Last day in Busan! (5/29)

T H E   D A Y   A F T E R   Buddha's Birthday--our last at Hongbeopsa Temple and in Busan, Korea-- was nothing short of sublime. It helped immensely that the temple's grounds were approximately 10,000 people emptier, and that we had no nationally-televised spiritual ceremonies to fret about. The feeling of catharsis in the wake of the climax that was the previous day's festivities mixed delightfully with the almost melancholic sentimentality that suddenly surrounded every inch of the temple and our time there, creating a pleasantly meaningful mood of contentment and significance. We had been a part of something very special; it was hard not to feel fantastic.

Our group reflecting on our experience and preparing for the next leg!

Most of our day was spent packing and preparing for our impending crack-of-dawn departure, which included saying our goodbyes to the members of the temple and spending time with our afterschoolers one last time.

Goodbyes all around

W E   W E R E N ' T   T H E   only ones saying goodbyes that day. The baby monks had turned in their robes and reverted back to their non-monastic elementary school selves the day before, but that didn't stop them from coming back to the temple. This little guy (pictured above), for example, was running around the temple grounds in his soccer cleats and civvie clothes for most of the day. It was beautiful to see him talk and laugh with the monks he'd spent the last month studying under as a child, rather than a student. The monks definitely responded differently towards him-- less strict, somber, or serious; more fun and friendly. Of course there was more to the baby monks' experience than their clothes, but without them, it certainly seemed as though some spell had been broken. Recognizing the intricacies of the ex-baby monk and his mentors was one of many things that really made me feel like an insider at the temple; it was one of the things I knew I'd both miss and remember forever.

Pictures from OUR Birthday (5/28)

D I D   Y O U   K N O W   that your birthday is in late May? My professor didn't! My professor had explained a few days before that we are all the Buddha, but when I wished her happy birthday on the 28th--Buddha's birthday--I caught her completely off-guard! I still can't get over how beautiful Buddhist philosophy is on the subject of reincarnation and human nature-- we have as much Buddha and Jesus in us as we do Hitler or Bin Laden, which I find true-- we are capable of great goodness and great evil; we are descendants of all that has come before and are channels through which these people and things influence the present and future. These were the things I meditated on this day of Buddha's birthday.

On our agenda for the day was first and foremost to participate in our temple's nationally-televised ceremony. I rose early, meditated my thanks to the Buddha for my breath and for the breath of the world, donned my traditional Korean formal hanbok, and headed to the stuffed Dharma hall to play my part in the festivities!

Fancy!

The Dharma hall was PACKED

S O M E W H E R E   O U T   T H E R E  is a video of myself and my travelmates placing symbolic offerings on the main altar for the Buddha, but alas my lack of Korean language skills means that I have not yet unearthed a link on the internets. It was an immense honor to practice such a privileged ritual in front of so many people live--and broadcast nationally!

The ceremony was actually delightfully short and simple in order to make room for the community festivities that followed.

I think pictures will explain the day's events better than words.

A Day Away from Buddhism and a Night Full of It (5/27)

A   W A L K   I N   T H E   P A R K

I N   M Y  last post, I mentioned Yurae, my host brother for the evening homestay after our mountain hike and temple visit. As you can imagine, I was quite tired after such a physically and spiritually involving day, so the evening of our homestay was far less eventful than the morning. Although I would later learn that most people went out and did things like climbing the tallest tower in the city center of Busan or visiting a bathhouse, even, my host brother and I went straight back to his family's apartment and crashed immediately.

The view from Yurae's window in the morning-- we were quite a ways up, with a good many neighbors!

Mountains, Monks, and More Temples (5/26)

C O N T E N T S :

P A R T   I .                    P A R T   I I .              P A R T  I I I .

The foot of Mount Geumjeong

P A R T    I .

H I K I N G   A   mountain at the crack of dawn isn't exactly my preferred activity of choice after a crazy night out, but with my time at Hongbeopsa quickly coming to an end and no other such opportunities in sight, you better believe I took this chance! Not only was this our only opportunity to try the Korean national sport of hiking in ever-beautiful Busan, it was also our only time off before the impending events of Buddha's Birthday and all the responsibilities it entailed. And, despite his innumerable obligations and commitments concerning the ceremonies, the head abbot himself, Juje-Sunim (sp?) joined us on the hike! Hiking in such a beautiful country was a treat by itself, but the addition of such venerable companions made the experience an honor of another kind; all of which was before we really knew the significance of our surroundings and the access our company was to grant us... but I'm getting ahead of myself!

Teaching, Learning, Singing: Korean Culture (5/25)

C O N T E N T S :

T e a c h i n g                     L e a r n i n g                    S i n g i n g

I .   T e a c h i n g

We got some fans!

 T H E   F I R S T  thing on our agenda was a return to Gwangnam Elementary in Busan to teach some more English. Everything went infinitely faster and smoother this second time around, due in no small part to the fact that I got to teach the older students instead of the younger ones. Our running, yelling, and games were replaced with conversations, which I hope was as rewarding for the students as it was for me! I got to talk to my group about what they wanted to be in the future, which really flaunted their language proficiency with tenses, professions, and the like.

There were two students whose stories stuck out to me, both of them young women. The first was obsessed with marriage and family life, and wouldn't stop talking about how excited she was despite her young age. I must have run into such people in my years in elementary school and either not realized it or not remembered them, because for some reason the thought of such a young person having such an adult focus caught me completely off guard. I don't know that many people with similar aims even now in college! I found myself wondering about gender roles in American and Korean culture while I fought back the urge to tell the first young woman about all the exciting possibilities out there for someone like her beyond marriage when the next student--also a young woman--spoke with equal excitement about her bright future as an astronaut. It felt good to encourage both of them after realizing that women can dream just as freely in Korea as in America.

From the Future to the Past: Dongguk University & Yangdong Village (5/24)

C O N T E N T S :

D O N G G U K   U N I V E R S I T Y               Y A N G D O N G   V I L L A G E

 

I .  B R E A K F A S T

Breakfast at Hongbeopsa...

...incredible, as usual.

S E E I N G   T H I S  makes me  powerfully nostalgic and reminds me just how special each and every breakfast at Hongbeopsa was. Of course it was incredible simply to be staying at a Korean temple, especially one as lively and enticing as Hongbeopsa, but the temple offered much more than its atmosphere and allure alone. Consider the food, for example: The variety of dishes, textures, tastes, and smells that greeted us each morning in the dining hall added intrigue to the act of breaking one's fast, while the knowledge that each incredible option had been produced by volunteers and was given freely to monk and muggle alike humbled us greatly. The food, therefore, sustained both body and soul, and reminded us that we were incredibly lucky to be in such a privileged position.


Yet the food was just the foundation-- it was the fellowship that truly made each early morning something worth waking up to. You never knew who to expect in the dining hall at dawn-- did my fellow students and travelers roll out of bed, or would I be eating alone? Were the monks off attending to business or were they occupying their reserved table at the front of the hall, waiting to be served special dishes colored by fruit and fresh salad? Or had an army of visitors snuck in while I slumbered, making it hard to find a place to sit and flooding the room with the delightful sounds of the Korean language? Whatever the case, Hongbeopsa's dining hall was always overflowing with intrigue.

Click below to read more!

Teaching English in Haeundae, Busan (5/23)

R O A D T R I P ! !

On the road to Haeundae!

TODAY WAS our first trip to teach English at a Korean elementary school-- Gwangnam Elementary in Haeundae, Busan.

Haeundae is a very nice area of Busan, known for its wonderful sandy beach, its colossal bridge, its (superinsaneworldfamous) shopping, and its open-air street markets. And by very nice, I mean extremely clean, wealthy, and prosperous. It is Haeundae that lays claim to the largest shopping mall in the world-- all 15 floors of Shinsegae in Centum City, including an indoor driving range, ice rink, and movie theater. Although I can't attest to the intensity of Shinsegae itself, the community around it was evidence enough for me to agree with Haeundae's hypercapitalistic excellence.

Our trip from the temple to Haeundae was very nostalgic and calming. We'd traveled by road some before today, but not as far, nor during the day. The experience was not unlike a roadtrip in the states: We hopped on the interstate, zipped past an array of other vehicles before an ever-changing backdrop--some rice paddies here, some residential areas there, some factories, high-rises, and other monstrosities breaking the horizon every now an then, increasing in frequency and density as we neared our destination-- and before we knew it, we were in the middle of the city, climbing out of the van that had carried us and into our first immersion learning experience.

The gorgeous school grounds in the middle of the city

Morning Meditation and Korean Culture (5/22)

M E D I T A T I O N .

[A N    E X C E R P T from my notebook:]

My handy dandy notebook!

"I knew it was early. I knew I should be asleep. I knew I couldn't sleep.

I found myself dressed and in the hall, failing miserably to close the door to my room quietly-- its hinges cried out unhappily through the still and silent hall. When the shriek subsided, I felt the silence and isolation surround me like a hug from the universe, as if to say, "You're the only one here, but I love you."

I knew not where I was going or why, and upon reflection I did not put much thought into who I was or where I was, either. None of this was important; none of it was real or present. What was was my movement through this weird and wondrous world in the wee hours of the morn. 

I thought of wandering through town in search of a mountain to climb-- Korea is 79% mountains, so one must not walk far before running into one. Phaedrus found great meaning on a mountain in America; imagine the meaning I could find here!, I thought to myself. 

The weather seemed to discourage such shenanigans: the wind was blowing constantly and with a worrisome intensity, as if a storm were coming. Something was ominous about the energy that I found outside our building, which encouraged me to head for the main Dharma hall.

Of course I tripped when entering the darkness of the temple. The thud of my foot on the raised floor broke the silence and my stumbling entrance to the hall snapped me out of my grandiose thinking and grounded me instantly in the present. It turns out I did actually have a body that was a part of the world I was fawning over.

After recovering my balance and regaining my composure, I bowed the traditional three prostrations (video) and headed to the altar at the front of the hall. Again, the silence closed in, and I let it consume me as I sat to meditate."

(Of course the hall looked much different in the wee hours of the morn.)

I've "meditated" before, but never really gone anywhere with it-- it's often a very temporary and self-conscious activity, perhaps even contrived. I can never really get my mind around the fact that I'm making myself sit and making myself calm and clear-minded, and all of that making seems to prevent me from getting fully into my meditation.

This time around, that was not the case. The dimly-lit hall and the early morning peacefulness eased me into a meditative state before I even sat in the hall, and although the wild wind outside could be heard throughout the hall, focus and peace of mind came easily to me. The wind, ever the trickster, took to playing the bell that hung from the eaves of the temple; not even that constant cacophony could hold my mind back.

With my body still in the temple, I wandered through thoughts of self, of others, and of the world's existential layers and extant entities; through the positive, the normative, the true and false; and also through as much nothingness and calm emptiness as the somethingness I mentioned.

A Day at Hongbeopsa (5/21)

C O N T E N T S:

I N T R O D U C T I O N .    Y I ' S    M O R N I N G   L E C T U R E .   L A N T E R N S  .   C O M P U T E R S .  K I D S .  W A N D E R I N G S .  V I D E O .

This is Mr. Jung. He is legend, but more on that later. In this picture, we're riding in the Golden Jung Express (aka the elevator to the rooftop Buddha)-- hooray!

INTRODUCTION.

THE 21ST of May was our first slowish day in Korea, by which I mean we didn't stray far from the temple. I was very excited about the prospects of finishing off the last of my jetlag with some much-needed R&R--jetlag surprisingly hadn't been too much of a problem, but I was still excited to sleep.

Our main events for the day included spending some time with the Baby Monks and then later meeting with a group of middle school kids who stay at the temple as part of an afterschool program. This meant that we had most of the day to do what we pleased--another departure from the previous days of scheduled chaos.

Although our schedule was slow, the Temple's was not-- the grounds were SWARMING with people, mostly women, who had come to pay respects to the dead (see below).

The Main Dharma hall was packed to capacity!

My day got off to a great start with an enlightening breakfast with Dr. Yi. One of the most valuable parts of my study abroad experience was the unparalleled amount of exposure to the professors, and you better believe I did my best to take advantage of every free second. I would sit with Dr. Yi every chance I got, most often in the dining hall for breakfast, and would ask and talk and listen as much as possible. As one of 775 students in my major, you can imagine it's hard to get access to the ~12 or so professors during the semester. And, because breakfast with professors is regularly quite unfortunately out of the question, I thoroughly enjoyed each and every golden opportunity like the one I had this day.

Dr. Yi spoke briefly of her youth in Korea and her path through life to where she is now. She talked about her memories of the Vietnam era and Korea's involvement in the war, which resonated with me due to the war's effects on my family, especially my father. She also spoke of life in uniform under General Park Chung-hee's militaristic rule and the subsequent economic and cultural revision and expansion, and the sorts of drastic change that entailed. At that moment I was struck by how drastically different our backgrounds were-- America's contemporary history has absolutely no analogues to Korea's rapid and tumultuous rise. I felt so lucky to be hearing first-hand of these events I had theretofore only read about from afar-- Dr. Yi lived those things, which I find incredible.

The Lotus Lantern Festival (5/20)

I    S L E P T  like a rock after our crazy Saturday at the temple and in Busan, but woke nonetheless to the morning gong around 5am. I tagged along with my roommate Andy for a run along the river in the crisp morning air and had a great conversation about International Affairs, Buddhism, Korea, and the world in general. He's on a year-long Fulbright scholarship to study Environmentalism among Buddhist nuns-- his blog can be found here-- so you better believe we had a lot to talk about! Between the exercise, the scenery, and the conversation, it was a phenomenal way to start the day!

Dr. Yi's morning lecture session

A S   W E  returned to the temple, we learned just how busy the day would be for our study abroad group and for the temple at large. It was a week and a day before Buddha's Birthday, and the temple was swarming with people practicing and preparing for the festivities on top of the usual templegoers. The mix of people-- young and old, from near or far, working or worshipping, etc.-- was something I'd grow accustomed to in my stay at Hongbeopsa: it illustrated just how embedded the temple is in its surrounding community.

Dr. Yi sat us down, laid out or schedule for the day, and asked for our reflections on our previous day's adventures. I was shocked at how densely populated Busan was, and apparently it's got nothing on Seoul! The number of people, the sheer number of different stores and how closely-packed they are, the ads and lights and sounds, the number of fish in the fish market... it was all extremely impressive, exciting, and alluring! And I even found an international ATM!

Finally got some won!!

Free Flowers, Baby Monks, & B-Boys in Busan! (5/19)

The Baby Monks, sporting their traditional gravel-pattern camouflage.

T H E   F I R S T thing I hear at Hongbeopsa? Children!!
Around 5am, I'm woken from my dreamless first night's slumber by the unmistakable sounds of a heard of children-- ecstatic shrieking and the quick crunch of gravel under many pairs of running feet shot through the calming voices of chaperons. Outside my window, framed by the gorgeous green mountains of Korea, I see the source of the sounds-- BABY MONKS!!!

Our visit to Korea just so happened to coincide with Buddha's Birthday (석가탄신일)-- possibly the largest festival in all of Buddhist culture. Because Korean Buddhism follows the lunar calendar, Big B's B-day falls at a different time every year, most often too early in May for us study aboraders to participate or observe. My group, however, was lucky beyond belief to be present when we were-- Korea explodes with Buddhist energy and excitement in celebration!
Baby Monks (or śrāmaṇera [?]) are but one of many special traditions closely associated with Buddha's Birthday. As a glimpse of ordained monastic life, the 5-6 yr old children of Buddhist laypeople are taken into the temple and treated as fully-ordained sunims, or monks, for ~21 days-- their heads are shaved, they wear traditional robes and participate in ceremonies, partake in traditional monk meals, and generally get a feel for monastic life. My friend Hayes said it best when he compared these little guys to Vacation Bible School-goers back in the states, although they're far more serious than any VBS kids I know!!

Before long, the wooden gong rang out to signal breakfast time, and my first day in Korea began f'rill!

Time Travel! (5.17/5.18)

Flightpath: Georgia > Canada > Alaska > Syberia!!! > China > Korea!

I  H A D a pretty good idea that this trip was going to be a Trip months before I set foot in Hartsfield-Jackson, but the gravity of the situation didn't sink in until I felt my stomach drop as my 777 beat gravity and bid adieu to American soil. (I don't know if that feeling will ever grow old-- it's easily the best part of flying; that visceral point of no return)
I could tell I was in for a slew of surprises when something as simple as flying blew my mind, but the surprises certainly didn't stop there. It seemed like every aspect of the flight was foreign, ranging from the superficial-- the language, look, and uniform of the stewardesses (who really are as attractive as the Korean Air adverts make them out to be), to the surreal-- the fact that the sun stayed stubbornly still in the sky as we flew against time and daylight; the way that time turned to putty and folded around the plane as it flew. My excitement, the novelty, and the absurdity of the flight conspired to give it an other-worldly aura which simply reinforced the voyage's allure.

Around 11 hrs in, insanity began to take over-- note Aveek's fingers in the row behind me: I think they're trying to crawl into his nose. Absurd.

I'm sure the ceaseless sun had something to do with it, but for some confluence of reasons I was ridiculously productive on the plane. That too seemed to separate my time in the air from reality-- I never got bored; I never got tired; I never wondered what time it was or how much longer was left before arrival. My mind was going about as fast as my flight (approximately 565 mph, to be precise)-- I tore through a slew of dense articles on Orientalism (by the likes of Said, Menon, Prakash, and Ning), a few movies (Haywire, Coriolanus, and Dangerous Method), and a ton of classical composers (Saint-Saens, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Copland, Liszt, and Mozart).

My true focus was the articles-- I thought it would be intellectually negligent of me to go to Asia as an ignorant Westerner and NOT expose myself to the influential and controversial scholarship that spun from Said. To summarize, Said and the scholars who follow him are interested in the shortcomings of “Western” conceptions of the “East” as the Other, specifically revealing how biased assumptions can pridefully be mistaken for understanding. The name of this blog is a nod to the problematic conception of "The Orient" as an essentialized and generalized amalgam; one goal of mine for this trip was to test Said's theory and see first-hand just how true or false "Western" claims about "the East" are. I figured the flight was the perfect time to crack into the canon, so I did! And I loved it!

(The movies and music were just icing on the cake between articles, to give me time to reflect and make sure I didn't melt my brain too thoroughly, although they all were valuable in and of themselves. Particularly Coriolanus-- a rather tenuous film due to the original Shakespearean dialogue, but an interesting and apropos rendition nonetheless. Check it out!)

A view of Syberia from the plane-- purely breathtaking.