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| Buddhist Temples of Korea |
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| The Buddhas birthday celebrations are huge! Thousands of people flock to the temples to hang up one of these lanterns in their name, for good luck and to give a donation to the temple. They're expensive (Humble they may be, but the monks must make a killing on these things) and many people spend the day there, lighting the lanterns up when it gets dark. A really beautiful sight. |
| Here they are lit up in the evening. Its amazing that so many Koreans believe so strongly to do this, when the lanterns are just taken down to be reused the next year. |
| During the World Cup, the temples opened their doors to foreigners, so they could see the daily routines of Buddhist monks. We stayed for a day and a night, and wow! What an eye-opening experience. Its commendable that the monks can live such an.. unstimulated life. |
| We did Buddhist martial arts (very cool), meditated (slightly painful), chanted (really intriguing), had a buddhist meal ritual (frustratingly slow), made lotus lanterns, and received information from a really interesting monk who'd studied in New Zealand. We left with some amazing memories, like the feeling of being in the main worship hall, among about 80 chanting monks before the sun rose, bowing to the Buddha's image. |
| A Korean Buddhist monk, signalling the beginning of a chanting ritual. |
| Stone drinking water bins are at all Korean temples. As is the case with everything else in Korea, it very communal. |
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| Huge instruments, like this drum are used to spread the buddha's message to all creatures of the world. This type of drum in particular was made specifically to be heard by all the land animals. |
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