Spring in Korea 2015 (Part 5) ~ Exploring Haeinsa (Tripitaka Koreana)

Built 1,200 years ago, the Haeinsa Temple is regarded as one of the three most important temples in Korea, representing the Triple Jewels - Buddha, Dharma and the Sangha.  The other 2 temples are Tongdosa and Songgwangsa.

Located in Gaya-san, Hapcheon province, Haeinsa Temple is said to be home to the largest number of monks who cultivate themselves religiously in Korea.  The temple has a long history and is notable for housing the Tripitaka Koreana (Goryeo Daejanggyeong aka Great Collection of the Scriptures of Goryeo), the vast canon, proudly asserts that it is the utmost symbol of Goryeo Buddhism.  It has a great collection of scriptures in more than 80,000 woodblocks.  The scriptures are carved on both sides of these blocks and make a total of some 160,000 pages.  Each side has some 300 characters and as such, the entire Tripitaka has some 52 million characters.

The temple has since been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995.  It is the first temple dedicated to the Korean Avantamsaka School of Buddhism and it houses the most comprehensive woodblock edition of Buddhist scriptures ever made.  The first woodblock version was compiled in China during the Song Dynasty.  But all of the early Chinese editions were somehow destroyed.  It was first destroyed during the Mongol invasions in the early 13th century.  History textbooks explained that the Goryeo government undertook the project with the hope of expelling the Mongol invaders with the assistance of the Buddha.

The temple's layout is typical of a Korean mountain monastery.  Let's explore this historical temple.

The first entrance into the temple is the One Pillar Gate which symbolises an aspiration towards Buddhahood.  The gate itself represents the teaching of the Buddha that all things are illusionary, they aren't what they appear to be.  Translating from the Chinese words, it also means the Gate of Non-Duality and it means the one-ness of all things and phenomena.

(The main gate facing outside)

(The main gate facing inside)

Not too far from the first gate stands the Gosamok Tree, which is a zelkova planted 1,200 years ago to commemorate the establishment of the temple.  It is said that the king then planted this tree on his own in gratitude of the monks who helped to heal his queen of her disease.  The tree has since withered but it is still kept as a monument in the temple.

The next gate, which leads to the main temple compound, is the Haein-Chongrim which means the Haein Forest Monastery.  This is also the Cheongwang-mun which enshrines four fearful-looking guardians of the heavenly king who guard the Buddhist world and fight off the evil.

(Pheonix Gate)

The storage halls of the Tripitake Koreana are located on the highest level of the temple compound, and designed to facilitate natural ventilation, humidity and temperature control with no obvious device other than the open grill windows.

The compound consists of 4 buildings and each building is laid out in rectangular shape.  With careful planning, the buildings face the southwest so as not to get direct sunlight.  And to maintain the right humidity inside the buildings, salt, charcoal, powdered lime and sand are used in the inner floorings.

The Tripitaka Koreana consists of three collections - Buddhist Scriptures, Precepts and Discourses.  The Buddha was a great teacher born more than 2,500 years ago and taught the way for liberation for 45 years.  These collections captured the Buddha's words systematically.

The Tripitaka Koreana is also called the Goryeo Daejangkyung (高丽大藏经) because it was published in the period of Goryeo and it reflected the people's aspirations for overcoming the nation's crisis by relying on the Buddha's teachings against the invasion of the Kitan and the Mongols.

Each block measures about 68cm by 24.5cm, and weighs about 3.2kg.  Unfortunately, the halls are not open to the public and I could only view the wooden blocks through the gaps outside the halls.  Only 1 piece amongst the thousands of wooden blocks was on display, which has the Heart Sutra text engraved on it.

Haeinsa is the first temple in Korea dedicated to the Korean Avantamsaka School of Buddhism, and hence the master Buddha of the Avantamsaka Sutra, Vairocana Buddha, is enshrined in the main hall known as Daejeokgwagjeon, meaning the Hall of Great Silence and Light.

Stone Pagodas are found in most (if not all) temples.  Historically, pagodas were meant to house the remains of the Buddha.  In Korea, these pagodas house the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns in that monastery.  Therefore, it is not unusual to see people paying respects to such pagodas.

 For temples that are found in the forests, the compound is spacious and there is usually an open hall (Bumjong Gak) with 4 percussion-like instruments.  Known as Samul, they include the Dharma Bell, the Dharma Drum, the Wooden Fish and the Cloud Gong.

The Dharma Drum sends the message of the Dharma to lead all land animals to enlightenment.

The Dharma Bell is rung to redeem the souls of beings in hell, to gather people in the temple, and to announce the time.

The striking of the cloud bell, usually made of bronze or iron, is to lead all air-living creatures into the heavens.

The Wooden Fish is in the shape of a carp and the hitting on this instrument is meant to send message to beings living in the water so that they will realise the awakening too.

In case you are wondering if there is anything less religious, there is a cosy tea-house, Haein Café, in the temple's vicinity!  It is an ideal place to really rest, chill and relax.

The overall experience in Haeinsa has been an pleasant and peaceful experience.  The key to visiting temple is to allow yourself time to explore and immerse into the serenity.  The compound is big and is surrounded by a several other smaller temple.  Every turn is an experience!

Getting to Haeinsa

- From Dong Daegu KTX Station, walk to the Daegu Subway station (2 mins)

- Take Line 1 (Red Line) to Seongdangmot Station (9 stops, 15 mins)

- Exit the station by taking the lift to the street level (Exit 3) and walk to the West Daegu Intercity Bus Terminal (2 mins)

- Buy the bus ticket to Haeinsa.  Bus leaves every 40 mins.  The journey takes about 1.5 hours.

There is quite a distance to go even after you've passed the Haeinsa gate.  I alighted at the last stop where there were shops and hotel-alike building and took a taxi to Haeinsa temple.  The journey took about 5 mins.

Spring in Korea 2015 (Part 4) ~ Experience Templestay at Haeinsa (Tripitaka Koreana)



Gayasan Mountain (height: 1,430m), where Haeinsa Temple is located, is revered as one of the top eight scenic spots in the country.

 

Haeinsa Temple (海印寺， 해인사) was founded in 802 CE (more than 1,200 years ago) by Sun-Eung Sunim (Venerable Sun-Eung) and I-Jeong Sunim (Venerable I-Jeong) under the full support of the Silla royal family in the third year of King Aejang, the 40th king of the Silla Dynasty.  The goal for setting up Haeinsa was to elucidate the philosophy and thinking from the Avatamsaka School (Flower Garland School).  Haein (海印) comes from "Haein Samadhi" of the Flower Garland Sutra, which means that the reason for everything, is revealed through an undefiled mind, just like how we can see images clearly on a quiet and still sea.

 

Haein-sa, the First Dharma Jewel Monastery, is the foundation temple of Avatamsaka School of Korea and the temple that the Tripitaka Koreana is enshrined. The Tripitaka Koreana is integration of Korean people's faith. Haein-sa is the spiritual shelter of Koreans, the lantern of wisdom brightening this land, and a sacred place of Korean Buddhism.  With the extension historical collect, the temple was named as one of the world heritage sites.

 

 

 

Vegetarian food (which we are commonly familiar with in Singapore) is known as temple-food in Korea.  In Korea, many dishes contain meat and there aren't that many vegetarian restaurants in Korea.  Even for food such as vegetable dumplings, it is likely to contain some meat and many stew dishes uses meat/seafood in the stew stock.  So, if you're particular about food containing meat, probably the best option is to go for Bibimbap and request the chef not to add in the meat.

 

Only in temples, the pure non-meat vegetarian dishes can be found.  There are some interesting snacks which I came across while in Korea such as the one in the photo.... icing sugar coated sweet potatoes, crispy lotus roots etc.  These snacks were served at the templestay office when we finally reached and was going through a simple orientation given by the staff, conducted in English.

As part of orientation to the temple and buddhist etiquette, we were briefed on the "to-dos" and "not-to-dos".

The staff briefed us on the key schedules to note on a daily basis.  In particular, the timing for the morning service, evening services and meal times.  It is important to observe the timing for meal times (morning, noon and evening meals) because once the timing is missed, there would be no more food left.  Meal time is about 30 mins.  The staff advised us to be on standby outside the dining hall 10mins before the start of meals.

There are 2 types of templestay programme, Standard Templestay Programme and Relaxed Programme.  The standard programme which takes place on weekends (Saturday to Sunday) and has more activities such as conversation with monk over tea, 108 prostrations, seon meditation, communal work and a tour of the temple and hermitages.  As for the relaxed programme, it is simply free and easy with minimal fixed schedule. 

Since I was there on a weekday, my programme was really relaxing.  We were free to roam around the whole temple, except that I had to be on time for the Buddhist services and meals.  The meals are served on time and available for only 30 minutes.  Once the timing is missed, there is really nothing to eat!

For the free and easy programme, my schedule was as such:

3.00am  Wake up
3.20am  Pre-dawn Buddhist Service
6.10am  Breakfast
11.20am Lunch
5.10pm  Dinner
5.40pm  Evening Buddhist Service
9.00pm  Lights out

The rooms for the templestay programme is located in 1 building.  Each room takes up to 4 persons.

For hygiene reasons, shoes are not worn into the room, but placed at the door steps.

As like many traditional building, the floors are heated.  The mattress, blankets and pillows are kept in a built-in cabinet inside the room.  There is also 1 toilet (with shower facilities in each of the room).  Bring your own toiletries and washing detergent, if you need to do any clothes-washing.

It is basically an empty room which you can decide how the mattresses can be placed.  There are 4 sets of power-points in the room, sufficient for charging of personal electronic equipment.

There is a hanging rack for clothes-hanging as there isn't any separate closet for clothes.

The morning wake-up call time is 3am, to be in time for the morning service.  As such, the scheduled sleeping time is 9pm.  The room will be pitched-dark when the room light is turned off.  You can keep the balcony lights on instead.  The rooms can get a little stuffy when the doors are all shut (there are no windows in the room), so we kept the doors slight ajar at night for ventilation.

In the Korea tradition, the pre-dawn service starts with drumming on the Dharma Drum, followed by the striking of the bell, the wooden fish and finally the cloud gong. This is followed by the chanting session in the main hall. 

In the break of dawn, we pray that the whole universe will hear this sound and may all hellish environments be brightened.  May the hells, ghosts and animals be relieved of suffering, and may all problems disappear and may all living beings be awakened.

The drum, bell, wooden fish and gong calls out to different sections of the world of living beings.  The bell calls out to those in the ghost and hell realm.  The drum, made of animal skin, calls the animals, the cloud-shaped gong calls the beings in the air, the fish-shaped wooden block calls all the live in the water.

 

All are called to listen to the chanting of the words of liberation taught by the Buddha and to follow Buddha's wisdom.  Below is the main hall of Haeinsa (Daejeokgwang jeon, 大寂光殿， 대적광전).  There main statue in the hall is Vairocana Buddha.  The other statues include Manjusri Bodhisattva and Universally Worthy Bodhisattva.



 

The hall is usually closed and devotees enter the hall through the side doors.  I am not sure if this is just a practice (of closing doors) during the colder seasons, but it would have been very chilly if the doors were kept opened.  As part of the temple etiquette, shoes are to be removed and placed on the shoe racks next to the hall entrance.  The floor didn't seem to have heating system and hence it felt very cold especially in the morning.  Fortunately, we each have a huge prayer cushion.  It is alright to stand on the cushion and make prostrations.

We were not given the chanting books, but still, we diligently followed the procedures.  From my elementary understanding, the chanting verses include:

1.  Homage to the Three-Jewels (礼佛文）
2.  The Thousand Hands Sutra (千手经）
3.  The 4 Great Vows (四宏誓愿）
3.  Heart Sutra （心经）

After the chanting, it is optional to stay on for the 108 prostrations and meditation.  The prostration is accompanied by the chanting of The Great Dharani with Mystical and Marvelous Stanzas and Verses (神妙章句大陀罗尼) and several mantras.

Meals are served at the basement of this building.  There are 2 entrances, one for the monastics and one for lay persons (non-monastics).  The monastics would take their meals just slightly ahead of the lay persons.  But fret not, there will still be enough food left.

Meals in Haeinsa are simple and made of veggies.  There are slight variations for the items served during morning, noon and evening meals.  Rice is usually the main staple for all 3 meals.  There will also be 1 type of soup, but note that some Korean soup dishes are served cold, even in the cold mornings.

 

After meals, we would have to clear our own plates and crockeries, place them in the allocated section in the dining hall for washing.  Food trash had to be discarded into the assigned bins.

 

Life in the monastery is simple and fuss-free.  Less stress felt, experience a sense of freedom as you allow yourself to immerse into the environment, nature and the calming daily practices.  Reflect on our defilements and make aspirations to be a better person for yourself and all sentient beings.