More Temples: Tongdosa & Naewonsa

This past weekend brought forth some more nice weather. As an added benefit, the cherry blossoms are in bloom. Given the nice weather, I decided to head out and visit a couple more temples in the area.



Tongdosa

The first temple I visited was Tongdosa. It is one of the three main temples in Korea, along with Songgwangsa, which I have already visited, and Haeinsa, which I will probably visit in the next month or two. Like many of the other temples in the area, it dates back to the 7th century. While none of the structures are overly impressive, it does have a very scenic mountain location. The walk from the parking lot to the temple is alongside a stream and lined with pine trees. Unfortunately, there seems to be some sort of disease or pest that is stripping the pine trees of their bark, so a lot of trees are being taken down. But there are still plenty to see.



Along the path, there are numerous rocks with Chinese lettering carved in them.



The main area of the main temple. There are also 19 smaller temples located along the road heading up the mountain.




Naewonsa

Nearby is another temple, albeit less impressive. I haven't been to able to find much information about it on line though. There are only a few structures, but they are a little more brightly painted than at most other temples. The hike from the parking lot to the temple is also quite scenic, with trails extending beyond the temple going further up the mountains.



One interesting face of this temple is the monks. If you look closely, through the shaved heads and gray robes, you will notice that they are all women. In fact, a book, Women in Korean Zen, was written about the women monks at Naewonsa.




This upcoming weekend brings a return of the Korean bullfighting festival that I attended last year. I also plan on hitting the Yeongdeuk Snow Crab Festival near Pohang, which is tempting me with free fishing boat rides. Expect a full report with pictures in a week or so.

Korean Ages 201

After over two years here, I have finally uncovered the full secret to Korean ages.

When a baby is born, they start out at the age of 1 year.

If they celebrate their birthday according to the lunar calendar, which is rare these days, but a little more common among older Koreans, they age another year on Lunar New Year's Day. Which is in late January or early February of the solar year.

If they celebrate their birthday according to the solar calendar, they age another year on Solar New Year's Day. Which is, of course, January 1.

You can convert to lunar dates at the Hong Kong Observatory web site.

Busan Temples: Beomeosa & Samgwangsa

A couple of temples in Busan that I explored over the past weekend. Both will be added to my 33 temple hike, which brings the total to five.

Beomeosa

Beomeosa (official Korean website) is one of the most famous temples in Korea. The original structures date back to the 7th century. There are also a lot of hiking trails around the temple, but they don't do a good job of indicating which direction to go. It's best to just follow the road up to the temple and hike away from there. Not a lot of pictures, as my camera batteries indicated that they were running out of juice.




Samgwangsa

While much less historic, Samgwangsa offers some pretty impressive temple buildings. The main hall is one of the largest I've ever seen. The auxiliary buildings are equally impressive in size. It's much more of an urban setting than the other temples I've visited, but well worthwhile nevertheless.

There Goes the Neighborhood

In my latest wanderings around Busan, I came upon an interesting little neighborhood that was in the process of being torn down. Half of the buildings had been torn down, half of the remaining buildings were half torn down, and the others seemed to be still occupied. Undoubtedly this area will soon be turned into high rise apartment buildings. But in the meantime, the developers are busy trying to vacate the residents. I suppose making them live in a pile of debris is supposed to make them sell out faster.

Buddhist Temples: Seonamsa, Songgwangsa, & Ssanggyesa

This last weekend I ventured out to nearby Suncheon to see some temples and do some hiking.

A brief Korean lesson:

Sa (사) in Korean means temple, so the names of all the temples end in -sa. San (산) means mountain, so most mountains end in -san, although some end in bong (봉), which means peak.

Note: The first link is to the official web site, which is in Korean. The second link is to the tourism web site in English.

Seonamsa

My first stop on Saturday was Seonamsa. Seonamsa is located at the base of Jogyesan. It dates back almost 900 years and is one of the major temples of Korean Buddhism.

A few of the temple buildings


A monk in one of the temple buildings



Songgwangsa

Songgwangsa is located on the other side of Jogyesan. To get there, you can take a bus from Seonamsa back to Suncheon and another bus out to Songgwangsa. Or you can hike a 7 km trail over Jogyesan. I, of course, chose the trail. It was a fairly easy 3-hour hike, with a manicured path and lots of stone steps. Like Seonamsa, it is another old temple with great importance to Korean Buddhism.

The main hall of Songgwangsa


A closer look at the main hall


A few of the roof tops




Ssanggyesa

On Sunday, I headed to another nearby temple, Ssanggyesa. It is located near Jirisan, one of the top mountain hiking destinations in Korea. While I didn't have time to hike there this weekend, I am sure to be back sometime this year. I'm currently eyeing a couple three day weekends in May. Like the other temples, Ssanggyesa is located in a picturesque mountain setting with a large array of buildings and treasures.

One of the scenes at Ssanggyesa


Another temple building


All in all, it was an excellent weekend getaway. The temples were excellent and the scenery around them is quite beautiful as well. I'm currently looking to find other temples in the area, and hope to design a temple hike around southern South Korea. Most pilgrimages consist of 33 or 88 temples, so I'll probably set 33 as my initial goal. So look for my list to grow in the near future.