Mt Myogaksa Temple Experience in Seoul
Seoul, South Korea
Trip Type: Cultural Tours
Duration: 7 hours
Enjoy a new experience by having a day in a Buddhist temple and learn about Korean Buddhist culture through direct contact with Korean Buddhists. Almost all temples are located deep in the mountains, so most enthusiasts usually have to go to remote areas to experience Korean Buddhism. However, the Myogaksa Temple is located in the heart of Seoul.
At the temple, you will learn about traditional Korean Buddhist culture by making prayer beads, practicing Seon Meditation and enjoying a Dado (tea ceremony). This experience will allow you to recharge your body and soul.
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Enjoy a new experience by having a day in a Buddhist temple and learn about Korean Buddhist culture through direct contact with Korean Buddhists. Almost all temples are located deep in the mountains, so most enthusiasts usually have to go to remote areas to experience Korean Buddhism. However, the Myogaksa Temple is located in the heart of Seoul.
At the temple, you will learn about traditional Korean Buddhist culture by making prayer beads, practicing Seon Meditation and enjoying a Dado (tea ceremony). This experience will allow you to recharge your body and soul.After pick you up at your Seoul hotel in the morning, you will go to Myogaksa Temple, which is located on Mt Naksan in Seoul. Unlike other temples, Myogaksa is located in downtown Seoul so you can visit there easily and save more time than going deep into the mountains. Visiting the temple provides you with an opportunity to experience various aspects of the 1700 year old Korean Buddhist culture and to learn about Korean history through interesting stories told by monks.
After pickup from your hotel, you will be brought to the temple. When you arrive, you will change your attire, receive an orientation and learn about the proper etiquette to have during your stay at the Temple.
Then, you will have a session on making prayer beads. You will lay down all your agony by experiencing the precious opportunity to make a rosary, during which you will thread 108 beads one by one. Following each threading there will be a period of prostration. You may come to understand the prayer bead and prostration process, and through it, you can learn to “to pour out your greed, anger and delusion" to meet your true self.
After the prayer bead making session, you will have lunch. At the Temple, this is called Gonyang. You will get an empty bowl and you will fill the bowls with food keeping gratitude and and a lack of greed in mind.
Next will be time for meditation. The meditation time is for getting in touch with your mind in the right manner. It is a time for you to practice how to draw your attention to your inside as opposed to your outside.
Then, you will participate in a tea ceremony (Dado) and enjoy a conversation with a Monk. It’s a time for you to feel the gratitude and preciousness of having tea. Contrary to the popular belief that the tea ceremony has a difficult and complex decorum, your experience will help you to enable the non duality of tea and Seon (Zen), one of the supreme stages of Buddhist practice.
Complete your temple stay by taking a picture before you are transferred back to your hotel.
After pickup from your hotel, you will be brought to the temple. When you arrive, you will change your attire, receive an orientation and learn about the proper etiquette to have during your stay at the Temple.
Then, you will have a session on making prayer beads. You will lay down all your agony by experiencing the precious opportunity to make a rosary, during which you will thread 108 beads one by one. Following each threading there will be a period of prostration. You may come to understand the prayer bead and prostration process, and through it, you can learn to “to pour out your greed, anger and delusion" to meet your true self.
After the prayer bead making session, you will have lunch. At the Temple, this is called Gonyang. You will get an empty bowl and you will fill the bowls with food keeping gratitude and and a lack of greed in mind.
Next will be time for meditation. The meditation time is for getting in touch with your mind in the right manner. It is a time for you to practice how to draw your attention to your inside as opposed to your outside.
Then, you will participate in a tea ceremony (Dado) and enjoy a conversation with a Monk. It’s a time for you to feel the gratitude and preciousness of having tea. Contrary to the popular belief that the tea ceremony has a difficult and complex decorum, your experience will help you to enable the non duality of tea and Seon (Zen), one of the supreme stages of Buddhist practice.
Complete your temple stay by taking a picture before you are transferred back to your hotel.
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