[Terry's Tale] In Search of the Light of Sun

As mentioned in previous blogs I came to the ‘east’ to seek enlightenment; not just in the Buddhist sense of seeking to understand life, but also to see for myself the peoples and cultures in this part of the world.  I really did not need to come this far to meet peoples from this part of the world as so many from here have settled in the US.  For example, Knoxville, Tennessee, has a fairly large population of Korean peoples for US cities of its size.  Clarksville, Tennessee as small as it is has an even larger Korean population.  Need I mention Atlanta, which is almost the same driving time from Knoxville as is Clarksville.

Yet, even if peoples of Asia are living in the US, at the day’s end, it is still the US culture in which they live, even though they add their own touches to it.  To better comprehend my point, let us examine one aspect - Buddhism.  Buddhism was founded in India where it flourished for millennia.  It then disappeared from the scene for a very long period of time before its’ recent reintroduction.  In the meantime, it spread throughout south Asia and upward through China into Korea and Japan.  At one point Korea was primarily a Buddhist society.  Then, even though Buddhism would remain a fairly strong influence in Korea, powerful forces acting from both without and within ended that situation of dominance.  In the twentieth century, evangelical Christianity came in force after Japan’s defeat in 1945 and, as the established practitioners of Buddhism had not been either able or willing to make necessary changes to help fully restore its place, it came to be where.it is today - still number two, having about 23% of the population being adherents as compared to the almost 30% for Christianity.

Two of the more important temples in South Korea are the Sudoksa Temple and the Kakhwansa Temple.  Various views of these temples follow.

In the picture below, and the picture below that, can be seen what I have heard to be reputedly the largest cast bronze Buddha in the world.  The temple is the Gagwansa Temple outside of Choenan.

To add perspective, I am just a little over six feet tall.

These stone pilings which dot the temple paths are created to bring the creators special fortune.  You simply add stones to an already established construction or you begin a new one and then offer your prayers.

The Kakhwansa Temple bus.

Yet it does remain a significant part of Korean society and despite Korean Buddhism’s trials and tribulations, it has vast resources upon which it can fall back, including it’s temples of worship which number somewhere around 1,500.  These resources simply do not exist in the US.  So, had I not come to Korea I would not have had opportunity to visit temple buildings and walk temple grounds and special means of renewal of the full understanding of the interconnectedness of ALL life from the perspective of Buddhist philosophy.  It seems to be an understanding that unfortunately can get pushed into the background in the pell-mell workaday world.