Temple Explorations: Observations from a Korean traveler

By Lucy Kweon

JIRISAN –Since I started exploring all over my country, and I realized that there are so many beautiful mountains, islands, beaches, and towns to explore, I’ve been addicted to traveling around my country.

Especially because I live in a big city, and it’s hard to escape the hustle and bustle of city life, I love being in quiet and peaceful places, like mountains, small islands, or the countryside.

So when recently planning a trip for my birthday, I felt I’d found the perfect place. Mount Jiri National Park is a vast area, which can take three days to cross.  But if you’re looking for something a little less strenuous, you can explore the mountainside villages that are connected by old trails and new roads.

My only previous experience of these valleys was as a youngster, on day trips with my family – an escape from the hot sun where we’d paddle in cold river waters, eat cooling chicken soup, and gorge ourselves on watermelon.

When I checked the National Park’s website, I discovered you could visit these villages and sleep in the home of a local family.  I found a village in the middle of the mountain where the chief (all Korean villages have a chief, who is in charge of village) had a reputation from travelers of being very hospitable.

When I talked to him and his wife on the phone, I struggled to understand their different dialect, but I liked it and finally I made a reservation.

As we left Gwangju, it was such a lovely day outside that I could enjoy even three bus transfers to get to the nearest place to start hiking.

I could tell I was almost near the area of Jiri National park by the crazy bus ride, it felt like I was on a roller coaster surrounded by big green mountains, there was a river with lots of rocks between the road and the mountains.

Soon we were off the bus, and wandering through the valley. The road to the temple we wanted to see was incredibly steep, and at that point cars were going past, so we decided to hitchhike to get to the top.

The small truck (we call them “Bongos”) stopped and the driver was a bit shy, he was the first of many ‘angels’I met on my birthday trip – people who made my experience all the more special.

The temple grounds were filled with rock carvings of all shapes and sizes, from tiny Buddhas and flowers to huge dragons and sword-holding warriors.

Normally you can see colorful statues of warriors at an entrance to a temple, but here they were carved into the mountain rocks as we approached, which gave the whole place a more mysterious feel.

But most amazing was entering the temple, which was just a small door from the outside. Walking into it though, revealed a cave, covered with different rock carvings.

Floor to ceiling it was covered in dragons, flowers and mysterious-looking men,  – the centerpiece being a huge, beautiful statue of Buddha himself.

This, along with the hundreds of candles and people bowing to the statue, made it one of the most spiritual places I’ve ever been.
On the way out, I met the men I’d hitchhiked with, and when I told him I planned to hike to a Zen Buddhist temple, he offered to take me there too.

The temple, named Baeksongsa (Baeksong temple) is almost at the peak, so it has an amazing view down to the mountains.
Maybe because of it’s high location, there weren’t as many people around, which made the atmosphere quiet, peaceful and truly serene.

The ‘song’part of the temple name means “pine trees” in Chinese characters, and you can see beautiful big fine trees in the grounds of the temple.

The temples aren’t painted with any colors, just plain, natural wood, that’s why they look more beautiful to me.
The driver of the bongo confessed to me very shyly that he’d made all the wooden calligraphy-style carvings on the temple, after I mentioned how much I liked them. He said he’s not an artist, he does it just as a hobby.

But they looked just like art, and I was very surprised by his work and his attitude. I love people who don’t know they are amazing but they are amazing. He was a guy like that, and I really liked him.

I met a monk and actually he was the first monk I ever had a conversation with at a temple. He amazed me by his saying that “Buddha is not a God, but simply a great teacher. A lot of people even Buddhists worship him or know him as God, but he was a person who had realized about life, and tried to teach how to take a view about it.”

I was quite absent-minded when I first became interested in Buddhism. Even though I knew Buddha was just a person like me, I had never questioned who he was, what he did, or why lots of people honor him.

–Part 2–to be continued next month

Lucy Kweon is an English teacher who lives in Gwangju, South Korea. In her free time, she loves to travel her native country. Read more about her temple explorations in part two section next month.