스크랩 Haeinsa Temple Stay and Pohang Visit

[長江/姜一文]

My son and I visited Haeinsa over the weekend for something which in Korean is called a temple stay.  Surrounded by mountains, the Haeinsa temple is set in Gaya National Park. When you are there it is hard to believe you could be so close to Daegu because you feel like you are a million miles away.  It was a memorable experience; if you have the opportunity to experience a temple stay, I highly recommend it.  

I must say, however, that it was more rigorous than I had imagined.  I was somewhat relieved to find out I was not the only one who felt this way.  One of my favorite quotes over the weekend came from a Korean woman that I met during our stay.  As we were hiking up Maehwasan to see the sunrise, she commented to me that she thought she had come for a temple stay, but she felt more like she was on an extreme survivor reality show!

My other favorite quote during the stay came from my son.  As a university student in the United States, he rarely gets up before 10:00 am unless he has a class to attend.  But on our temple stay, we had already hiked up a mountain, eaten breakfast, mediated for an hour, and done a number of other activities before 10:00 am.  He was having a great time and could not believe the clock.  During breakfast in the large temple dining hall where monks and visitors helped themselves cafeteria style and then ate in silence, he actually said – and this is my other favorite quote – that he wished his college cafeteria served that kind of food every day – steaming rice, vegetable and bean curd, steaming soups.  I agree that the temple’s food was delicious!

In the evening there was a traditional ceremony in which several monks in succession beautifully beat the temple drums.  It was very cold outside and there was an almost full moon.  A young girl from Seoul who was at the temple with her mother had never seen such a bright moon before.  The sky and the stars were a spectacular sight, and I was reminded that many children living in the city - both in the United States and Korea - very rarely experience the outdoors in this way.

 

This also happened to be an evening when a number of determined Buddhists were at the temple to bow 3,000 times.  I did not try to keep up with them but I was very impressed with their fortitude.  I could see why they needed to have a hearty breakfast at 6:00 am as many of them had stayed up all night doing these bows.

In addition to the temple, there are numerous hermitages at Haeinsa.  I explored only a few.  It was snowing as we clambered up and down the steep stone steps and pathways, truly magical. I am already looking forward to a return visit.

While at Haeinsa, I learned from the head monk that 2011 will mark the one thousand year anniversary of the engraving of Haeinsa’s beautifully preserved wooden block collection (Tripitaka Koreana).  Haeinsa is truly one of the great treasures of the world, and this anniversary gives us all an opportunity to reflect on the ingenuity of Korean technology, even one thousand years ago.

I also recently re-visited Pohang where POSCO and POSTECH are focused on continuing Korea’s modern tradition of technological development.  Like so many others, I had long heard of Park Tae-jun, the founder of POSCO.  I first visited the city when I was in Korea in the 1980’s.

It was fascinating to return to Pohang.  Despite the fact that POSCO and Pohang are experiencing the same economic challenges that we all are, they have a great “can-do” spirit.  In Pohang, technologies are being developed to address environmental issues and there is a real resolve to be competitive.  It is also clear that POSTECH is a world class institution.

With the area’s focus on modern technology, it is nice to see that tradition is also well-respected.   I enjoyed the opportunity to eat gwamegi (a Korean half-dried Pacific herring).  In fact, we liked it so much that my staff and I all brought some back to enjoy in Seoul.

My visits to Haeinsa and Pohang reminded me of how well Korea blends its long tradition of innovation with its commitment to preserve and honor its ancient and wonderful heritage.

Dear Netizens, have you visited these places?  What did you think?