When DJN was a kid, he studied with his Master, Suahm Dosa, in an area that would soon become part of North Korea. When the hosilities began, his family came and moved DJN and his Master south to O Dae San (O Dae Mountain). This day of the trip we travelled to O Dae San and visited So Gwang Sa Temple and the previous location of Yang Mi Ahm. Yang Mi Ahm was the almost-Temple where Suahm Dosa lived. It's not there any more because his house and such were destroyed and burned after his death, according to his wishes. It's kind of depressing because what actually lives there now is a parking lot, a toilet and a tourist store for So Gwang Sa Temple. :/

Some of the many steps up to So Gwang Sa Temple.

Photo by Jenn

Photo by Jenn

If you can see it, notice that the big building is painted decoratively and the smaller buildings in the background are a natural wood color. This is because the unpainted buildings are for the human monks and the painted buildings are for Buddha.

This is a nice little snapshot of the view from So Gwang Sa Temple with Jenn and I thrown in for flavor. :)

Photo by Kyle

We also visited Pul Guk Sa Temple on the way up the mountain, which was much bigger than So Gwang Sa. It had a lot of interesting art on the different temple houses and here we learned about how Hinduism and Buddhism got mixed together in Korea. For example, some of you may remember us talking about Garuda from Bali. Take a look at the Balinese version and then compare it to the tame Korean version.

Photo by Jenn

After the temple mania, we did some meditating by the river that runs down O Dae San. It was a little uncomfortable and infested with spiders, so it could have been a more serene. However, I sat there and tried to listen to river trying to seperate in my mind the different sounds.

Photo by Jenn

Here's Nathan and Beth by the river.

Photo by Jenn

Lunch and Dinner this day were at Pul Guk Sa temple at the cafeteria. It was hyped as "eating with the Buddhist monks" but it was really just a big goofy cafeteria where you are required to eat everything you take because all of the food is either grown by the monks or donated to them. The problem is that your bowl holds a suprisingly large amount of food, so the first time it was through sheer force of will that I was able to get through the entire bowl.