In which we hike to Beopgyesa to cut the ribbon at the 타종식: the ceremonial first ringing of the highest temple bell in South Korea. Donguibogam Village, Sancheong-gun, Tuesday 10 June. We wake up at 5:30, dilute our espresso with boiling water from the kettle and carefully eat the cake. I have a dull feeling … [Read More]
Category: Religion and philosophy (page 3)
2014 Travel Diary day 3: 사십구재
The 49th-day ceremony (사십구재) for Sena Lee, who died in Seoul on 22 April 2014, held at Anjeoksa, Sancheon-gun, at which family and friends said farewell to her. According to dharma master Tim Lerch, Traditionally, the period of 49 days after someone dies is seen as a time for that person to check their consciousness and digest their … [Read More]
2013 Travel Diary #20: The temple of a thousand pagodas
Unjusa, Hwasun-gun, Wednesday 11 September, 3:45am. My phone wakes me up at 3:45 am, and I struggle into my trousers, splash some water onto my face, and make my way to the main shrine. I’m the first one there, and soon Kyung-sook arrives, then Wonsan himself. Later, a couple of the temple women join us. … [Read More]
2013 Travel Diary #19: Mosquitoes at Unjusa
Suncheon-si, Tuesday 10 September, 12:30pm We head back to the hotel for a quick shower and change of clothes, before lunch at a nearby eatery – a deliciously delicate clam noodle soup. The soup is brought in a large bowl full of a light broth. At the bottom of the bowl is a mound of … [Read More]
Happy 150th Birthday, James Scarth Gale
James Scarth Gale – missionary, translator, and one of the founders of the Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch – was born 150 years ago on 19 February 1863. His birthday has been marked by an upgraded Wikipedia page, a special page with photos on Brother Anthony’s site, and a memorial service at Yeondong Church (which … [Read More]
2012 Travel Diary #21: Seong Cheol’s birthday, Park Chan-soo’s museum and Gaya period tombs
Sancheong County, Gyeongsangnam-do, Saturday 31 March 2012. The impact of the love shots is still fogging my brain when Mr Yoon arrives at 9:30 in the morning. Today, he is accompanied by his wife, who is to join us for the morning. It is, after all, a Saturday, so Mr Yoon is working overtime on … [Read More]
2012 Travel Diary #19: Beopgyesa Temple and those Japanese feng-shui stakes
Beopgyesa Temple (법게사) is the highest in Sancheong County and at least the third-highest in Korea. The good people of Sancheong believe that Beopgyesa is the highest temple in South Korea, a claim which is supported by Beopgyesa’s entry on the Cultural Heritage Administration website, where the following text is to be found: “It is … [Read More]
Cute photos of a Buddha’s Birthday ceremony in Seoul
Some great pics of some young monks getting their head shaved for the first time this Buddha’s birthday at Jogye Temple, Seoul, in today’s Metro. Some of them don’t like it! Links: Children become Buddhist monks as tears flow during ceremony, Metro, 13 May 2012 Buddhist monks caught gambling, smoking and drinking at party, Telegraph, … [Read More]
Hi Dharma! at the International Buddhist Film Festival
Head-to-head with the excitement of the Terracotta Far East Film Festival comes the equally compelling International Buddhist Film Festival, showing at the Apollo Piccadilly April 11–15, 2012 (the same place the KCC is holding its big monthly screenings this year). There’s plenty of interesting Asian films showing (the full programme can be found here), and … [Read More]
The revival in Confucian Academies
“I came here so Grandpa will scold me less.” Choi Sang-hun talks about a mini-boom in Confucian Academies in S Korea: http://t.co/82ugBn9R (New York Times) [Read More]
London Korean Catholics in their own building at last
Congratulations to the London Korean Catholic community. After 20 years, this morning is their first Mass in their own building, down in Sutton. Till now, they’ve had to borrow buildings. [Read More]
Exhibition Visit: An Eternal Cycle at Mokspace
In a hectic London Korean exhibition calendar which often seems biased towards installations and video art, we should welcome an exhibition which features well executed paintings which you would happily hang on your wall. Mokspace’s current exhibition, An Eternal Cycle – Paradise and Purgatory, is doubly unusual in featuring Buddhist-inspired paintings. Such work is rarely … [Read More]
Buddha’s Voice – The Bell of King Seongdeok
People sometimes take a jaundiced view of Korea’s estimation of the importance of its cultural heritage. In the case of the Sacred Bell of King Seongdeok, however, it was foreigner, Dr. Otto Kummel, a director at the National Museum of Germany, who suggested that the museum’s description of the bell as ‘the best in Korea’, … [Read More]
Book review: Land of Scholars (Kang Jae-eun)
The Land of Scholars: Two Thousand Years of Korean Confucianism by Kang Jae-eun (translated from Japanese to Korean by Ha Woo-bong, then from Korean into English by Suzanne Lee) Homa & Sekey Books 2006; original Japanese version published in 2003. 515 pp Students of Korean history, and particularly of the Joseon dynasty, will inevitably at … [Read More]
Haeinsa celebrates 1,000 years of the Tripitaka Koreana
Haeinsa Temple is hosting its first contemporary art exhibition, involving 34 artists from 10 countries, to commemorate the millennial anniversary of the Tripitaka Koreana, which UNESCO has designated one of the “most important and most complete corpus of Buddhist doctrinal texts in the world.” The exhibition’s title — 通 | 통 | Tong — uses … [Read More]
An Eternal Cycle: Paradise and Purgatory – at Mokspace
Mokspace is maintaining a cracking pace of exhibitions. The next one, of Buddhist art, runs 14 October till 10 November: Mokspace is pleased to present the Buddhist Painting exhibition “An Eternal Cycle: Paradise and Purgatory” with artists Seoyoung Park and Songnyeo Lyoo. Man has tried to understand the mystery of death since he first walked … [Read More]