[HanCinema's Korea Diaries] "Gyeryong" May 24th-25th

...Well, not exactly. En route to Nonsan I stopped by some temples right to the west of Gyeryong, on the opposite side of a mountain that was at the time closed because of some secret military action. The first temple I visited was Sinwonsa (신원사), which is located at roughly the midpoint between Gongju and Nonsan. This makes it very inconvenient to get to, although there's good reason for this. Sinwonsa isn't really a single structure so much as it is a giant hermitage nestled around the caves of a national park.

Considering what a big attraction giant Buddhas carved into mountains are I was somewhat surprised that this one is not better publicized. Only somewhat, because I had to go on a really long hike through the wooded mountain to randomly stumble across this one at one of the hermitages. Regrettably I don't remember the name of the hermitage. It's not like you're provided with a map. There's just signs saying where the next hermitage is and you have to decide for yourself how long you want to walk uphill through old lightly maintained paths.

Sinwonsa dates back to Baekje and has been the constant focus of reconstruction projects since that time. As one of the oldest temples in Korea it would naturally be a proper tourist site except that the location is so horribly remote. Even so, this has to rank as one of the greatest gift shops I have ever seen. It manages to be obviously Buddhist without being sacriligeous somehow.

More conventionally speaking this is a mural, the likes of which can be seen on the side of most Buddhist temples. They all their own story, and I've been told they're all unique. Unfortunately, I have no idea who these people are and what they're doing. I was too transfixed by the art to try and ask anyone about the context. In my defense, it's not like there are monks around at all times to answer questions like this, especially not now, writing this article two weeks later. I really need to take better notes.

But even the little touches go a long way. These are little Buddhas on a rock cairn in the middle of a pond. While I'm sure that's probably a spiritual metaphor for something really it just looks awfully cute.

By the way, for a sense of context, this is what the greater rural Gyeryong area looks like. Just lots of farms. There's also a university tucked in here- Geumgang University, named after the river. It's a Buddhist university, unsurprisingly, with its own temples which I was told will be offering a templestay program in the near future. Septemember, to be specific. They're all the rage these days.

The monk I met at Geumgang University made a point of turning the lights on but I really did feel the need to snap a photo of these Buddhas lit up in the darkness. Granted, with the limited light the picture doesn't come out all that well. Even so, there's a certain majesty that comes with a lot of these temples- A sort of spiritual strength in silence.

But even without the statues the offertories are pretty intimidating just from the visual image alone. I find myself wondering who all of these people are- they're too specifically rendered for this to just be a mural of everyone hanging out with Buddha.

This more ominous looking picture has much the same effect. I feel a little sacrilegous going around temples as an ignorant tourist taking pictures of random art...isn't that what museums are for after all? But the greater context of the temples consistently manages to astound me. Long before there was any concept of museums, people would make this art just because. That's devotion itself, right there, and majesty that can't really be captured on film.

Article by William Schwartz

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