A South Korean pilot was given orders to bomb it. (I don’t have my notes with his name on it - but I’ll find it & update this post!) As he was flying toward it, he remembered the woodblocks & refused the order. He was arrested when he landed & jailed for the rest of the Korean War. What an amazing story! This was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. There are better pictures online… You should Google it! We bought prints of a sutra made from one of the woodblocks. I can’t wait to share it with my students!
Buddhist monks drumming for the call to meditation at Haiensa Temple. One monk would drum until he got tired, and then another would join in and take over for him. They all had their own beat & flow!
The drums have to be made out of hides from a bull & a cow (male & female) who have died a natural death.They also rang the bell (which I did on Friday!). When they ring the bell, it alleviates souls in hell because torturers can’t torture while the bell rings.
It was really amazing to watch.
Buddha overcoming temptation.
Painting at Haien-sa showing Siddhartha encountering suffering for the first time.
Beautiful tiles at Haien-sa.
Lotus flower lanterns outlining a maze in the temple. Lotus flowers grow beautifully out of the mud, just like your soul grows out of the muddy suffering & towards enlightenment.
Mount Gaya, the main mountain of the Haien Temple. The walk up to the temple was so beautiful!
Today we visited the Haein-sa Temple. The temple was built in the early 9th century. We ate a vegan lunch in the temple. We had to be silent & eat everything on our plates. It was quite a challenge!
Video of me ringing the bell at the Bul-Guk Temple. They made us put our heads on the bell after we rang it… which hurt my teeth! This is definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever done, even though my videographer had his finger covering half the lens.
Sorry for the flurry of posts! Can you tell I had wireless in my hotel room tonight? We also visited the Early Printing Museum in Cheongju (Korea had the first metal movale type) & Hyundai Heavy Industrial Complex (the number one shipbulider in the world). We saw egrets all over the countryside, which reminded me of the Outer Banks! I didn’t write that much about each site we visited (I’m a little sleepy…) so let me know if you want to know more!
