Greetings Vagabuddies.
Welcome back to Seoul, South Korea.
Today is going to be a much slower,
more mellow video.
We are here at the Bongeunsa
Temple. I hope I pronounced that right.
It's a twelve hundred year old temple
in the middle of modern Seoul.
It's a Buddhist Temple
Once a week they open up to the public
to give insight into zen Buddhist lifestyle.
We'll be doing a temple stay,
getting a guided tour
of the temple complex, and learning
more about what it's like to be a
Buddhist monk. Let's go. Let's do it.
From the right we start the Bongeunsa
And "Bong" means respect
"Eun" symbolizes the benevolence
and last letter "Sa" means temple.
So this is the temple
to show the respect
for the king who contributed to (??)
for this Buddhism.
One of the things I've always been
curious about with Buddhist
philosophy is the symbolism of
the dragon because in the west,
dragons have always kind of had a
negative connotations....like dragons
are kind of the destroyers and they
symbolize evil.
In Buddhist philosophy, it's actually
the exact opposite that dragons are
symbols of good luck.
Korea has been historically a Buddhist
country. Buddhism came from
originally from India
and then through China and Japan
to here in Korea.
There're two main forms of Buddhism,
and this is the one that is similar
to that practice in China and Japan.
I would consider myself a lazy Buddhist.
I agree with much of the principles
of Buddhism, but not an active
practicer. It will be cool to go in here
and see this really older form of
Korean culture.
Many people in Korea today are Christians.
This is kind of an older slice of Korea.
When Buddhist monks pass away,
their bodies are put onto a funeral
pyre and burned; the ashes are collected,
and then they're put into a big,
giant, intricate urn.
Right as you're coming into the temple
complex, you're passing the cemetery
of important Buddhist monks.
You can already feel the serenity.
We just saw the story of the Buddha,
which is painted on one of the walls
down there.
Essentially, he was a prince
in northern India or southern Nepal.
He was living in a palace
and one day went outside
and saw, basically, suffering,
poverty, death.
He was going to be the king;
he was a prince, but he escaped
the palace and went out to meditate
under a tree, and during his meditation
he came up with three noble truths:
First, that life is suffering; and the second
that there's no such thing as a self;
and third that everything is impermanent..
that this too shall pass; the good and
the bad are all impermanent.
This seems pretty permanent,
1200 years right here in the spot
surrounded by the skyscrapers of
Gangnam, the business part of town.
This little, peaceful, tranquil
slice of Buddhist culture remains.
We've just had a tour of
the monastery and the temple,
and now we are going to learn about
the tea ceremony .
It's very interesting.
It'll be cool to see how the tea is served.
That was very cool.
It was beautiful how the tea ceremony
is just like infused with spirituality
and meditation.
It's just the way that they did
each single thing was the practice
of mindfulness.
It just goes to show how you do
anything, is how you do everything.
If you can make pouring a cup of tea
last five minutes and have many slow
deliberate movements, it just slows
everything down.
It's very different to ordering a mocha
Frappuccino chai latte thing at Starbucks.
Arts and crafts time.
We're now going to make a lotus flower,
which is the symbol of Buddhism
enlightenment because even though
it grows in dirty water,
it is still beautiful.
It's been awhile since arts and crafts
class, and I'm having a little bit of difficulty.
But I think my lotus flower is going to
come together nicely.
It's kind of like Korean origami.
But it's nice. I like it.
It's very relaxing.
Arts and crafts is over, and we're
moving to the meditation room
where there is a monk waiting for us
to give us a guided meditation.
My name is San Sung
We are in Temple Bongeunsa
This temple is
established in the eight century.
More than 1,500 years ago,
it was founded.
In this monastery, about 20 monks
are living together.
Buddhism has gone through a lot of
changes, and still we have survived
in modern society, and it's functioning.
The sun is setting, and our day here at
this 1200 year old Buddhist monastery
in the middle of the city
is drawing to an end,
and honestly, it's a great way to
just slow things down
and take a moment to really
breath Seoul in.
One of the first observations we made
here was that there was a split:
this urban, modern, traditional, rural vibe.
It's something where a temple like
this can exist side by side with these
big skyscrapers.
At first when we came here, we thought
how can this be?
One of the monks said that whether
you live in the mountains or the city,
it doesn't matter. You can still find peace;
you can still find enlightenment.
It's really not that odd that it exists
here. It's kind of just part of Seoul.
And that dichotomy is really what makes
the city what it is.
I don't think we found enlightenment
with our thirty minutes meditation, but
it's better than nothing and one step
further along the journey.
Than you guys for watching.
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We are almost done here with our time
here in Seoul, but stay tuned for
more adventures. Stay curious.
Keep exploring, and we'll see you guys
on the road. Peace.