I first heard about the idea of doing a temple stay from one of my fellow teachers in EPIK (English Program in Korea). The idea appealed to me partly because one of the items on my Korean bucket list was to “meditate in a Buddhist temple”. Plus, every time I pass by a temple on the Olle trails I’m always intrigued and filled with a sense of awe. Having a sleepover at a temple seemed like a no-brainer and a wonderful way to spend a weekend.
In this post, I want to introduce you to the idea of doing a temple stay, and explain why this MUST be on your Korean bucket list!
Four friends and I signed up to do a Saturday night temple stay at Yakcheonsa Temple ( Address: 293-28 Ieodo-ro, Daepo-dong, Seogwipo, Jeju-do). Which is about 20 minutes east of Seogwipo-si on Jeju Island and right at the start of Olle trail 8. It was 30,000 Won (a little less than $30) a piece for the entire experience, which is truly a steal as it includes 3 meals and accommodations for the night.
We initially registered for the freestyle experience, which essentially consists of hours on end of silent time for meditation. However, when we got there, since we were teachers and serving the community (and maybe because we were rowdy looking 20 somethings who probably couldn’t handle endless meditation) the temple staff ended up throwing in extra experiences and activities for no additional charge.
At 4:00 pm on Saturday afternoon, the festivities began. We arrived at the temple and met with our guide for the weekend. She was a yoga and meditation teacher who spent years studying in India, Australia, and other places around the world. She walked us through “temple etiquette” so we could fit right in with the monks during their worship sessions. She also showed us how to do prostrations (more on that later) and gave us a general orientation of what to expect.
We were given temple clothes to change into and shown to our accommodations for the evening. The rooms were simple, but comfortable with floor mats and plenty of blankets and pillows for sleeping. It reminded me of slumber parties back in elementary school where we would unzip our sleeping bags and make a giant palate on the living room floor.
Dinner was promptly at 6:00 pm. It was vegetarian style and therefore very light and delicious. After our meal, we attended our first yebul (worship session) in the main temple. The five of us grabbed cushions and sat together in a cluster slightly unsure of what to do. We followed along the monks lead: kneeling, prostrating and standing in sync with them. Listening to the beautiful, hypnotic harmony of their chanting voices, wishing I could join in.
After the worship session, we remained in the temple and got some one on one time with the head monk as he led us through our bonus activities! We sat around on the temple floor and strung together 108 prayer beads and while we worked, the monk explained to us some of the major tenets of Buddhism.
He shared that human beings suffer from 108 afflictions. There is some fancy math that happens to make the number 108 so stay with me here. We have six senses: taste, touch, sight, hearing, smell, and consciousness. Within each of these six sense we can experience three different reactions: positive, negative, neutral. This multiples together to create 18 feelings.
The 18 feelings can be either “attached to pleasure” or “detached from pleasure” which makes 36 passions. Each passion can be experienced in three different dimensions the past, present or future. 36 multiplied by 3 is 108 which is where the number comes from. Whew.
Once our prayer beads were finished, we were ready for the 108 prostrations. This is a common Buddhist ritual done to cleanse the participant of each affliction. IMHO, it was the most magical and spiritual part of the entire temple stay experience. To set the scene for you, the five of us and one monk stood together in an otherwise completely empty temple. We stood in front of our mats facing a giant golden Buddha statue and a video played on a projector screen to walk us through the exercise.
The speaker on the video would offer up an intention “I repent for manipulating people for my own selfish needs.” The monk would slap the rod he was holding on his palm making a satisfying clapping sound. The 5 of us would fall onto our knees, face to the ground, bowing. Then we would stand back up and the cycle would begin again.
“I repent for having ignored the effects of my misdeeds on others”
Clap. Bow. Stand.
“ I repent for my fearful thoughts, words and deeds”.
Clap. Bow. Stand.
It was hot. There was no air conditioning in the temple and we were all starting to visibly sweat. But I like to think the sweat and heat acted to enhance the experience for all of us.
“I bow in gratitude for coming to see the beauty of this world.”
Clap. Bow. Stand.
“I bow in gratitude for coming to see that selfless love is the greatest power of all.”
Clap. Bow. Stand.
The rhythm and the cadence of the ritual was transformative.
“I vow to always speak only that which is kind, true and useful”.
Clap. Bow. Stand
“I vow to always be loving towards others.”
Clap. Bow. Stand.
By the end, after we had bowed to our knees and stood back up 108 times, I felt accomplished. I felt lighter. I felt a sense of inner calm. And strangely enough, I felt forgiven. For what? I’m not sure, but it was an overwhelming sense of peace and ease that enveloped me.
We spent the rest of the night in our rooms, playing card games, laughing, and enjoying each others company. ( I brought my deck of cards as a spur of the moment idea, and it was the best decision I’ve ever made. ) And then tried to get to bed early because we had to set our alarms dark and early for 4:00am to participate in the morning yebul.
The morning came very quickly. Although the buzz of our alarms and ringing of the gong felt unwelcome initially, I was ultimately happy I dragged myself out of bed to participate. The morning yebul was the same as the night before, standing and bowing in sync with the monks. This time, chanting along with them. By the time the morning worship ended it was 5:00am and the sun was just beginning to rise.
My friends and I watched an epic sunrise together, drank some vending machine coffee and went for a meditative morning hike along Olle trail 8 and ended up at the ocean. When breakfast was ready at 7:00am, we felt like we had already experienced an entire day. You can accomplish a lot if you wake up before 4:00 am.
We spent the rest of the morning playing more card games, wandering around the temple grounds and being led through a guided meditation and stretching session. At 1:00 pm,we had to turn in our clothes and head home. We were all sad to go, but filled with a beautiful energy from the restorative weekend.
It was the magical reset button we didn’t know we needed and we all agreed it was the best 30,000 won we have ever spent.
How absolutely beautiful and such a spiritually uplifting experience! Love this!