TempleStay: Jogyesa
Meggie
a day ago
This month, i finally tried out TempleStay! It's a fantastic opportunity for foreigners to interact with Buddhist temples and current religious followers across South Korea, especially around Seoul. There are many programs available at a very low price so that people can experience different elements of daily life, ceremony, holiday, and significance behind traditions in South Korea. As someone whowis not from here and not Buddhist, I was so excited to understand more about this wonderful country, its people, its traditions and this belief system. What a fantastic opportunity to understand more from people that want to share, I thought!
There's a website devoted to this opportunity called TwmpleStay. While it can be a bit off when it comes to nuance or specific details, it's a fantastic resource to understand the overall opportunity available at any given temple and when it is available. With all of this in mind, I was able to book my first day to learn and experience Jogeyesa Temple in Seoul.
While there are opportunities that start with less than one hour in length, I wanted to stay overnight and really get to experience life at the temple after hours- behind closed doors. I booked an overnight stay with a particular theme, based off of the activities that were described in the agenda online. I showed up early afternoon to the temple with my bags and was astonished to see the stunning display of colorful lanterns still up after Buddha's birthday. It was such a delightful experience that I thought I would not get to continue experiencing so long after his birthday celebration had ended.
I was introduced to the other foreigners who were participating and had a nice introduction with them. We were given a schedule and a name badge, then whisked away to a building away from the action to get situated. We would be sleeping in shared rooms with strangers, on the floor, with a traditional mat instead of a mattress. We were required to change into pants and a vest over a personal shirt of ours to wear throughout our stay as guests.
We learned that everyone we would spend time with was a volunteer! We were so impressed by their passion and dedication. While the entire experience was supposed to be structured in English- only, there was definitely a combination of linguistic, cultural and other understanding barriers between the combined set of volunteers representing the temple and the paying guests.
We went through a series of activities that we were all excited about, but none of us understood why we were doing these activities or what the significance was behind them, which we were excited to learn more about.
The location within Seoul was really interesting, considering the history and significance of this temple. The property was immaculately maintained and clearly cared for with love by many people. We were able to experience and participate as much as we wanted to within varying spiritual practices and ceremonies that typically happen throughout the day here as well as activities that were created just for us to simulate and participate in theoretically.
People in group had varying levels of hesitation about participating in certain religious activities that had been explained online in the program as voluntary, but we were told repeatedly by volunteers when we were present that it was expected for us to participate and it was not voluntary. We also participated in vegan meals (aside from eggs available) as part of the program.
One of the most unexpected experiences of sleeping at the temple was construction work being done on our lodging, with electric saws and machinery at almost every hour, with the exception of 1 to 4 am, at our windows that we could not close.
There was a significant amount of structure and obedience, but we were surprised at how separated we were from monks and integrated temple life.
One of my nicest moments was wandering on my own during normal open hours, like other non-TempleStay guests- around the museum, grounds, shop, offerings area and worship grounds.
If interested, do your research! Have a open mind- about your expectations of the the experience, also about religion or culture. Do not hesitate to speak up for yourself or ask follow-up questions to truly connect with these amazing places and people!
