Korea's history is full of twists and turns, something I aim to find out more about in my second year in this country. I have tried to go to as many historical places as possible in my first year here, the most impressive being Gyeongju, the country's ancient capital.
Gyeongju is home to roughly 200 royal tombs, several amazing temples (including Bulguksa, the one that houses the pagoda appearing on the 10 won coin), and my personal favourite: 1350-year-old Cheomseongdae, East Asia's oldest surviving astronomical observatory.
My favourite part of Korean history (this is starting to sound like a really bad 5th grade class presentation) is the Silla period, a dynasty that lasted nearly a thousand years, ending just before 1000 A.D. Nearly all of the truly interesting and amazing historical sights in Korea were originally constructed during the Silla dynasty's tenure, one which I think was a period of great cultural leaps forward for Korea.
Unfortunately, due to accidents and repeated invasions from Korea's favouite torch-bearing neighbours to the east (Japan), most of the original structures have been burned to the ground time and again, and very little remains of the original grandeur of the Silla kingdom. However, Koreans have devoted large amounts of money and effort to reconstructing the magnificent structures. Thankfully, stone doesn't burn and many stone pagodas of the period are still intact and admired by thousands every year.
This weekend's trip took me into the beautiful Gaya Mountains ( Gayasan ) to Haeinsa (or Haein-sa, as the suffix "sa" means temple, and not an actual part of the name), perhaps the most famous Buddhist monastery in South Korea. Originally constructed in 802 A.D (that's right...1210 years ago!! For someone who spent much of his life in Canada's west coast, an area where a 90-year-old building is considered to be staggeringly old, this is amazing).
(One of the many amazing "courtyards" in Haeinsa...though the signs did not explicitly say, I believe the stone pagoda and lantern are original, dating back to the 800s!)
Nearly a dozen fires through the ages destroyed the compound's 100 or so buildings time and again, but some of the stone features of the monastery have seen the sun rise and set half a million times. Pretty neat.
The inside of the main temple:
In addition to being an old establishment, Haeinsa also houses Tripitaka Koreana: more than 81,000 hand-carved wooden printing blocks holding Buddhist scriptures, written as a plea to Buddha for protection against the Mongol invaders. The scriptures - one of the most extensive of their kind in the world - took nearly two decades to carve in the 1200s. They were moved to their current location at the end of the 1,300s where they have been stored ever since. They have been preserved in perfect condition, and apparently no animals - including insects - bother making the storage facility their home, even though they're housed in what appears to be a semi-enclosed shed. Despite the storage facilities' modest appearance (sorry, I have no photos, as photography was forbidden and the law strictly enforced by mean-looking old men with loud voices and, I imagine, a basement full of 12-volt car batteries ready to be attached to the nipples of anyone who broke the rule), the buildings seem to be doing the job of protecting the scriptures supremely well. The Koreans tried to build a state-of-the-art climate-controlled facility in the 1970s for the woodblocks, but abandoned it after a few test blocks started decaying almost immediately. And so, whatever ancient wisdom the monks used centuries ago to create the perfect storage rooms for these blocks remains to be the best solution.
Sadly, it was bitterly cold and windy on top of the mountain and my travel companion and I elected to cut the journey short (on the bright side, if the weather forecast is to be believed, it looks like this weekend was winter's last swift kick at the can!). The background (gorgeous mountains, some of which reminded me of the Rockies at home) wasn't as nearly as impressive being covered in grey and brown, leaf-less trees as they will be in the spring and summer. So, I have decided to go back there in the summer, when the backdrop to these magnificent buildings will be lush green forests, creek-beds will be filled with clear, rushing water and not inches of ice, and the weather will be inviting enough to make me want to stay the whole weekend, instead of rush to the nearest shelter out of the unforgiving wind.
One more shot...a panorama of one of the many buildings at Haeinsa:
Musical suggestion of the day: If you like oldschool hip-hop (despite being a fan of harder gangster rap, I do appreciate the older, cleaner form of the music as well), check out Can't Stop Won't Stop's "Up and Away." Pretty cool upbeat track that was just released a few weeks ago, but sounds like something from hip-hop's infancy. Perfect summer cruising tune!
More on Haeinsa in the summer! Cheerio,
T
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