On Sunday of last week, one of the Germans at Kamco, and a Russian friend of his took us to a Buddhist temple that was located in the southwestern portion of the country. Temples in Korea are usually located in the mountains. (The reasoning for this is that at one time Buddhist were persecuted for there religion so they placed their temples high in the mountains so they could continue to practice.)
As you arrive at the area of the temple there is a small gathering of restaurants. As you walk up a road to the temples, there are road side stands selling various foods and beverages. Including boiled silk worm larvae, which is a delicacy and dried fish, roots, and fruits. Our german friend tried to get us to try the silk worm larvae but neither one of us were feeling that adventurous. The smell is hard to describe but it is very pungent kind of like burnt coffee and boiled beans mixed together.
Along the side of the road to the temple was a stream that was very beautiful and had various small waterfalls along it.
As you arrive at the area of the temple, there is a guard gate. The guard gate is a large red wooden building that you must pass through to get to the area of the temples. In the guard gate, there are four very large wooden carvings of men, approximately 15 to 20 feet (4.5 to 6 meters) in height. They are elaborately painted and holding different objects in their hands. They are in seated positions and are located behind wooden fencing so they can not be touched. Upon entering into the courtyard of the temples you see one vary large building directly in front of you. This building is open on three sides and houses a very large Korean drum that is used during ceremonies. To the right of the building is the entrance to the monks living quarters. This area is off limits to visitors. As you come around the central building that houses the drum, a small temple is located at the base of the mountain. This temple is a more modest temple and is approximately ten by twelve feet in size. The central Buddha inside is approximately two feet in size with flowers on each side. The walls are painted with scenery pictures in gold, black, red, and white. The primary color is gold. The largest of the five temples is located to the left of this temple. There is a large stone Pagoda which stands approximately twelve to fifteen feet tall located in front of the temple. West of the large temple is another medium sized temple that had various prayers hanging from the roof and had wooden statues of men situated around the three Buddhas along the side walls. Two smaller temples were located to the north of this temple. The larger of the two temples to the north has many hanging lotus flowers that have been made through origami. They are beautiful pieces of art and it is quite amazing a skill to see. The smaller temple is more basic in style and is more simply decorated. A camilla forest is located to the north of these temples. The forest covers the entire mountain side. It is said that when the forest is in full bloom this is one of the most beautiful of the Buddhist temples.
The interesting thing about the Buddhist temple that I found was that there is not just one temple. There is usually one large temple and several smaller temples at each location. I am sure that there is some significance to the number of temples but I do not know what is it at this point. I will let everyone know when I find out. All the temples are ornately painted in bright colors on both the inside and out. They are each uniquely decorated. In general, there is usually more than one Buddha in each temple. In some of the smaller temples there are ornate paintings on the wall. While the larger temples have hand carved men in sitting positions and lotus flowers made of paper hanging from the ceilings. The temples do not use any nails in their construction that are all fitted together using a mortice and tenon or dovetailing construction techniques. The ends of the internal beams are carved into various shapes including lotus flowers.
The nuns housing is located on the western side of the temple grounds. This area is also off limits to visitors.
Even the Buddhists have figured out the gimic of the gift shop. The most unique gift, which you can not take home is a tile roof piece. The slate roof shingle gets laid underneath the temple roof so that your name is closer to Buddha. However, we passed on the shingle for now and left only with the pictures in our camera.
The area near the temples have hiking trails. Along the hiking trail there is a large stone Buddha that was carved into the stone mountain side by the monks. However, it was so hot that day and our german friend felt it best if we skip the hike do to the heat and we went to the seashore so we did not see the stone Buddha. Maybe some other time.