the temple

HIYA!

Having a blog on a traveller's site seems a bit odd since I'm not travelling. But on the other hand, this can be considered travelling since I'm not living in my home country. Anyway, I don't expect to change.

I went to the Seon temple again yesterday. There was supposed to be a guy there who'd interpret the Dhamma Talk for me. I got there at 10 am. The ceremony started about 10:30. People were chanting and ringing some wooden knocker with a wooden stick. They did their prostrations. I didn't do any of it as I didn't know what to do, but more importantly, I didn't feel like doing it. I didn't feel like prostrating before 3 big Buddha statues and hundreds of smaller ones. I don't know how the others felt about me not participating, but, if they didn't like it, that's for them to deal with. Afterwards, the several people who made some communication with me were hospitable and nice.

The monk came in about 11:00 I guess to give the Dhamma Talk. But the guy who'd interpret never showed up. So I sat and meditated some, opened my eyes to look around some, and, of course, thought about this and thought about that, and everything else that you don't want to think about while "meditating". But I was okay. No problem. I guess the monk talked for about an hour. Maybe a bit less. At the end he said something to me. I think I understood one word. I think he said "Korean language" in Korean. I just laughed.

Then one lady approached me and spoke with me. She speaks decent enough English so we talked. Most of the 15 or 20 people who attended then went to a dining hall for lunch.

Vegan I'm happy to say. Every single thing they had lined up was cooked but it all tasted good just the same. Vegetarian kimchi too. Nice. Probably organic as well. The lady told me that all the food was organic and grown there at the temple. I doubt the rice was grown there but never mind. I suppose she means the vegetables and maybe the sesame.

While having lunch I got the names and locations for two vegetarian restaurants. Great. I'll go sooner rather than later.
I also want to look into getting some of this kimchi from the restaurant so I can start up a batch myself. I want to eat kimchi often. They say it's really good for your health. The taste is okay. Not great but not at all bad.

After lunch the lady said we could go to talk with the monk. Just the three of us. We talked for a couple of minutes then a few others came in. One lady came to make the tea for us all. Green tea. Good good quality stuff. And the others came I guess just to hear the words of wisdom from the monk, or, I don't know. None of them asked any questions or anything. They chimed in a couple of times during the talk I had with the monk.

The monk doesn't speak more than a few words in English so an interpreter was essential. The lady's English isn't great, but good enough for me to understand most of what the monk said. But how would I know if she interpreted him wrong anyway?!

He spoke in words like I have read from numerous books on Zen. So I enjoyed listening to him / her. Or maybe I should say however, instead of so!! I mean, he kept asking me what my fist is. He must have asked ten times in the space of a few minutes. He kept telling me no, no. Don't think. Just answer. Don't think. Just answer.

He eventually got away from asking so frequently but still peppered me a few times after the initial burst.

He told me to say to myself all through the day, every day, "What is?" Don't answer the question with thought. Just ask.

So that's what I've been doing a lot today and yesterday. Of course I don't always remember, but more often than ever I've been able to keep some awareness on this question. And of course, don't think about the question, nor about the answer, nor about the asking. Just, whatever I do, ask the question. Bizarre practice. But this is what I've understood from some Zen books I've read. So, it's neat to get to a temple and get just such instruction.

The monk gave me the bag of tea we had been drinking from. Good stuff from Japan.

I'll go again next Sunday. The lady who interpreted for me has been going nearly every Sunday for about 10 years. Wow.

Troy.