Finding Peace at Seonunsa Temple Stay and a Mini Gochang Trip
I can't believe it took so long to write part 2...!
My peaceful mind, which I found in August, left home because I was too busy with my daily life.
Seonunsa Temple Stay (Relaxation Program)
You need to walk from Seonunsa Temple towards the forest to reach the temple stay quarters. Even if you wonder, "Am I on the right path?", you have to keep walking.
It was getting close to the check-in time of 3 PM, so I was in a hurry, and my legs moved faster.
Here's a small tip: if you're walking along the wooden deck path from the entrance, don't cross Geungnakgyo Bridge; just go straight. That path is much easier to walk! We thought the temple stay was inside Seonunsa Temple, so we crossed Geungnakgyo Bridge and went straight, only to find ourselves on a dirt path, constantly doubting if we were going the right way.
Arrived at the temple stay quarters.
The place where you see people gathered in the photo is the information center. I received my clothes and room assignment there. The others had already arrived and were listening to the explanation, so I hurriedly changed clothes.
The room I was assigned was at the very end, Inuguwang.
*Inuguwang (人牛俱忘) is the final stage of the Taoist Eight Ox Herding Pictures, meaning 'to rest the seeking mind.' It means that both the person and the ox are forgotten, so there is no longer a 'seeker' or an 'object to be sought.' It's a simple phrase, but my thoughts are too short to understand its deeper meaning.
Many things are voluntary here.
A schedule for the entire temple stay was placed in the room.
The orientation didn't even take 30 minutes. After watching a short video, we received simple instructions and precautions from the temple stay staff. I think there were about 7-8 of us staying that day, including us.
After the orientation, I looked around the temple stay area.
I wore a hip Buddha t-shirt thinking I was going to a temple stay, but I didn't get a chance to show it to the monks or staff, which is a little disappointing, haha.
If you are interested, please refer to the following!
There's always a cat in the yard.
It was a cat friendly enough to let you pat its butt once.
The wide yard in front of the quarters was being used as a parking lot, so it kept going under the cars and wouldn't show its face. Sigh.
Since I hadn't properly looked around Seonunsa Temple, I left for the temple a little earlier than the dinner gongyang (communal meal) time. The gongyang is eaten at Seonunsa Temple. It seemed so long when I first came, but now it seems closer, like magic. I guess everything depends on your state of mind.
The gnats are still there ㅠㅜ No matter how much I wave my hands, I can't get rid of them.
However, there's this wonderful tea field along the way.
I later heard from the museum director, whom I had dinner with, that it's not profitable, so they don't harvest it and only maintain the side visible to tourists.
There was a nice pavilion in the tea field, and I wanted to take pictures, but ah... the pavilion had already returned too much to nature. It was a beautiful but inaccessible ecosystem for spiders and other insects.
Kyung-jang took many pretty pictures.
We felt it was a waste to only take pictures of each other, so we put the phone on the edge of the pavilion and took a picture. It looks quite youthful, doesn't it?
(But to be honest, I was a little taken aback when a stranger suddenly started talking to us, saying he had taken a picture.)
The picture in that phone is here.
As befits summer, the colors of the trees and flowers were deep. It was such a hot day that drinking a bowl of spring water didn't cool me down.
But the pictures turn out well, haha.
The gongyang kitchen is near where the monks stay, and the gongyang comes with 4-5 side dishes and soup.
You serve yourself as much as you want, and after you finish eating, you wash your own dishes and put them away. The taste was okay, but I think breakfast was a little better.
After finishing the meal, I looked around, and a man started talking to me, so I took a walk with him for a while.
He said he was the director of a museum on the way to the temple stay (I think it was the Buddhist Culture Museum) and told me various stories. I guess he needed someone to talk to, haha.
He was a mathematics professor who had retired and spent weekdays in Gochang, spending one day a week at his home in Seoul. He told me who owned the land here, and that the rock climbing teacher living in the small house in front of the museum makes amazing coffee. He was also the one who told me the story of the tea field.
When I said there were too many bugs, he broke off a weed and gave it to me, demonstrating how to wave it in front of my face to keep the bugs away. It wasn't dramatic, but it worked for a very short time, lol.
He told us to come for coffee after morning gongyang the next day, but... I fell asleep due to the effects of getting up early. It's not like we didn't go on purpose, Director...!!
Evening Yebul (Buddhist service) was held at Daeungjeon Hall. It wasn't as long as I thought (about 2-30 minutes), and they gave us a description of the scriptures being chanted that day, so it wasn't difficult to follow along. After Yebul, the monk proceeded with another Yebul, but participating in this was voluntary, so we did 108 bows on the side and left. Sweat was dripping.
In the evening, they lit a bonfire in the yard of the quarters, and people were sitting around it. It seemed like mostly families who had visited during the day were there, and I saw some children, but we wanted to maintain the coolness of our showers, so we stayed in our room.
And what did we do...? We watched this.
A pink poster that feels out of place in the middle of all the green.
Kyung-jang and I watched the later episodes of this series together. After lights out, with only the bed lights on, we watched this on our phones and exchanged glances. What's the point of leaving for the forest~ We couldn't escape the secular world~
So the next day, we barely finished morning gongyang, and then we fell asleep and couldn't participate in the tea ceremony...hehe.. And there wasn't much time left until check-out, so we had to hurry and get ready to leave.
The first temple stay was full of rushing, just like when we arrived. But my heart was truly at peace during the 1 night and 2 days.
Returning Day - Gochang Mini-Trip Day 2
There were cute cats at the Seonunsa bus stop.
Kyung-jang was trapped in a cat magic circle. I'm jealous!!!
We decided to use the Gochang Terminal to return, but we had a little extra time, so we looked around downtown Gochang for a bit. While going to a cafe, everyone was carrying boxes of steamed buns, so I thought, "There must be something special about this!" and headed into the market as if possessed.
And that hunch was right. Hyodo Steamed Buns, which was especially crowded in the market.
Since it's a world where steamed buns with red bean paste are the trend, it's not easy to find delicious steamed buns, so I bought a box of them. They were making steamed buns inside and steaming them continuously, but there weren't enough to fill the box, so I only packed 18. (That makes it 18,000 won!) And the lady who was standing in line with me recommended the dumplings, so I bought 4 of those too.
Instead of lunch, I ate dumplings and steamed buns, and they were really delicious!!! (Personally, steamed buns >> dumplings)
There are still 5 Hyodo Steamed Buns left in my house, hehe. I feel reassured.
After buying the steamed buns, we went to the cafe that was our original destination.
It was a remodeled old house and it was peaceful.
When you think of Gochang, you think of watermelon! But since we are modern people who can't start the day without caffeine, we both ordered iced Americanos. You have to take off your shoes to enter, but the inside was spacious and comfortable.
The garden was especially well decorated, with a mini-bridge and it was charming.
After returning, the days went by chaotically. Like pushing a rock up a hill, really rolling. When I came to my senses, the autumn wind was blowing. It feels like the days are flowing by as if I'm being pushed, but looking back at my back as I went to Seonunsa Temple, I have to cheer up and walk on my own.
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