My Temple Stay Experience

What comes to your mind when you think of summer vacation? When summer comes, people would think of the beach or a mountain stream. As for me, I’d prefer going and playing in mountain streams, even though Korea is surrounded by the sea on three sides. It isn’t very difficult to find a mountain stream since Korea is a mountainous country, 70% of land is mountains. Mountain river water is cool and very clear. In hot summer days, dipping your feet into cool streams makes you forget the sweltering heat and humidity.

Add to this you can enjoy new experience like I did. I wanted to spend my summer vacation in quiet and peaceful mood in the mountains. So, what I choose was a ‘Temple Stay’. In Korea, most temples mean a Buddhist Temple. Each temple stay has a different style depending on whether focusing on spiritual relaxation, experiencing religious and traditional culture or monastic meditation program. I choose the temple stay which is a type of relaxation and retreat to give me more free time.

Now, I’d like to share my temple stay experience and some pictures with you.

I love the peaceful days in temples. The morning of temple starts very early time. The sound of bells wake you up at 4 a.m. After having morning prayer time, you have the vegetarian temple food for breakfast. After then, I took a nap and couldn’t be happier. Monk told me that a nap can be a great way of meditation. I totally trust him. 😀  In the afternoon, there is a tea time to practice the tea ceremony talking with the monk. I particularly enjoyed going for a walk taking in the mountain air with some beautiful scenery. I wore a kind of the monk robes. That grey clothes was soooo comfortable!

Would you like to join my temple stay experience? : )