It took about 40 minutes to drive to the Gakwonsa Temple. This is a Buddhist temple that has the largest Buddha statue in Korea! I was so excited to go because our last fail at the Korean Folk Village to visit a Buddhist Temple. One of the other leaders, Nichole Steadman, did a lot of research before we came to the temple and was able to teach all of us about the structure, the culture and the different sculptures and statues that we saw.
The temple was absolutely gorgeous! It held the traditional green paintings found all throughout Korea. The roof's corners all point up towards the heavens as a sign of worship.
Before we approached the steps to the temple, Nichole showed us the huge fountain full of water. There were dippers there and we learned how to properly wash our hands before entering the temple. We walked up the steps and since we are not of the Buddhist Faith, we did not enter the actual worship room, but the windows were wide open and we were able to reverently watch the proceedings.
There were three golden Buddhas in the temple, and I learned that there is more then one Buddha and they all represent something different. I never knew that! I always thought there was just one. A man was dressed in the robes of a monk and was performing the rituals. There was a drum that was being slowly beaten in a cadence as the monk chanted. The members who were worshiping would stand and bow a few times, then go on their knees and do a low full body bow, then stand and do it again. Some members would just sit on a small pillow and read out of scriptures. Another thing the Buddhist do before entering the temple, is remove their shoes.
After we observed the worship for a while we moved on up the hill. At the base of the hill were mountains of black roof panels. We learned that the people can write their prayers on one of the roof shingles to be added to the roof of the temple where Buddha would hear and answer their prayers.
We then went up a hill where we found the statue of Buddha. The statue was gigantic!
When we approached there was a little building off to the side where a little old man was walking around. He beckoned us to him and used hand gestures explaining how we should properly approach the statue. First he handed all of us a stick incense and gestures for us to go to the front of the building and light the incense. He then made a circle motion and held up three fingers, to which we took as walk around the statue three times with the incense. We walked three times, then he came over and gestured putting the stick into the bowl of dirt in front of the statue, then he bowed three times. We followed suit.
After we all bowed he motioned for us to follow him to a well of water with dippers, where he gestured for us to drink out of it. We were all grossed out with the thought of drinking from a huge well of water that just sat there all day with a dipper that who knows how many mouths have touched, so we all brought the dipper up about a millimeter from our mouths. I'm not exactly sure if we did it correctly, or exactly what we did, but it was a neat cultural experience.
After we got some pictures, we talked about meditating, then practiced meditating and talked about the benefits. We are told to search ponder and pray, and meditating is the ponder part. After meditating we went on a nature walk and enjoyed the trees and lush that Korea has to offer.
It was an amazing and educational experience. I am so glad that Big Sis could come with me to enjoy all that was experienced!
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