October Will Be Expensive

What does October have in store for me?
Let’s check my Hyun Bin calendar!
 
3rd: Day off. Time to watch those pirated DVDs gathering dust on my bookshelf.
On Wednesday, I have to go back to work, but the holiday extends through–
5th-8th: Yoga in the mountains! Four days in Gyeongju, at my favorite temple. Which also happens to be [...]

Read Full Post »

Empty

"Moving to Korea is the best thing I've done for myself," a young woman from Washington D.C. told me three weeks ago.
A monk was escorting our ragtag team of female expats to a few Buddhist sites in Gyeongju. As usual, I'd dove for the window seat and was staring out at the open markets and mountains, [...]

Read Full Post »

Temple At Night

 

Much thanks to D for sending me these photos, which were taken two weekends ago at my favorite temple.
However, they hardly do justice to the splendor of that night.
Imagine doing yoga in the mountains, under the stars and right next to these lanterns . . .

Read Full Post »

2,000 Lanterns

“Bali, bali.”
“What’s he telling us?” D asked, following my lead as I broke into a run.
“Hurry, hurry,” I answered. Then, grinning, I pointed at my watch. “It’s stopped. Crazy.”
We’d only been at the temple for a few hours when we started our workout with the monks. I broke away from D to join the master, [...]

Read Full Post »

Losing My Religion

Visited my favorite temple, near the southeast coast. I'm too tired and sore to post pics and write, but here's a taste.

Part of our training last night included running through this mountain (as well as the hill leading up to it). Obviously it was difficult, but the lanterns were lit–all two thousand of them.
And for anyone [...]

Read Full Post »

Every Mountain

 “What cute gloves!” I gushed. “Do they come in pink?”
I was preparing for a trek up Bukhan, a famous mountain on the outskirts of Seoul. Feeling fierce in a vintage-looking Ramones shirt and sweats, I was ready to dominate what I felt was an unworthy challenge to my athletic prowess.
It must be said that I’d [...]

Read Full Post »

Lock and Load

I’m smoking.
Disturbed by the sight of my supervisor crying as I quit my job, I bummed my first cigarette from a friend three weekends ago. It subdued the waves of guilt and failure, and complimented my beer perfectly.
“You dumb cunt. I told you not to get addicted,” my roommate told me last week when she [...]

Read Full Post »

Entrance at Sunset

"Words are not the highest reality, nor what is expressed in words the highest reality.

Why? Because the highest reality is an experience which cannot be entered into by means of statements regarding it.

The mind must be in a state of wistom to understand wisdom."–Buddhist passage
Entrance to Hwa Gye Sa Temple on Sam Gak Mountain

Read Full Post »