Week VII: Warrior monks

My time in Gyeongju was amazing, my favorite part of my stay in Korea so far. On Tuesday I went to Bulguksa temple and this white stone Bhudda in a temple carved into the hillside. It was beautiful. Then on Wednesday I took the road less traveled and went to Golgulksa temple which is the world headquarters of Sun Moo Do. Sun Moo Do is a traditional martial art from Korea and is closely tied into bhuddism. The temple has alot of bhuddas and other statues carved into the rock and the only temple that is in a cave. It was so beautiful. I arrived during a Sun Moo Do class and watched. The head instructor asked me where I was from and why I was in Korea and when he found out that I did Soo Bahk Do he was very happy to meet me. The Grandmaster of Sun Moo Do is actually a Soo Bahk Do Master also. The instructor invited me to have tea with him and then stay for lunch. After lunch I continued on 4km up the narrow paved highway to Girimsa temple. It was well worth it. It was the same size and beauty of Bulgulksa with a fraction of the people. The thing about sight seeing in Korea is that I am one of the attractions and hoards of children are thrilled to see me and want to say hi and ask me questions that they learned how to say in school. This is cute for about a day and then it gets really old and annoying when you are trying to have a peaceful visit to a temple. Thursday morning I went to the national museum which had some really amazing ancient pottery and bronze artifacts. However there were hundreds of children who all wanted to talk to me and point at me as I past. My experience at Golgulksa was so amazing that I decided that I should at least do one night of temple stay. Temple stay is where you follow the rotine of the temple and live like the monks for a day or a week or even years if you want. I arrived at 5:00pm on Thursday and got my room and then went to the dinning hall for dinner. After dinner we had a bit of free time and then went to the Do Jang and trained for a couple hours and then went to bed. The training was awesome and I could do a lot more than their normal visitors because of my Soo Bahk Do background. The forms are really cool, very artistic and have a lot of jumping and balancing moves. Sun Moo Do is less of a practical martial art and more of an artform. At 4:00am the next morning a monk came around hitting his wooden goard to wake everyone up for morning chanting and bowing at 4:25. We chanted for a half an hour, meditated for a half an hour and then did walking meditation for an hour. Breakfast was at 6:30 and then we had free time until training at 8:30. During this time I went to the top building of the temple and just sat and watched the sunrise. Morning training consisted of a half and hour of stretching and then we hiked to the top of the ridge and did breathing exercises. Much like what I have experienced in Soo Bahk Do training. We hiked down and proceeded to do 108 bows (the full bow where you get down in to a sort of childs pose and then stand all the way back up. It was hard but a good experience. Then tea time we had this great tea made from bamboo leaves. Then lunch. So that was my temple stay experience. I wish I could stay longer it was so amazing. It was so nice to be away from the city, the crowds, cars, and everything. There are monks and junior monks up there that never leave, that would be so strange to just follow that schedual every day for years and years. So after lunch I came back to Gyeongju and got a bus to Tongyeong to go see Mamie.