Templestay: Myogaksa Temple

Walking up to the temple...it's right amongst other apartments and houses

Temple entrance

Something that I've hoped to experience since arriving in Seoul is Templestay. Templestay is a program that Korean Buddhist temples provide, allowing a visitor to experience the life of a Buddhist practitioner. Mal and I signed up for the 2 day, one night program.

One of the unique things about Myogaksa temple is that it is located in the heart of downtown Seoul. It's location is unique as most temples are in the country--thus giving it a very urban feel. Upon arriving at Myogaksa temple, we were greeted and given temple clothing and a name tag. There were about 15 Koreans and maybe 10 of us foreigners.

The room where we'd sleep and also learn about Buddha's life

Mal & I in our temple clothes

First, we all went to the meditation room to meet Yeo-Yeo, our nun (female monk) that would be leading our stay. We all introduced ourselves, and our reasons for being there. Then, we sat with her as she introduced us to the main principles of Buddhism and explained to us that we "all have a Buddha mind and we can all find it, if we so choose."

Incredible painting in the meditation room

All of us in the meditation room preparing to have our first lesson on Buddhism

Next, we went to ring the bell on the roof of the temple before we took part in the evening ceremony. I believe this is the largest bell I've ever seen up close in person. When it rings, you can feel the vibration in your body. Supposedly, when it's rung, people all the way down in "living hell" get a short relief from pain and suffering. I guess it's a powerful bell...

The bell to initiate morning and night ceremonies

Then we went into another room to have our night ceremony which involved praying, prostration and chanting sutras.

Night ceremony room

Ceiling of the ceremony room, covered with hand made lotus flowers

Next, we went back into the meditation room where we were to do our 108 prostrations. Prostrations are a gesture or a method of bowing. You are supposed to only focus on your breathing during this time. You bow forward with hands together, then get on your knees, then get all the way to the ground, resting your forehead on the "earth," lift your hands up and down and then get up slowly.

This is my cushion where I was to complete my 108 prostrations. In the blue bag are 108 prayer beads. Each time I did a prostration, I would string a bead, therefore knowing I was not finished until all of my beads were strung.

The 108 prostrations represent our basic mental suffering. These sufferings arise from our six senses: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body (touch) and mind. From these senses you can have 3 reactions: likes, dislikes or neutral feeling which lead to joy, sorrow or indifference. If you multiply the 6 senses with the six reactions you get 36. Then you multiply that by 3 for time as with time there is: past, present, and future. Boom. You've got 108. If you want to learn more about this, click here. The purpose of the prostrations is to try and rid ourselves of all of the negative energy and purify ourselves. I definitely felt as though the process was meditative, however after 108, I was a bit tired. And hungry?

The food options were 100% vegetarian--which is fine by me. The rules for eating were eat everything on your plate and no talking during mealtime.

Dinner: rice, cabbage soup, veggies, potatoes, pears for dessert...delish actually

Mal and I were tired even though bed time was only 10:00pm!

The beautifully painted ceiling in our room

Wake up call: 4:30am sharp. First we rang the bell. Then we went into the meditation room to give meditation its first try. Let me say, not so easy. All of us in the room, facing Yeo Yeo, sitting legs crossed--if you're flexible enough--lotus position, back totally straight, arms resting on your legs with your hands creating a circle, and eyes staring out to the ground about 1 meter. First we did it for ten minutes. You are not supposed to make a sound, move, flinch, even swallow. Just breathe. For those first ten minutes my mind was BUZZING. I thought I was going to barf, move, freak out, laugh...but alas my mind showed through and I did it! Then we did it for 45 minutes!! (with a small break in the middle for us beginners) It's funny how when you're trying to meditate and only think about breathing, your mind wants to think about everything else. I guess that's the idea...trying to clear your mind. Hard work but I enjoyed it.

After the meditation we got to see a beautiful sunrise--we had already done a lot before 7:30am

Breakfast: very similar to dinner: rice, tofu, veggies, soup and oranges

Next we Yeo Yeo told us the story of Buddha's life with these 8 hand painted pictures

The next part of our stay included a hike up the mountain that the temple is built on. It was a beautiful morning for a hike. Yeo Yeo told us about some of the history of the city of Seoul and its mountains.

We also came upon this very large swing: first swing I've seen in Korea. Supposedly when a girl rides this swing, boys hide in the trees and come out and find her on the swing and they fall in love. <3>

The last part of our stay was the tea ceremony. It is a very formal ceremony that the monks and nuns take part in.

Mal and I looking cheery before the tea ceremony

Our tea set: for David, Mallory and I

Yeo Yeo explaining how to first clean all of our dishes with hot water before we proceed with the making and drinking of the tea

One of the temple members had donated mini cakes for our stay--they were yum

David, our tea master, did an excellent job

Me as tea master: serving the delicious Korean green tea that goes for $30-$40/bag!

Us with Yeo Yeo at the end of our stay.

Yeo Yeo is truly one of the most beautiful people I have ever met; both inside and out. She is a woman of almost 50, has a shaved head and wears no makeup. Yet she was stunning. I think, she was actually glowing. When we first met her, she told us about her happiness and how she was going to share it with us. I believe she truly did so.