My stay at a Zen Temple - Day 2

Day 2

The day started for me early ... I woke up at 3am, Popil, the Israeli monk, knocked on my door. I didn't sleep much, but I wasn't too tired despite the fact that the chanting was going on at a floor below the entire night. I had only a few minutes to get ready ... the day activities began at about 3:15. The first thing on the agenda was the 108 bows; now as I woke I was thinking to myself that I did not want to bow to some statue ... but in the end I caved in and did it anyways; as it turned out later, my interpretations of the purpose of bowing was all wrong ... it's not a thing of worship, it is though a form of meditation. Doing the bows felt like gliding in the monk uniform I had on ... it was soft and the time flew by quickly.

Next was the 2 hr meditation session, each hour was seperated by a walk around the room for a while. The meditation felt just like the day before, much of the discumfort was due to my inability to sit in the proper position for long and having my mind wonder of into various places erratically. Once the meditation was over, Musan Saneem, the head monk, asked me to help out a bit with the cleaning in the kitchen and cutting of food. Soon after we went downstairs for breakfast around 6am. There was not much talking going on at the tables, people just ate their rice, beans, peanuts, veggies and sea weed silently.

Afterwards I went back upstairs and joined the monks for some tea and fruit (the ones we've cut earlier). I sat next to Musan Saneem, Popil was also in the room. I finally had my chance to ask Musan Saneem some questions that I needed answers to ... so I didn't waste much time. As I took a breath of the wonderful tea we were drinking, I asked:
1) Does Budhism Beleive in God? He answered: Essential part of Buddhism does not speak of any god. Buddha was a man that took hold of his life and changed things ... even if he didn't exist, it wouldn't matter as only the idea matters. There are some non essential teachings that speak of gods and demons, but not of any supreme being.
2) The 108 bows are a form of meditation, NOT a form of worship.
3) What's the role of the master/teacher, what does he provide. Answer: He provides guidance and discipline, doing things properly. In Musan Saneem's opinion, even if you have discipline and time to practice, you will still need a master.
4) What does it mean to be awake? As I was asking him this question, we were eating the persimmons. He responded ... "When I eat this persimmon, I don't think of any other persimmons from Thailand or anywhere else, etc .... Anyone looking to find something more, will not find it. "
5) About Buddhism and connection to nature: He said that Buddhist don't eat meet, they can't kill any living creatures and live in harmony with nature. He believes that man has abandoned nature and is moving as a massive entity in the wrong direction ... it is very hard to stop and change things now.

Musan Saneem has practiced for a long time in Asia; he was a monk in Thailand, India and Sri Linka before he came to Korea. He told me that it was typically very hard for foreigners to be properly accepted/integrated.

It was 7am, time was up and we had to go for some sweeping activity. I dressed a bit warmer and went outside. It was a nice morning and the streets around the temple were filled with leaves of all colours. I was asked to pick up a broom, it was the kind I remember street sweepers using in Russia, it was made of branches gathered together. Our task was to sweep the streets of the leaves. It was surprisingly enjoyable activity and we all participated. We gathered the laves into piles and other monks would come and pick them up, storing them into boxes. This lasted for about an hour; once we finished I felt good looking back at the large are we swept and seeing leafless streets.

After finishing, I went upstairs back into the kitchen for more tea and conversation with the monks. This time there were many more of us ... the other temple visitors have also joined us and another Israeli monk with his friend were also there. We were sitting in the kitchen area and drinking the tea ... refilling the cups as they became empty ... it was truly a wonderful and peaceful experience. The monks joked around and talked about many regular things ... we all shared our experiences with each other. We would end up staying for hours and hours chatting away. We asked the two Israeli monks why they decided to become monks; they answered that it was to practice (meditation, etc) ... my impression was that they really enjoyed the peaceful life and just wanted to practice and perhaps were not strict followers of Buddhism. Popil for one has been practicing for 7 years. He told me of many westerners that go to the temples with the goal of becoming a monk; life is not easy for them and once they do they leave; as he was telling me this, I was remembering my conversation with the American hinja from the day before. Popil continued, "this life is not for everyone, you have to do it for the right reasons". You could tell that they were very happy and pure, the smiled and made jokes as we drank our tea.

Popil is a traveling monk, one without a temple of his own. He allocates seasons (summer and winter) for serious meditation and practices continuously during that time. He gets a bit of money to travel around temples during the off season (spring/fall). He has studied Korean and visited many temples in Korea. Typically Koreans don't know what to do with foreign monks, but once you know the language things are different.

I went out around noon and came back for the Dharma talk at 3pm. There was a visiting monk, Ven. Hyon Gak Sunim, to the temple who gave a Dharma talk on Sunday afternoon. His talk was great, filled with a lot of useful information, great anecdotes - the kind you hear from rabbis and he answered many of the remaining questions that I had by that time. I will write a transcript of what was said in follow up post.

After the talk, Musan Saneem, Popil and others left for dinner outside the temple grounds. They drove off on a temple shared car - Popil was driving as Musan Saneem didn't have licence. I informed the others that I was leaving the temple that evening and said goodbye in case they came back late. Soon after I went for my second nap that day.

I woke up in time to take a quick walk around the area and got back for the 7pm meditation. Just before the meditation and for quite a bit after, I was sitting with Popil in the kitchen, drinking tea and chatting. He told me part of his story; he was first introduced to the Buddhist practice during his travels in Sri Lanka many many years ago. A monk invited him to stay at the temple there ... and he did for a couple of days, after which he said goodbye and continued on his travels. One day much later, he decided to go back to practice and has been ever since; he truly enjoys this peaceful life. Back in the day, he used to be an animator doing art and animation in flash ... but now, he has forgot much of that stuff he knew and almost never uses email now. We talked about Osho, a well known spiritual leader about whom many books have been written; he warned me to be careful with him as his writing sounds very sweet to the ear.

Popil gave me advice for my travels. He said that once I arrive in India, I should give it two weeks to absorb all that is going on there and not to react to things during that time; there is just too much happening. I expect a huge culture shock when I get there. He also recommended that I go to Sri Lanka as in his opinion it's a smaller and more contained version of India.

It was time for me to leave, I said goodbye to Musan Saneem, who encouraged me to stay through the night, but I really couldn't as a couch surfing experience awaited me. I said my goodbye to Popil; I felt so grateful for whole experience and I told him so. We were both smiling and wished each other well. I left the temple very relaxed and marched on with my journey.