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| A Woman's Directory For Travel and Life. WAVE Journey is your one stop online resource for women oriented businesses and services around the world. WAVE Journey is for every woman to enjoy. If you love to travel, cook, read or revel in outdoor activities this website is for you. If you are looking to connect with other like-minded women or if you are interested in finding businesses or services that cater to women, WAVE Journey is your number one online resource. South Korea: Words Shared at Kayasan ~ Article by Tamara |
| WAVE Journey |
| Women's Adventures, Vacations & Experiences ~ Your Journey Starts Here! |
This is not the first time I am at Kayasan without a map, having come one day nine years
before. Since I did not have a map the first time either it is tempting to go about my visit
this time in the same way, simply out of habit. Not wanting a map becomes easy, because
the signage around Heinsa is adequate and well written.
before. Since I did not have a map the first time either it is tempting to go about my visit
this time in the same way, simply out of habit. Not wanting a map becomes easy, because
the signage around Heinsa is adequate and well written.
Heinsa is famous to travelers in Korea for its
set of 81,258 wooden printing blocks that
make up the Tripitaka Koreana (a set of
Buddhist scriptures.) The printing blocks
date from before the times of the Mongol
invasions of the peninsula several hundred
years ago. Looking around Heinsa’s many
brightly painted, tile-roofed buildings one
can feel the weight of history, and one can
marvel at the thousands of inscribed
printing blocks (although one cannot take
photographs.) Many of the buildings have
set of 81,258 wooden printing blocks that
make up the Tripitaka Koreana (a set of
Buddhist scriptures.) The printing blocks
date from before the times of the Mongol
invasions of the peninsula several hundred
years ago. Looking around Heinsa’s many
brightly painted, tile-roofed buildings one
can feel the weight of history, and one can
marvel at the thousands of inscribed
printing blocks (although one cannot take
photographs.) Many of the buildings have
engaging scenes from the Buddhist cannon painted on the outside of them, and even mid-
week I could see a number of lay adherents and one monk involved in spiritual exercises
inside the main hall.
The walk to Heinsa offers memorable sights here at this UNESCO designated World
Heritage Site. There is the Yeongji Pond, a lily pond near the main gate where seven sons
of King Suro of the Daegaya Dynasty went to become monks on Kayasan, the mountain
nearby. The spiritual practices of Jangyuhwasang, their uncle, so impressed the brothers
that they decided to retreat from the world. They would not even see their mother, who
worried about them and came to look at the pond and “reflect” on her desire to see her
sons. Nearby is the main gate, called Iljumun which means “single pillar gate,” and it
represents the true path that leads to Buddha’s world. (The gate looked like a regular
post and lintel-style gate to me.) At Heinsa one can stroll around the Haeindo Mandala, a
walking maze in front of the main buildings, and people believe that praying while circling
around the mandala will help them to be fulfilled.
week I could see a number of lay adherents and one monk involved in spiritual exercises
inside the main hall.
The walk to Heinsa offers memorable sights here at this UNESCO designated World
Heritage Site. There is the Yeongji Pond, a lily pond near the main gate where seven sons
of King Suro of the Daegaya Dynasty went to become monks on Kayasan, the mountain
nearby. The spiritual practices of Jangyuhwasang, their uncle, so impressed the brothers
that they decided to retreat from the world. They would not even see their mother, who
worried about them and came to look at the pond and “reflect” on her desire to see her
sons. Nearby is the main gate, called Iljumun which means “single pillar gate,” and it
represents the true path that leads to Buddha’s world. (The gate looked like a regular
post and lintel-style gate to me.) At Heinsa one can stroll around the Haeindo Mandala, a
walking maze in front of the main buildings, and people believe that praying while circling
around the mandala will help them to be fulfilled.
Still, after visiting Heinsa, I make up my mind to search out a map of the area, contrary to
my implse not to look for one, if only because it would be a new way of understanding the
sites and surrounding facilities and natural areas. It is a quiet Tuesday afternoon in late
August except for the cicadas, and I am dripping with sweat from the brief walk from the
bus stop and around the area. I walk back to the complex of tourist shops near the bus
stop to find a map, and I end up talking to one of the proprietors, who introduces herself in
a while as Ms. Kwon. She looks vagely like the woman in the painting in the side shrine to
the Mountain Deity back at Heinsa.
my implse not to look for one, if only because it would be a new way of understanding the
sites and surrounding facilities and natural areas. It is a quiet Tuesday afternoon in late
August except for the cicadas, and I am dripping with sweat from the brief walk from the
bus stop and around the area. I walk back to the complex of tourist shops near the bus
stop to find a map, and I end up talking to one of the proprietors, who introduces herself in
a while as Ms. Kwon. She looks vagely like the woman in the painting in the side shrine to
the Mountain Deity back at Heinsa.
“Do you have maps of Kayasan?” I ask.
“Yes, here. There are three colors.”
The white handkerchief maps had sky blue, navy blue, or yellow-gold borders. All had the
same design around the edge, reminiscent of those on a cowboy’s bandana.
“Oh gosh, I really cannot decide.”
“You speak our language well.”
“No, I have forgotten everything already.”
I finally pick the yellow-gold one. “How much is this?”
“Two thousand won.” That is about two dollars, give or take, depending on the exchange
rate.
“Okay,” I say. The woman does not ask for any money for it yet, though.
Sure enough, there are extra sights around the vicinity that I would never have thought of
seeing, if I had not asked for the map and made a point to check out what was off the
main tourist-signage route. There are hiking trails and additional hermitages, among other
things.
Ms. Kwon says, “You want some solip-cha?” It is tea from the leaves of the St. John’s wart
plant.
I agree to this solip-cha.
“This is a special tea made from solip and yogurt.” The woman points to a greenish
powder in a large earth-tone plastic bowel with a smaller bowl full of the powder sitting on
top to ladel it out.
“How much?”
“Five thousand won. You can put it in tea. You can put it in pancakes. You can use it in
soup or by mixing it with water as a treatment for bad skin.”
I try this folk drink turned panacea. “There’s only yogurt in this? It tastes like Cider.”
The Korean 7-up is called Cider, or Ci-dah as one pronounces it with the Korean accent.
“No, there is no Cider. Just yogurt.”
The stuff is incredibly sweet, and it tastes like yogurt with a slight herbal twist. I recall the
last time I came to Kayasan in 2000 and how every decade has its own flavor, much as the
Rocky Horror Picture Show came into being in the 1970’s and not the 2000’s. I wonder if
the woman made a lot of tea sales on slow days like this, mid-week, by giving out samples
of the solip-cha to foreigners.
“You speak Korean so well,” the woman says.
I find myself wondering that this is not what people used to say before I had studied the
language much. She is being very polite, I know, but it still strikes me as funny how direct
feedback in this area is hard to gauge.
“Yes, here. There are three colors.”
The white handkerchief maps had sky blue, navy blue, or yellow-gold borders. All had the
same design around the edge, reminiscent of those on a cowboy’s bandana.
“Oh gosh, I really cannot decide.”
“You speak our language well.”
“No, I have forgotten everything already.”
I finally pick the yellow-gold one. “How much is this?”
“Two thousand won.” That is about two dollars, give or take, depending on the exchange
rate.
“Okay,” I say. The woman does not ask for any money for it yet, though.
Sure enough, there are extra sights around the vicinity that I would never have thought of
seeing, if I had not asked for the map and made a point to check out what was off the
main tourist-signage route. There are hiking trails and additional hermitages, among other
things.
Ms. Kwon says, “You want some solip-cha?” It is tea from the leaves of the St. John’s wart
plant.
I agree to this solip-cha.
“This is a special tea made from solip and yogurt.” The woman points to a greenish
powder in a large earth-tone plastic bowel with a smaller bowl full of the powder sitting on
top to ladel it out.
“How much?”
“Five thousand won. You can put it in tea. You can put it in pancakes. You can use it in
soup or by mixing it with water as a treatment for bad skin.”
I try this folk drink turned panacea. “There’s only yogurt in this? It tastes like Cider.”
The Korean 7-up is called Cider, or Ci-dah as one pronounces it with the Korean accent.
“No, there is no Cider. Just yogurt.”
The stuff is incredibly sweet, and it tastes like yogurt with a slight herbal twist. I recall the
last time I came to Kayasan in 2000 and how every decade has its own flavor, much as the
Rocky Horror Picture Show came into being in the 1970’s and not the 2000’s. I wonder if
the woman made a lot of tea sales on slow days like this, mid-week, by giving out samples
of the solip-cha to foreigners.
“You speak Korean so well,” the woman says.
I find myself wondering that this is not what people used to say before I had studied the
language much. She is being very polite, I know, but it still strikes me as funny how direct
feedback in this area is hard to gauge.
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