Ascension to the Buddhist Temple

                                 

Last weekend some friends and I trekked through a quaint village filled with various farms and Koreans busy with rural life. It was at the base of a mountain with a breath taking Buddhist temple near the 

summit. 

      The village!

                       Such appetizing architecture.

 

A man cultivates a field outside his home in preparation for a future rice harvest.

                                  

Much of the mountain trail was filled with tall growing plants and overhanging trees.

                                                                               

On our way up.  Lanterns line parts of the trail as we drew closer to the temple.  

                                                

A man helps another person climb this steep rock face.  I hope he has some experience!

A lovely view from about half way to the summit.

 
A beautiful structure just outside of the temple.
                           







    Overhead oceans of lanterns!


    Hey there, it's us!

                         

I am unsure what each of these statues represent.  I assume the middle statue represents Gautama as the enlightened buddha being.  The statues on the right and left are possibly future and past incarnations.  Just a hypothesis.  Upon entering this part of the temple you are required to remove your shoes and fully prostrate yourself before the statues.

  A smaller shrine outside of the main temple.

The following images were painted on the walls inside the shrine.  They are disturbing to say the least.  My guess is that they are a reminder of the suffering of life, and the necessity of enlightenment.

 

                                                                           

The outside of the shrine on the other hand was quite elegant and warming.  

These figurines were scattered all around the jagged faces of the mountain around the temple. Kids enjoyed playing with them while their parents prayed.  

This is a method of one pointedness meditation.  The idea is to hold one of the smaller, darker rocks seen and grind it against the large boulder beneath it.  There are deep grooves in the boulder from centuries of use. 

 Some pictures of the hike back down to the base.

                                      

                                                                           

A traditional Korean burial site.  On the right you can see the burial mound.

 That is one gigantic beetle! Measuring its body and legs it spanned about the size of my palm.



















 

After the 4 or 5 hour excursion we grabbed some dinner and beers.

Farewell!