Buddha's Birthday

Date: May 10, 2011

Yesterday was Buddha's 2555 Birthday.  I went with my friends Sarah, Mihye and Rika to one of the prominent temples in the country to see some celebrations.  We went to Kumsam-sa. (Sa= temple)  So it is Temple Kumsam (I think.).

Anyway...here is my photographic story.

There was a stream going from the parking lot to the actual temple.  It was really pretty.

It was a decent walk from the parking lot to the temple.  Along the way was lined with lanterns--which I loved.  And the couple sitting on the ground is selling prayer beads (sort of like rosary beads in Catholicism).

It is SPRING!  (Finally!) and the flowers are in full bloom right now.  Some really pretty ones were at Kumsamsa.

The Temple Gate.  

 
At the Temple Grounds now

You walk through another "entrance gate" and have these guys staring at you.  My knowledge of Buddhism is very limited, but I think they are some sort of guardian.  I really need to buy a Buddhism Explained book--Buddhism for Dummies maybe?

It was a really wet day--it didn't actually rain until 5 pm, but everything was very moist.

You can make/buy a prayer and make a lantern.  The white lanterns are prayers for the dead.  I'm not sure if the others are color-specific.

Because it was so damp and for fear of the rain, all the lanterns were wrapped in plastic wrap.  Wasn't great for taking pictures...

 You go up to the temples with all the buddhas and you can offer them food (the buddh'as--not the monks).  And you can also pour water over the statue in the front.  I think its some sort of eternal life thing, or maybe washing away sins, or something.  (Again, my Buddhist knowledge...)

My illegal photo of Buddha.  You're not supposed to take pictures of them.  You can also see the offerings of food at his feet.  Note: (At least in Korea) When you offer food to the Buddhas it is not "thrown away" at the end of the day.  It is eaten by the parishers (or monks, or someone).  Sort of as, "we offered it to you, you blessed (?)(recongized our offering?)(?) and now we will share it because we don't want to waste food.

This is my favorite statue/temple/shrine in the background.  We took a lot of photos around it.

This is Rika.  She is a Japanese woman married to one of Sarah's co-workers.  She is awesome.

In the background of this next photo is one of the oldest temples in Korea.  It was built in the 700s.  As in--almost 1300 years ago! And it has been moved.  It used to be on another part of the property, but somehow they moved it so that it is now in the present location.

This is Mihye.  She is our Korean friend, and she is also amazing. I go to Yoga with her.

 More shrine pictures.

This might be one of my favorite pictures.  I love this shot:

Pretty flowers:

 BUTTERFLY!

 The four of us!

 These are just for fun.  And because of the pretty flowers.

 We got a bunch of high school boys to help us out and take the photos of the 4 of us.  It was funny because they were all goofs.

 So, we got a picture with them.

 Walking back.  The temple also had some sort of music going on, but we all kinda agreed that it ruined the autmosphere.  It was really loud and just annoying noisy, so we didn't spend a lot of time (if any) by the stage.  We liked the nature a lot more.

Coi!

 This one tree is responsible for all the flowers.  It is pretty neat.

The people who parked next to Mihye's car really cut it close.  But Mihye has mad driving skills and it only took her a couple (like only 2) backwards-forwards manuevers and BAM! she was out.  Impressive skill.

We went to TGI Fridays for lunch, in Jeonju.  Let me tell you, we pigged out.  Oink oink.  But...I noticed me fellow friends were doing something very peculiar to their ribs.  3 of us happened to order the Fried Chicken and Baby Back Ribs combo.  And when I look up, they were all eating with a FORK AND KNIFE.

UM, HELLO!!  They are baby back RIBS.  you don't eat Ribs with a Fork and Knife.  You're supposed to get messy--they even gave us extra wipes.  I was disappointed in my friends.  If I ever throw a barbeque--I'm hiding the silverware.  I'll make them eat it right.

And Sarah ate a quesidilla with fork and knife.  *Shake head*.  Sigh.

I caught you!

It was an awesome day--except for one creepy old man, that I will talk about in a later post.  I really enjoyed the temple--and eventually I'm going to try and do a temple stay there.  But, until then...