Haeinsa Temple

Today my co-teacher and a friend of hers offered to take Joe, my co-teachers, William and Shaun, and me to Haeinsa Temple. Haeinsa Temple is about an hour's drive west from Daegu and is nestled in the Gaya Mountains. The temple was first built in 802. That's 802, folks, not 1802. Ms. Park told us that because of the conflict between those who practiced Buddhism and those who practiced Confucianism, Buddhist temples started being built in the mountains away from the towns and cities, because Buddhists were attempting to escape persecution. They built in the mountains and hills to have a safe and peaceful place to worship.

As we drove out of the city and further into the countryside, I felt myself fully relaxing and staring like a wide-eyed child as the hills morphed into mountains. Joe and I have been out of Daegu, but not by car and not through rural roads. Exploration of rural and remote parts of the states is one of our favorite things to do, and this was feeding that need something fierce. The green, sloping hills graduated to tall mountains with exposed rock that emerged between the foliage. The leaves were just beginning to change colors here, and the mountains and hills were smeared with reds and yellows amidst the larger canvas of green. The power lines and satellite towers of Daegu were nowhere to be found. Joe and I were reminded of Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming. We missed our car and felt so grateful that Ms. Park had driven us out here.

The walk to the temple was gorgeous. Trees of all kind, boulders flung down the length of the river, the smell of dirt and bark and all things nature-y everywhere. One difference, I think, between the temple here in Korea and the equivalent in the states (whatever that might be) is that in Korea there are huge, brightly colored signs and banners hung all over the temple buildings that lend a modern (and I daresay, cheap) feel to the ancient buildings. It's like there isn't a separation between antiquity and modernity; it's all mashed together. Which isn't to say that the place doesn't feel ancient and mysterious, because it does, but it's strange when you're trying to get into the mindset of someone who lived in 802 to see a fuschia sign advertising the next temple ho-down.

There were many things that I loved about my experience at Haeinsa Temple, but I think the loveliest was the prayer/wish maze. You pay 1000 won (roughly, a dollar) to write down a wish on a piece of paper with your Chinese calendar animal on it, and you take that wish with you, pressed between praying palms, through a maze. The maze was created by stringing up colorful paper laterns in the shape of lotus flowers. You walk with your wish through the four quadrants of the maze until you get to the center, where you drop your wish into a wish box. I really loved this. It felt important to me. The weather was amazing--sunny, but cool, with a breeze--and I felt like the journey to bring the wish to its resting place was incredibly meaningful. It felt more important than just wishing for something. I actually had to make a journey, though small, to help the wish come true.