Running Amok in Seoul

Sorry this post is late.  I've been busy and we've been having internet issues.  I have another post to write after this one about a day trip to a monastery for a special ceremony, but that will have to wait.

It was the 22nd, 23rd and 24th last week that I went into Seoul to stay awake.  On Tuesday, I had planned to go to at least one palace, as there are a few in downtown Seoul from the previous Jeoson Dynasty, but unfortunately it was closed when I went and another one only accepts group tours.  However, I did go to the royal palace museum and saw some interesting things.  Unfortunately, there was little explanation in English.  One interesting thing, though, was a water clock that uses a carefully regulated water flow to tell time. It's a large contraption with bells and whatnot.  I stupidly didn't take a picture.

After that I walked to the second palace I couldn't get into, but stumbeled upon a small Korean Buddhist art museum.  Actually, the first piece you see is a large Tibetan prayer wheel.  The whole museum is on two floors of two small, connected buildings.  I think they may have at one time been houses, but I'm not sure.  In any case, the English pamphlet said the museum has a temple in another part of Seoul, so I went there as well.  For the life of me, I can't remember the name of the temple...something like Anyagam or Angayam or something.  It's nestled up against a giant rock in an otherwise normal neighborhood.

This is the image on the main gate. Not sure who this is, but you get a sense of how old this place is.  Some of it is in disrepair, wich is possibly why it's now connected to the museum.  The temple may benefit financially from the arrangement.

This is the exterior of the main Buddha hall.  Although there are several buildings on the small property, you can see how small they are.

These are lotus lanterns hanging from the ceiling of the main hall.  The tags have people's names on them and possibly prayers (I've never looked closely). This is a way for lay people to support the temples and such lanterns can be seen at every temple.  Although the lighting isn't very good, notice the detail on the rather old paintings on the walls.

This is the bell in the Beopdang ("Dharma Hall" / main hall).  The brown robe hanging on it is a monks "kasa," called "O-kesa" in Japan.  I believe monks in the Theravada tradition call it a "kasaya."  It is a patchwork robe originally simply made from scraps of cloth found in charnel grounds and trash heaps that were then bleached, sewn together, and died with the silt of the ganges.  During the Buddha's lifetime, it was stylized into a pattern of squares based on the structure of rice fields.  There is a teaching associated with this that I regret I don't know.  In any case, I still wear my Tibetan one, although I'm in grey otherwise now (the Korean monks robes are grey).  It's an interesting combination.

As for the bell, normally, the bell in a Beopdang is a flat gong.  This type is usually larger and housed under a pavilion outside and is rung in the morning, along with a wooden fish instrument and another flat bell.  I think think the large bell is for the creatures of the earth, the wooden fish is for the creatures of the waters and the flat bell is for the creatures of the air.  They are also called to prayer in the morning as they too have the Buddha-nature.  That is, all sentient beings throughout all space and time have the ability to wake up and become perfectly enlightened Buddhas, though they generally must be reborn as humans first.

This is a dragon detail - part of the support strucutre for a roof.  In India there was a belief in nagas or water serpent spirits that were adopted into Buddhism. The story goes that some of them converted and protect the Dharma.  In any case, when Buddhism moved to China this belief easily blended with the Chinese belief in dragons, thus dragons have replaced nagas, at least iconographically, in East Asian Buddhism.  That ball in it's mouth, by the way, is a jewel without which it cannot live.

 

Here you see some kimchi jars near the main hall.  Notice that the side of the small building behind the jars conforms to the rock.  Inside is a carved image of Kwanseeum Bosal (the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara - lord of compassion).  I wasn't sure if I should directly take photos of the Buddha images in the halls or not, so I avoided doing so.

I have more to write about Wednesday and Thursday, but I'll add that to this post later...maybe this evening.  I have to post about my trip yesterday in a day or two.

Comments

[Jae-Min]

I'd hazard a guess that the image on the main gate is that of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva in the form of a boy, known as 보현동자 in Korean.

[scruffysmileyface]

Love the eplanations of the different bells, etc. Thank you for taking the time to teach these things.
In the Chinese tradition, the flat bell (not the gong, but a flat, stylized - not round - plate) and the big, hanging wooden fish are struck at meal times. Most other times (meditation, services, work time, etc) are marked with wooden clappers.