[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. 

[Terry's Tale] A bit of Relaxation, American Style

Everywhere I have gone here in Cheonan I find coffee shops.  If there is anything more prevalent than coffee shops it would be very small restaurants (think of a setting that is about one half the size of a similar small establishment in the US).  Such are the public places where people can during daytime and early evening hours relax in an intimate atmosphere.  A few nights ago I was invited to an oldies bar called “The Rolling Stones”.  While I drank my cokes and my friends drank their beers we relaxed and listened to tunes that were primarily played from turntables.  Most of the music was from US artists and the period focus was, as you might expect, the late 1950’s through the mid 1970’s (non-disco).  There was some music from Europe, for the most part France and Italy, and some Brazilian music thrown in as well. 

With one exception, these photos show most, though not all of the coffee shops and restaurants in the three block area around where I live.

There are simply an incredible number of ways that western culture has impacted this society yet, for all this, Koreans have retained the essentials of their culture that defines them as being Korean.  The Korean way of doing business, for example, is so very different that Wal-Mart has not succeeded in making inroads, at least in this area.  They tried, but simply did not succeed.  Instead, there are Korean backed corporate entities that have worked to build their own ‘Wal-mart’ style niches.  The largest Wal-mart style store locally is called ‘E-Mart’.  Though, like Wal-Mart, it is known for its selection and savings it is also known for its quality of product and its ‘way of doing business’ is Korean. 

If you truly want to understand something of the Korean style of culture, then perhaps the movies and other arts that are produced here would be of value here.  Interestingly, it is usually the best place to turn when you want to learn something about a culture, be it occidental or oriental.  For example, Americans can now easily look to the Spanish speaking television channels or Spanish speaking movies if they wish to know more about Hispanic cultures (there are many).  While such is not yet true for oriental countries, it may be coming considering how many people from Asian countries now live in the US. 

Yet, as my friend Han Wan-hui noted to me, once people have lived outside of Korea for any length of time they begin to lose their essential ‘Koreanness’.  This occurs because they are adapting to the cultural environment of their new location, whatever country it might be in.  Therefore, when they return to this country either to visit or to live, things feel somewhat different to them.  He should know.  He lived in the US for over three years.

[Terry's Tale] Learning To Reach Beyond

This Korean venture began when I came to realize that, both physically and mentally, I could no longer continue doing what I was doing in the US.  My thinking was that the journey would primarily be a spiritual one (ala the Sanskrit phrase “om mani padme hum”) supported utilizing my English skills to earn my way.  My friend, Han, Wan-hui, changed my thinking on this as the dynamics of a fluid economic situation imposed themselves upon things (something I have explained in an earlier post) and the fact that he did not consider my age to be ‘old’ as yet.  So off I went on an unexpected journey of “gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, Bodhi svaha” (reach, reach, reach beyond, reach to the river, then reach beyond).

The way my intentions changed were several.  First, knowing that I would have to support myself by teaching English, yet knowing too that people who work on their own and not for others can make a great deal of money, he decided to set me up to teach a small number of people, mostly children, and the requirement was that I would have to design the program – from scratch.  He also provided me all of the tools I would need – computers, boards, books, screens, printers, whatever, and set me to it.  While initially a difficult undertaking for one so out of practice in English, and teaching people who speak little or no English turned out to be quite a challenge, the advantage of the approach was that I developed my own way – one that works well for me by utilizing my unusual skill sets.  Soon, I will see how others approach the task and if there are ideas offered that I am comfortable in using, they will get used.  But by not copying others at the beginning, I am less likely to fall into a routine designed by others that does not work as well as one I created.  The key to the situation is be creative!

In addition to having me dive into the teaching of English, he has shown me how he has kept a flexible mind in approaching potential money making opportunities, and the importance of networking towards achieving success – a skill I had never fully utilized before.  One of the first people he introduced me to is Choo, Jin-ho who heads the English Department at Seohyun High School.  This then lead to me speaking to a couple of classes and gave me a feel for the English of higher level students (sophomores, as I remember, in this case).  I quickly recognized that some of the students were almost to the language levels of US students of comparable age (how many US students whose families are not of mixed cultural heritage can truly speak at least two languages at this age?).  Interestingly enough, the results of the talk demonstrated to me that I could not only communicate with young people who were one-fourth my age, but who came from a very different culture in which I had lived for so long.  In addition, I received a special certificate of appreciation from the high school for this effort.

ABOVE: The prespeech dinner!  Han, Wan-hui took the pictures with his special camera throughout so he is never pictured - but He Was There!  Anyway, pictured are Choo, Jin-ho, and Kim, Tae-wan.

For the most part, my physical stature is about average for US citizens, and, though Kim, Tae-wan is only slightly shorter than the average of the population, I believe from my observations (though they are not studies, by any means), that he would be of average size, or close to it, for people of his age.

 BELOW: In the Classroom.  Does this seem familiar from your own school experiences??

      BELOW: Kim, Tae-wan, and Han, Hye-rhim (daughter of Han, Wan-hui) watch on.

                                     BELOW: View of the Playground Area.

                                        BELOW: Back to the Classroom.

                                    BELOW: Autograph time (I was amazed)!

Just a few days ago, Han, Wan-hui introduced me to a successful motivational speaker, Jo, Jung-ho.  Ten years ago he had been a newspaper reporter, but visions for the future for him and many others in his line of work his seemed grim.  The networking he had established in his reporting days lead to his successful future.  He now earns, at a minimum, $12,000 a month.

                         Han, Wan-hui, Jo, Jung Ho, and myself enjoying calories at a local
                               coffee shop (these shops are VERY popular here in Korea).

The point of this session is that opportunities do often exist (and where they do not as was my case, your opportunity is to move on), but the skills that lead to success are the willingness to work combined with necessity of flexible thinking that allows you to see things others do not, and the very human skills that we utilize, often without thinking, every day.  And this is just as true in Korea or anywhere else you may live in this wide world! Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, Bodhi svaha!