Temple stay

Jeff, Maddy, Bo, and I went up to Seoul Friday the 13th on the KTX. The KTX provided fond memories of the trains in Germany and France, reaching speeds of 300km/hr. Once we arrived we stayed at a spa. The spas here have saunas, hot and cool pools, and other pools supplemented with interesting things like mugwort and yellow (sulfurous) sand. The spas are separated by sex and we all walk around in the nude. In the area open to both sexes there are restaurants, arcades, and then there are segregated sleeping areas, which were rows of 6'x3'x3' cubbies with mattresses and pillows (of sorts). Also, they apparently have a harem:The signage at the spa was generally fantastic:In the latter sign I think they meant 'please check your pockets for money or other belongings before returning your clothes' but instead it comes off as sounding like we should leave tips in the pockets of the shorts they give us.

In the morning I took a dip in the cold pool before we navigated our way through the subway system to where we met the bus for our trip. I hadn't seen so many Westerners in months, so it was weird being able to eavesdrop on conversations and realizing that my conversations would also be understood. It's amazing how quickly I got used to being a linguistic minority. I met some interesting people on the three hour ride and had some good conversations.

We were early for the temple, so we stopped for a short walk up to a Buddhist statue and a view of a beautiful river.I would have liked to have spent more time at the river, but faux monkhood beckoned. I was initially let down at the temple complex. They had a big plastic banner welcoming tourists and we were ushered into a brand new building that was jarringly modern, with a sound system, projector screen, etc. We were issued monks' robes, nametags, and locker keys and then separated by sex (which was by now a theme. I was mildly amused by Jeff and Maddy electing to spend Valentine's Day essentially apart, but I guess we weren't separated all that often). We were introduced to the program and our interpretor, and then we watched a painfully bad movie about the temple grounds. It basically just showed what we would be seeing ourselves in the next few hours, with Korean being spoken but without any subtitles or other translation. The editing was the worst part; one memorable shot was a slow motion pan of tourists walking across the area that we had just walked to get from the bus to where we were sitting, and it closed in on a woman stopping to tie her shoe. At this point I was afraid that the whole trip would be a commercialized Disneyland-esque imitation of Buddhist culture. However, things definitely picked up after the video. A monk showed us how to properly perform prostrations, which would be vital later. Then we went for a walking meditation, which essentially consists of walking very very slowly while only thinking of each footstep, as opposed to our usual way of walking hurriedly and thinking frantically about what we have to do and where we are going instead of where we are and what we are doing right now. The walk ended in a field with a beautiful view of Lion Mountain, where the temple complex sits and where supposedly some of Buddha's ashes are hidden. The main shrine of the temple is dedicated to that relic, but doesn't actually house it because it might get stolen.

After the walk we had a short break before dinner, during which I met a dog named Temple Dog. Those who most notice the cute animals from my posts will be glad that someone else thought to take a picture of it, which I have stolen for your viewing pleasure. For dinner we took part in a formal monastic meal ceremony. Buddhist monks should be very conscious and appreciative of the food they eat, and this ceremony ensures that consciousness. First we watched a video on how the process works, and I don't want to imagine how many more mistakes we would have made if our instructions had only been verbal. We then were handed four bowls, each slightly larger than the last so that they fit inside each other perfectly, along with a placemat, cleaning cloth, and chopsticks and spoon in a cloth container. We ritualistically unstacked our bowls into the correct places on placemats. We were then given water to wash the bowls, from biggest to smallest before being served. There was a rice bowl, a soup bowl, a side dish bowl, and a cleaning water bowl. We were permitted to take as much or as little as we wanted, unlike real monks. I went light on the side dishes knowing that sometime Korean side dishes taste appallingly bad and that we had to eat everything we took. We ate in silence and then used a last bit of pickled radish or kimchi along with some fresh water to clean our bowls. Then we ate the radish or kimchi and drank down the dregs, so that absolutely no speck of food matter is wasted. The original washing water is then used again to clean the bowls before being put back in a jug that is inspected by the head monk. If there is any food mater then all the monks must drink it. I think they took pity on us, but I also think we did a moderately good job. The water is given to a mountain spirit/demon that is the size of a mountain but that has a neck so narrow that even a tiny speck of food could choke it (I assume this explanation is given to initiates or children and then later they are taught that the reason is to appreciate food and not waste it).

With the conclusion of dinner we went out and rang an enormous bell (it's bigger than the U.S.'s liberty bell) with a mini battering ram. The sound was deep and loud enough that we could feel the vibrations. Back inside we sat in a circle and had a question and answer session with the head monk and two monks of a different Buddhist sect visiting from... umm... (shit, I can't believe I already forgot this) somewhere is Southeast Asia. The visitors spoke a little English but not enough to be comfortable talking about Buddhism in it, while the head monk spoke entirely through the interpreter, so I took everything with a grain of salt. I would have liked to know their opinion on my experience of having been free of (or deprived of, depending on one's point of view) any desires or attachments to the conditions of the world, yet having been absolutely miserable rather than blissful at this time. Obviously the difference between me at my lowest point and a Buddhist at their highest lies in the second order desires about what we desired to desire and our beliefs about metaphysics. They can still act in the face of being without desires for anything material because they think that there is also a non-material world and that they can have a good afterlife if they perform the correct actions in this one. I would have liked their take on it rather than just my speculation as to what they would say, but I didn't want to put the interpreter through that. Amusingly, the head monk had been given a large box of chocolates for Valentine's Day (which it seemed like he had never heard of before) and so shared them with us. Mmmm... Belgian chocolates. Not exactly the best thing to pass around when trying to convince us the world is nothing but suffering, but appreciated (of course in theory we we will feel pain in the absence of chocolate, making things worse). Even the monks had some, which surprised me since they mostly only eat food grown at the monastery.

Next on the itinerary was 'making a dream pouch with whole-hearted mind', i.e. while only thinking about one thing (your dream or 'desperate wish'). I thought it odd that the focus was on our desires and wishes when one of the tenants of Buddhism that they talked about was removing all desired that were based in the material world. My wish/dream/whatever was something completely dependent upon my own attitudes, and hence is the kind of wish that I think focused thought could actually make come true. We basically just threw the finishing touches on some pre-made pouches that were clearly designed by the corporate entity that promotes temple stays rather than anyone at the temple. We were supposed to take our pouches with us up to do our prostration prayers, but somehow I misunderstood/didn't hear that instruction and so ended up at the high shrine without it. As I suspected, the areas up the mountain were way more interesting and authentic feeling. The temple at the very top of the mountain was decorated with lanterns and dragons (I thoroughly enjoyed the dragon decorations, as you can probably tell from the number of photos of them here). In it we did 108 prostrations (plus the three we do every time we enter a shrine and three we do every time we leave). At some point I'll talk to the religion majors among you about going through the motions of worship without any feeling of religiosity. It actually reminded me a lot of the Muslim service I attended for my Intro to Islam class. When we completed our prayers we ate a snack of delicious steamed potatoes and then re-segregrated by sex for sleep. The rooms were empty except for sleeping mats and pillows, and so looked strangely vacant to my Western eyes. As Murphy's Law would dictate, the first person to fall asleep was the loudest snorer, but I slept fairly well anyway, which is good because we had an early start to our Sunday.



We awoke at 4am for the morning service. Our five hours of rest is worlds of sleep according to monks. In order to be a monk one must spend six years as an apprentice monk, and they only get three and a half hours of sleep a night every night of those six years. The morning service was part way up the mountain in a shrine decorated with lotuses. The service consisted of us chanting in Korean. Then they had us groggily perform sitting meditation for twenty minutes. The monk liaison told us about how they hit monks that fall asleep during meditation with bamboo rods and even demonstrated on the one of us who had done meditation for years, but they didn't hit anyone once the meditation began. I was actually able to meditate for the first time in my life. Whenever I have tried to do so in the past I have been unable to shut off the frantic stream of thoughts that is my world, but my mind has slowed down the last couple years. On one hand that makes feel dumber than I once was, but on the other hand I can meditate and I don't have insomnia anymore. I'm not sure which I prefer. Anyway, while meditating I just counted my breaths (in Korean) and managed to not think about anything but that and what I was feeling in the moment. I have gotten a lot better at the whole Mindfulness thing, where you pay attention to what you are experiencing in the present instead of living in the hypothetical and theoretical (my usual stomping grounds).

We had breakfast (which was an informal meal) and then had the rest of the morning free. I helped a fellow visitor finish his breakfast so that he didn't waste any food, which I probably would have done anyway since I am a natural born scrounger . Then I tried to get some sleep, and quickly gave up. Instead I meditated again for a few hundred breaths and ran out to take some pictures of the grounds in the freshly fallen snow (it started snowing as we left the lotus shrine). My favorite building was the one that was actually pretty ancient. I wish they would have at least put some lanterns over the lights if they really felt it needed electricity. The naked bulbs and speakers looked terrible on the thousand year old wood. After break we made lotus lanterns by putting paper leaves onto pre-made lanterns. Mine is now the only decoration that I have personally added to my apartment (apartment tour forthcoming, someday, I promise). Once we cleaned up we headed back up to the lotus shrine to make prayer bead necklaces. We thought about our desperate wish while doing a prostration and then added one bead to the string, repeating the process until all 108 beads were on the string. The 108 prostrations are for the 108 way of suffering, which are completely exhaustive, so absolutely everything is suffering. They are the six senses (eye, ear, nose, speech, body, consciousness) times pleasant, unpleasant, and neither pleasant nor unpleasant, then the six senses times like, dislike, and neither like nor dislike, and then all of this is multiplied by past, present, and future [((6*3)+(6*3))*3=108]. I happen to disagree on this point and believe that one can enjoy things without being so attached to those things that one has to suffer when those things inevitably disappear. However, several people find my ability to sever attachments frightening and a bit inhuman, so perhaps it is not ideal (If it lets me be happy regardless of my conditions, though, I don't care who I scare). After we made our prayer beads we hung up our prayer pouches alongside those of everyone who has visited the temple for the last year. After that we just ate lunch, packed up, and took the three hour bus-ride back to Seoul.

In Seoul Jeff, Maddy, Bo and I went to Itaewon, the foreigner district. Besides seeing these amazing motorcycles, we went to an English bookstore where I bought The Kite Runner and a David Sedaris book. We also had delicious Thai food. Mmm, Thai food. When I get my life in order a little I will tell you more about Seoul, since I also spent this last weekend there.

(Photo credits: all pictures not on my flicker account were taken by Charlotte White)

The View From My Window

(Daejeon, South Korea, 11:30pm)

These neon crosses are everywhere in Korea. Also, I bought a new camera, so when I have time (and have cleaned my apartment) I will start thoroughly documenting things here. However, I won't have time in the next few days because I will be busy being a Buddhist monk.

[note: the picture seems pixilated, but the fault lies not with the camera but rather with me for being too lazy to remove the screen from my window.]

Cultural experiences

Last night I went to a birthday party of someone from my Korean class. On our way there we saw the most bizarre claw game ever. You know the little arcade game where you have to try to pick up your prize with a claw? In this one the prizes are lobsters, which were in a tank awaiting being snatched from above, dropped down three feet to where you can pick up the prize, and then... what on earth would you do with a lobster you got out of an arcade game on the street???


(The one we saw wasn't nearly as nice as the one in the video: it only had about four inches of water and three rather unhealthy looking little lobsters. Just as weird though.)

When we left the party, which took place at a bar on the fifth floor of the building, a couple of us took the stairs down since there were several elevator loads of us, and on the fifth floor there was a guy taking a piss right down the stairs. He didn't even aim into the corner of the room. Also, there was a free bathroom with multiple stalls and urinals right next door to the stairwell. It is socially acceptable to pee pretty much anywhere in Korea, including busy intersections and apparently (judging from the non-reactions of the Koreans with us on the stairs) stairwells. No wonder they take off their shoes when they enter a restaurant or home.

Afterwards about fourteen of us we went to a karaoke room and made fools of ourselves for a few hours. The best part of the karaoke rooms here is that they have videos for the songs, but the videos are weird Korean ones rather than the originals, and they seem to be chosen on the basis of song length rather than tone. Some of my favorites are the video about sniper assassins that accompanied I Will Survive and a Korean rap video (hilarious in and of itself) that was the background for Billy Joel's Piano Man.

At about 3am we went home, where John, Bo and I made our second weekly 3am romen run. Convenience stores here not only sell about twenty kinds of romen, but also have hot water, microwaves, chopsticks, and counter eating space so you can enjoy your romen right there, which is the Korean way to do it. It being 3 am, we are always a bit rowdy and probably a pain in the ass to the poor convenience store clerks, but it is an enjoyable experience.

Read a Book!

Now that there's a video, the world has discovered the Read a Book song, which Reedies have known and loved for years. The sampling of Beethoven's Fifth, the (sadly) much needed message, and the humorous way that message is conveyed combine to make it the only rap song I have ever liked.


(hat tip Andrew Sullivan)

I didn't notice until I watched the video, but the song is pretty heavily directed at the inner city black youth community, but I think it is a message that most Americans need to hear. Andrew Sullivan thinks that it is an anthem for the Obama generation, which makes sense since Obama is all about actually addressing social ills (unlike most Republicans), but also actually demands personal responsibility for those ills instead of blaming everything on society (unlike most Democrats). [Note that philosophically I do think society probably is responsible for our behavior to a large extent, but politically I think that the way to stop behavior we don't like is to change what is culturally acceptable, and so we should have society advocate personal responsibility. Yes, there is irony in society being responsible for our 'personal responsibility', but only with the Plato-esque lie of individual efficacy and responsibility will we change the herd's behavior, whereas an accurate assessment is effectively societal acceptance of the behavior in question.]

Graduation

The graduation for junior highs and high schools was today. This involves the students going nuts: they throw eggs and flour all over the sidewalks, cut their uniforms to shreds, and who knows what else. None of this occurs at my school, which is private and year-round. I just thought that someone lost a bag of groceries off their bike when I saw the eggs and flour strewn across the path on my walk to work. I am not surprised that the kids need to wildly celebrate when they are finally done with school. I have always loved school, but I probably wouldn't have if I had to go twelve hours a day and take other lessons on weekends. They also sometimes have school on Saturdays, including tomorrow, which will be the first day of the semester for non-graduates. The kids in my classes were despondent just thinking about it.

Driving in Korea

A woman in South Korea has failed her driver's license test 771 times so far. I cannot describe to you how terrifying the idea of her driving is considering the things I see licensed drivers do everyday on my walk to work. Unlike the signless narrow roads of Europe,tThe road infrastructure here is perfectly fine: there are multi-lane lined roads with speed limits, stoplights, crosswalks, etc, all of which the people here flat out ignore. Most cars at least slow down for stoplights, but taxis sure as hell don't, and everyone passes on the right or left and changes lanes without turn signals. I don't know how I've only seen one wreck so far. I have come to realize that right of way has little to do with the color of the light or the presence or absence of a crosswalk, but rather goes to whoever has the will to take it. The taxis are the real dangers. I have no idea how they make money since they are super cheap, don't take tips, and charge the same amount regardless of the number of passengers. I guess they make up for it by going so quickly and recklessly. Riding in cabs is not for the feint of heart: there are no seat belts in the back, and I've been in a cab that was going over 140km/h in city, running lights, weaving through traffic, etc.

Also, people will park anywhere that isn't cordoned off by cement pillars. The sidewalk, blocking building entrances, whatever. They would drive on the sidewalk too if not for the pillars. Yet another problem with too many people in such a tiny area. I have mixed feelings about that: I love the idea of urban growth boundaries because I love untamed areas, but I hate the smog, inevitable rows of identical tower apartments, and lack of space that results from this level of population density.

Epistemology

Does anyone know where Eddie got his boots? Apparently Homestar Runner does!

I refuse to believe that there is no photographic documentation of the red moon boots, but I am unable to find any, so if you have pictures please send them my way.

Update: Speaking of philosophy and webcomic-y stuff, the new edition of Dungeons and Discourses is now complete! In the words of Tiny Carl Jung, "This is the best game ever!" Seriously, I want to actually play it someday, especially since the people I have played D&D with are some of the few people anywhere who could pull it off. I would be a Wittgensteinian: at early levels I could trap enemies in rigid logical structures, and at higher levels I could undermine the very idea of following a rule, including the rules of logic, math, language, and (most interestingly for gameplay) physics.

Quote of the week preview

It's only Monday, but there are already some serious contenders for the Quote of the Week. Two entries come from my tutor student (who I am sadly going to lose next week [after only having three sessions with him {wtf?}] and will instead be tutoring his mom). First, he had to draw some animals for the book we are using and he made the hippo and ladybug look unnaturally fierce, so he said that they were spliced with 'monster DNA'. Later, the book had numbers spelled out in ants of the same cardinality, and the eleven ants that spelled out 11 looked a bit like Stonehenge to him so he dubbed it Ant-henge.

However, despite my tutor student providing a wealth of amusement, today's winner comes from my Mars kindergarten class. As I've mentioned, they request that I make simple drawings for them when they finish a page of their workbooks to mark the page as complete and correct and to reward them for that. They often ask for flowers, hearts and vases, and when I start to draw hastily they cry out 'beautiful heart!' or 'beautiful flower!'. Today one of them asked that I draw 'beautiful Batman,' which pretty much made my day.

He's typing in Korean

I finally figured out how to install a Korean font on my computer. Linux can be rather difficult for the uninitiated.

Now I can actually write my Korean name for you: 민준 (MinJun).

Actually, my keyboard is in English, so I can't really type in Korean effectively (much less sing in it).