A couple weeks ago I wrote about a trip we took to the coastal town of Sokcho, but I never go around to telling you about the following day when we went to the lovely Naksan–sa temple …
We got up early as usual (note to self – learn how to sleep in), but this time we were wise to the lack of early morning coffee and had a two part plan of action.
Step 1: drink a can of cold coffee from the GS25 store
Step 2: swing by the coffee shop of the man we spoke to the day before who
kindly offered to open his shop early for us (early being 8 AM)
Once we were caffeinated we were ready for our day, so we got on the bus and began the process of trying to figure out how much to pay the driver. This time the bus driver had to call someone who spoke English (sort of) to find out where we wanted to go. Naksan temple? That’ll be 1600 Won ($1.60). And 20 minutes later we were there. From the bus stop he just crossed the road, walked past the bug building (maybe an exterminator?), and then followed people who looked like they might be going to a temple.
The sign reads: "Korea institute for genetics reasearch" - just kidding!
Our first indication that this place was going to awesome came in the form a huge empty parking lot.
Huge = lots of Korean people want to come here.
Empty = they are all still waiting for the coffee shops to open.
Parking = mostly for buses, but some silly people still insist on owning cars.
From the back of the parking lot we followed a beautifully landscaped trail up a hill to the temple grounds. Along the way our friend Mheena was delighted to see her first ever apple growing on a tree. It was fun to see how delighted she was by this. I think she even took a selfie. She grew up in the Philippines, so for her it was like the first time I saw bananas growing on a tree. One thing that’s worth mentioning about the apples is that most of them were covered with little cloth bags, which I assume is to keep the bugs away (but useless for the big ones across the street).
Don't worry, they aren't Nazis, the swastika-looking thing is a Buddhist symbol that predates Hitler.
Naksan-sa is a Zen Buddhist temple complex that was first constructed around 671 AD. It consists of about a dozen wooden buildings on a rock bluff overlooking the clear blue waters of the Eastern Sea. Its most noticeable feature is a 50-foot high statue of the Bodhisattva of Mercy that is so large you can see it on Google Earth. Many of the visitors were Buddhists, and they would take their shoes off, step onto the polished granite slab at the base of the statue, and touch their heads to the ground in a sign of respect.
The Bodhisattva of Mercy enjoying the view.
Everywere we looked there was beautiful old artwork on display. Here are a few examples:
Carved dragons standing watch over the entrance.
Larger-than-life soldiers guarding one of the doorways.
Even the ceilings were exquisitely painted.
This fiercesome figure was painted on one of the doors. I believe it loosely translates: "Keep Out"
There were a number of beautiful stone fountains around the temple grounds. Near each one was a set of metal dippers. From what I could tell, drinking the water was a way of recieving a blessing. People would scoop us some water, take a sip, then sling the remaining water to the ground.
A dipper in one hand and a selfie stick in the other - welcome to the real Korea.
There was an ancient bronze bell that people could ring if they paid a donation. I wanted to try it, but it looked like there was religious significance, so I just enjoyed watching other people do it.
Bang a gong!
They also had a place where people could write a message on a roof tile. I'm not sure how often they replace roof tiles, but they have plenty of ones to choose from as soon as they need one.
Along one wall of the complex was a place there people had constructed thousands of little cairns.
The main temple had a series of detailed murals depicting the trials and triumphs of the devout.
If you look closely you will see that this monk is levitating a rock in a Yoda-like fashion in order to squash his enemies like bugs. This technique could come in handy if the bugs across the street ever decide to invade the temple.
Everywhere we went at Naksan-sa we could hear the sounds of monks leading people in prayer, taping little wooden percussion devices, singing, and ringing brass bells. All of these wonderful noises blended with sound of the wind in the trees and the waves on the rocks below. It really was magical.
As we were standing on a cliff-side path reading about a famous monk, a man began to explain this form of Buddhism to us. His English was not that great, but he managed to communicate some basic ideas about the importance of the cardinal directions, destiny, and rebirth. But the best part was when he asked us each our birthdays. From this he was able to determine the following: Jen and I are both Tigers and are very compatible and listen to our fathers' advice. Our friend Mheena is a Horse who should be listened to. And best of all, Mheena's husband Rob is Pig who suffers from delusions! (He'll never live that one down!)
Telling it like it is.
Afterwards we sat down to a wonderful (and free) meal of noodle with kimchi. Apparently all the temples in Korea serve free noodles on Sunday to anyone who shows up whether they are Buddhist or not.
Then it was time to take the express bus back to Seoul. The only other people on the highway were the 24 million residents of our fair city, so it took us FIVE hours to make a trip that took us two hours on Friday night. To pass the time we ended up going through every top 100 song from the 1970's and testing Rob on his musical knowledge. It turned out that he could name the artist that performed almost every single song on the lists! Not too bad for a delusional pig.
Waitng for the bus back home: A horse, a tiger, and a delusional pig
