American writer Henry David Thoreau said “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth” in “Walden,” his book about the value of living simply on the shore of Walden pond.
The end of 2019 year will be a good time to let go of what did not work out this year and make new resolutions for next year. At this time of a year, we could more relate to Thoreau who sought the value of simple living and unchanging truth of life. Then, why don’t we try to live like him for a couple of days? Templestay in Korea would be a good solution.
Templestay might sound unfamiliar to you. This combined expression of a temple and a stay is a program that Korea’s Buddhist temples offer. A participant in the program stays at a temple for two days and experiences “Yebul” (Buddhist ceremony), “108 bae” (108 prostrations), “Chamseon”(Seon meditation) and a conversation with a monk over tea.
If you want activities such as “Yebul” and meditation, you may choose an experience-oriented Templestay. If you need a quiet time out of your stressful daily life, you may try a Templestay focusing on relax-oriented programs. In Korea, more than 130 temples offer Templestay programs and 27 of them are operated in English.
If you have interest in history and culture, you can stay at one of the mountain temples in Korea, designated in 2018 by the UNESCO, including Tongdosa, Beopjusa and Magoksa. These temples were designated as the world heritage sites as Korean Buddhism had been deeply rooted in people’s lives for 1,700 years of its history.
At a temple, you get up at four in the morning. Time passes differently here. You can totally focus on your inner side and what is really valuable to you in life. Most of all, one night at a traditional wooden temple in Korea would be similar to a simple life in a cabin at Walden pond.
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