Hae-insa

On Tuesday the 10th we went to Hae-insa (해인사) - it's one of the 3 treasure temples in Korea along with Tongdo-sa (통도사) and Seongyo-sa (성교사). The beauty of this place was almost destroyed during the Korean War. Major Kim Youngwan (김영환) was given the order to bomb Hae-insa but upon approaching the drop zone he decided to call off the attack because of his memories of coming to Hae-insa with his mother when he was a little boy. Instead he dropped the bombs elsewhere (probably in some rice fields) and returned only to be court marshaled for disobedience. He was imprisoned for the duration of the war - but luckily someone remembered him and decided he should be recognized for his patriotism in preserving Korean history. He was court marshaled again but was found innocent the second time and made a general.

Within the temple there is a "maze" - originally there were just the words to a Buddhist poem written in such a way that the only way to follow the path was to be able to correctly read the verses. To make the path more accessible to the masses, the monks created a physical path that does not include the words of the poem, but they can be found on a plaque nearby in Chinese and Korean. Being able to walk through the maze is a form of meditation and many of the people visiting Hae-insa participated in it - as did we! 

The temple at Hae-insa keeps the dharma (the law) on wooden blocks - this is part of the 3 baskets/treasures known as the Tripitaka. The other 2 treasures are the life of Buddha and how to live in the monastic order. The life of the Buddha is depicted through paintings all around the outside of one of the shrines, as well as in a mural-type painting inside. The man usually referred to as the living Buddha is Siddhartha Gautama, a Nepalese prince. The life of Buddha begins with his mother conception dream which involved a white elephant. When the Buddha was born, his mother gave birth standing up and holding on to a tree for support; rather than coming from the womb, the baby came from underneath her arm and was more like a miniature man than a baby. He stood upright and possibly declared something (Dr. P can't remember). As a young prince he went out about the city and saw 4 disturbing things: poverty, age, death and disease. This made him want to be more liberal in helping people overcome these things. His father wanted him to be conservative and concerned more with matters of state than social welfare. To escape the smothering influence of his father and seek out enlightenment, the Buddha and his servant climbed upon a white horse that flew over the palace walls. At first the Buddha tried aestheticism which involves extreme fasting, but it didn't work for him. Before obtaining enlightenment he was tempted by 3 beautiful women but because of his enlightened-ness he was able to see them as the ugly demons they were.