This blog post is going to encapsulate my time on both Saturday and Sunday at the temple because outside of that, most of what we did was travel. Speaking of traveling, I rode on my first high-speed train ever on Saturday. We reached a top speed of 186 mph (I downloaded an app on my phone just so I could see this) which is absurd to think about. I have never gone that fast in a ground vehicle before. The ride took about an hour and was smooth for the most part. From there, we had an hour-long bus ride to the temple, which a lot of us slept through.
Once we got to the temple, we immediately got to watch a martial arts demonstration. It was definitely something I had not seen before. People were doing crazy feats of balance and flexibility, which is definitely stuff I cannot do. After that, we got dressed in our “Buddhist attire,” which was just an orange vest with extremely loose pants. Now that we looked the part, we started the actual program by participating in a Seonmudo class. We started off by stretching, then progressively moved into harder exercises like bear crawling, with the hardest being side kicks.
After the class, it was off to dinner. Something intriguing about Buddhist culture is their commitment to fully utilizing their resources. We were not allowed to leave a speck of food on our plates. We also had to wash our own dishes, which made the meal feel more intentional and respectful. It was a very different experience from what I am used to, but it helped me understand how much mindfulness is built into even the simplest parts of temple life.
After dinner, I decided to take the rest of the night to be “mindful” and “rest the mind,” truly embodying the Buddhist mindset. Our rooms were very simple and bare, which showed their commitment to limiting material possessions. The night went smoothly, and I decided to watch a movie. The whole trip had been wonderful, but extremely exhausting up until that point, so it felt nice to finally slow down and relax.
The next morning started with an early wake-up call at 5 a.m. for the morning service. I went because I was curious to see how it compared to other services I have been to. It was very traditional, with a lot of chanting and a lot of bowing, which was pretty much what I expected. After the service, it was time for meditation. First, we meditated inside while sitting down. I have an extremely hard time sitting still, so that was honestly one of the most boring things I have ever done. I find that when I need to think, it helps me to keep my hands or some other part of my body moving. That need was met when we switched from indoor meditation to “walking” meditation. Walking meditation consisted of all 40 of us getting in a rather large circle and taking extremely slow steps with our hands folded. I found this to be a lot better for my own personal reflection.
After all the meditation was over, our group decided to take a walk/hike up a hill they called Rocky Mountain to see the Buddha statue. I am a sucker for a good hike, so I quite enjoyed that. We spent some time up there just messing around, and we met a dog named Bori. He was 16 years old and kind of sick, but seemed to be in good hands.
The final activities of our trip were another Seonmudo session and tea hour with the head monk. The Seonmudo session was more like a yoga class. I got put in positions that I did not think I could do, nor will I ever be in again. Overall, I think it was extremely fun and something I would consider trying again. Tea time with the head monk was interesting. He could speak some English, but chose to speak through a translator so he could communicate better. We talked about the history of Buddhism, how to become a monk or Buddhist, and other random things relating to Buddhism.
Overall, I had an extremely fun trip. Do I think Buddhism is for me? Absolutely not. Do I see why some people choose to practice it? Certainly. It was a really unique experience, and even though some parts were outside of my comfort zone, I am glad I got to try something so different from my normal routine. (sorry for the lack of images, we were also instructed to use our phones as little as possible).
