Stop Internet Censorship
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Midwestern U.S. Night With Aurora Borealis
Midwestern U.S. Night With Aurora Borealis (NASA, International Space Station, 09/29/11)
Seoul trip
We visited Seoul at the end of July. Only now have I gotten around to posting the pictures.
In Seoul, we visited the largest Buddhist temple in the area. Unfortunately, the pictures we had taken weren't very good and the temple wasn't much different than Beomeosa in Busan.
We also visited one of the imperial palaces, Changdeokgung, and took a tour through the palace grounds. This palace was originally built in the 15th century and has been renovated a few times throughout history. Gung is the ending that signifies a palace, so this is "Changdeok palace."
Changdeokgung tour
This is the king's road to his throne. The two sides of the road are lower, and the higher(middle) section was only for the king to walk on.
The king's throne room
This is the king's throne. Notice the picture behind it of the sun, moon, and five mountains. It's behind all the kings' thrones in Korea. The sun represents the king, the moon represents the queen, and the five mountains represent five aspects of his kingdom.
These are rooftop guardians of the throne room.
The king's living quarters. According to Confucian rules, men and women should sleep separately, so the queen had her own quarters.
The remodeled interior of part of the king's quarters. Now, it's just a large western-style living room.
After the king's quarters were lost in a fire (and later rebuilt), he took the opportunity to make his living quarters in the same building as the queen, and this mother of pearl couch is in the living room separating the two rooms.
This beautiful artwork is reserved only for temples and palaces. It was against the law for anyone else to paint a house or building in this way.
This ondol fireplace is used to heat the floors of the palace. On one end of the building is the fireplace, on the other end is the chimney. There is a gap under the floor, above which is a layer of clay which rests under the actual floor. The heat/smoke from the fire heats the gap and the clay, keeping the floor nice and warm for the winter time. It is because the heat comes from the floor in this way that Koreans do everything at floor level (eating, sleeping, pretty much everything). And that's why they take their shoes off at the door, to keep the floor - the surface they do everything on - clean.
Walkway to the Secret Garden
This is the largest pond in the gardens; behind it is the palace library.
The pond and library
Notice the three gates in front of the library (a big one and two tiny green ones on each side). Only the king was allowed to go through the middle gate. Everyone else had to go through the tiny green gates, which were intentionally made so small that you have to bow to walk through them. Only the king was allowed to walk upright through the gate.
This gate is supposed to keep you from aging if you walk through it. It's one of those "long live the king" kind of things.
A rose of sharon, the national flower of Korea
We also spent some time in Insadong, a tourist-centered area.
Here's the only picture we took:
The alleyway to a vegetarian restaurant that we found in Insadong.
We also went on what was described as a "shaman walk" up into a mountainside where there is a temple and various shrines.
A view of Seoul
These are some rocks on a mountain behind a Buddhist temple that are supposedly shaped like a monk meditating. I think that shamanists worship there, too.
The Seoul fortress wall
Here's another view of Seoul and the temple
These rocks are the Skeleton rocks.
We also did some shopping in Seoul, but we don't have any pictures of that, as it was really cramped and a picture wouldn't really reveal anything about the experience. Hopefully, this weekend we will be going to Gyeongju, but if we don't we will go eventually, and I will write about some of our other or future adventures.
Beomeosa temple
Today, we visited Beomeosa temple. This is one of the oldest and largest Buddhist temples in Korea. All over the pagodas and buildings are various Buddhist symbols, such as animals, dragons, and the Buddhist swastika, and of course, the Buddha.
Steles on the path to Beomeosa temple
On the walkway to the temple, Buddhist lanterns hung above us.
Path to Beomeosa temple
A volunteer at the temple was kind enough to be a tour guide, and showed us around the grounds, explaining the beliefs and symbolism behind the different buildings, decorations, and paintings. We encountered the first gate which is formed by four pillars, representing the Four Noble Truths. It's called the "One Pillar Gate" because, as seen from the side, it is held up by a single pillar symbolizing the one true path of enlightenment that supports the world.
The "One Pillar Gate" of Beomeosa temple
Near the museum is the temple's seven story pagoda. Contained within the pagoda is a Sari of the Buddha.
Seven story pagoda at Beomeosa temple
Stele near the pagoda
The museum was small, but very peaceful and quiet. It had a number of historical and religious artifacts, and the museum had some information in English.. Here's a close-up of the museum's outside architecture.
Beomeosa temple museum
At the second gate, there were four statues of the guardians of the temple. The guardians were gigantic. In front of the guardians, there are demons cowering.
Beomeosa guardian with a sword
Bemeosa guardian with a lute
Beomeosa temple guardian and me
After the second gate there's a building that houses instruments (and the gift shop). There are four instruments, a drum representing land animals/beings, a cloud shaped gong representing birds/sky animals, a wooden fish representing water animals, and a bell representing heavenly spirits. They are all sounded each morning and night, and supposedly their sound makes all beings want to pray.
Beomeosa temple building with the instruments and gift shop
Another pagoda
A shrine
Icons of the Buddha at Beomeosa temple that people have given offerings to.
A close-up of some of the building art at Beomeosa temple
The fish on the right is representative of the temple, as it is the "Temple of the Nirvana Fish."
This is one of the large prayer buildings at Beomeosa. There was chanting and music coming from within, I believe from monks or nuns.
This pathway runs through the middle of the temple grounds and leads to the hiking area.
A Buddhist swastika on a building.
We took the path up past the temple, which ran next to a stream.
Up the path we found what appeared to be an additional temple, or an extension of the temple grounds.
The temple up and behind Beomeosa
A monk greeted us here, (The Venerable) Sung Ta. Rather spontaneously, he invited us to view some of his artwork. He then invited us to tea. Next thing we knew, we were in his residence drinking green tea, getting an explanation of Buddhist principles, and being trained to meditate. We tried to give him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as a gift, but I don't think he understood the gesture. Then, he made a small painting for each of us to keep in our pockets as good luck charms. The painting is of what he called "Dalma," which is supposed to be the Buddha as he was meditating right before he died. He then showed us his skills with a wooden sword.
Sung Ta showing us his wooden sword skills
Sung Ta then showed us a water shrine(small cave) behind the building, and gave us some of the water from the shrine. He walked us into the building and instructed us in some of the rights, such as incense burning and how to bow and prostrate. He then introduced us to some young Korean practitioners who invited us to their meeting/service. The service started with bowing, chanting, and a lot of prostrating. There were some opening procedures administered by a layperson, which lasted about half an hour, and then Sung Ta spoke, giving what was essentially a sermon. He also introduced us to everyone. Then a layperson took over again and gave a small sermon. It was very interesting, and two of the young Koreans explained some points of the sermon to us while it was going on. Afterward, we ate watermelon with Sung Ta and then continued up the mountain.
A group picture with Sung Ta in front of the temple
We continued up the mountain for about 2+km, and wound up at the east gate to the fortress wall. This wall is often nicknamed "The Great Wall of Korea."
The fortress wall
East gate of the fortress wall
The fortress wall
...and that's what we did today. It was pretty fun. Maybe I'll go back and post pictures of other things we've done, like the beaches.
Me on Geumjeongsan (mountain)