Why don’t you join the temple stay program, if you seek inner peace and healing away from the stressful and hectic urban life?
The unique cultural program will let you experience the life of Buddhist practitioners at traditional temples which preserve the 1,700 year-old history of Korean Buddhism.
As the temple stay programs has grown in popularity among not only Koreans but also foreign visitors to Korea, many time-honored temples in the country run their own temple stay programs. During one-day or twonight stay in a temple, you will have opportunities to experience and study various aspects of Buddhist life,including meditation and the Buddhist vegetarian meal.
The whole world slumbers in the dark hours before dawn, but as the majestic temple bell tolls, it awakens the universe, and the day begins in the mountain temple, as it has for the past 1,700 years. Certainly, the temple stay will be a special cultural experience that allows people get a taste for the incredible cultural heritage which has
blossomed during the five thousand years of Korean history, as well as experience the cultural consciousness transmitted throughout Korean Buddhist history.
You will be able to learn the Buddhist method of eating ecologically, called Barugongyang (literally, “bowl offering,” a formal monastic meal), which allows one to live in harmony with nature. Through the practice of Dado (tea ceremony) you can find true stillness and tranquility in a cup of tea. While walking along a peaceful forest path, you can listen to your inner voice, and
through the practice of 108 prostrations you can learn the technique of putting down your inner desires and attachments.
The temple stay is open to anyone who wants to search for their true self. It will allow you to clear your mind so that you can have a wider experience of the world, and that this serves as a turning point when you return to your everyday life.
Through a bowl of food and a droplet of water, you will learn compassion from a tiny blade of grass. Instead of the hustle and bustle of the city, you can finally discover your true selves through the noble silence flowing within this place.
For more information about temple stay programs in Korea, please visit http://eng.templestay.com.
SOURCE: Templestay information Center
Pictures: Bongeunsa temple
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