hana

Hanna was so kind as to accompany us to Bomosa Temple. She is a big fan of the monastic life, and despite being a mother and wife, would love to try it out. She was sure we would meet a monk.
And she made sure we did. She introduced us to Bom Sang,a young monk who was glad to answer our questions about the temple.

One of the many altars we saw in the temple. there is usually one altar in each prayer hall. On this altar is a statue of a Bhodisatva(servant of Buddha). Usually people will pray to the Boddhisatva of their choice depending on their particular wishes(long life, healthy children,etc..)
It's a bit like having patron saints for different causes.
Praying involves standing and then bowing and going down into a crouched sitting position and getting up to repeat the process several times. Christiane was fortunate enough to have Hana and another lady show her how to do this while we were at a nearby temple.

After having talked to the monk, he was kind enough to invite us to a traditional tea house near the temple later in the evening.
He brought his own tea from the temple and we had the opportunity to watch him mix and pour the tea. He was very deliberate and practiced in his movements.I could easily see how serving tea can be called an art and a form of meditation.
With Hana translating, we talked about Buddhism and the life of a monk for 3 hours. It was a wonderful evening. Hana was exhausted!

Having grown up in Germany, my favorite meal has always been wiener schnitzel and spatzle(breaded veal and noodles). However, I have now been introduced to its superior.
Hana and her husband took us to a small town outside of Pusan where a small family restaurant served twaejee kalbi.
It's basically pork(you can also get beef) which you cook on a brazier at the table. As you can see, even in Korea- the man owns the BBQ.
Then you eat chunks of it in a lettuce or cabbage leaf with any of the condiments or side dishes always in abundance at any Korean meal.
Thank goodness I have a wife who isn't a vegetarian. We have enjoyed several more of these meals since this first one.

Tongdosa has no images of the Bhudda on its grounds, unusual for a Buddhist temple. This is because the sarira of the Buddha(Sakyamuni) was brought to Tongdosa by the monk Jajang early in the temple's history.
After a monk dies, his remains are cremated. What is left over is kept as his sarira.
Since this important relic is kept in Tongdosa, they have no need of images of the Buddha himself.