South Korea

Just got off the phone with Sunmi, who had just gotten off the phone with Sunim. She says that he says that not only are the documents not yet ready, but at least one other thing also is not ready. So, I'm not ready to go just yet. Don't know when. I asked Sunmi if Sunim (do you like the little jiggle with the spelling?) had any idea when I could fly. She said she didn't know.

She said that he said that if it takes too long then I can go to the US after the big ceremony on the 24th. That means that I'd fly sometime after the 24th.

So, nothing is sure just now.

I've been wanting to fly since yesterday. I had a physical exam Monday. I wanted to have that before going to the US. Didn't think to have it done before the US trip for any special reason. I just wanted to have it out of the way. Done. Everything turned out normal. Had a blood check, urine check, a chest x-ray, blood pressure check, and the doctor tapped me on the abdomen in a few places! I'm still a Hepatitis B carrier which is no surprise as I was told years ago when it was first noticed that I'd be a carrier forever.

I do want to have a colon cancer check because I would like to know if the way I've been eating and otherwise living for a few decades now has taken a biting toll on my colon. I don't have any symptoms that I know of though. Just want to be sure one way or the other.

I am about ready to go really. I've got just about everything packed that I want to bring.

I don't want to travel too close to the 22nd because that is the first day of the ceremony. Three days of this ceremony, finishing on the 24th. I'd hate to miss the biggest ceremony of the year by just a few days. And I don't want to have a rush visit in the US. 10 days already is a short time. So, it's better to put it off until later if I can have a more relaxing time.

I think this is low season for plane tickets so I don't want to put this off much longer.

I have a feeling that I won't fly until after the ceremony. I'll write more on this blog as things progress.

Troy.

A couple of Saturdays ago, I guess it was, Sunim (Korean for "monk") asked if I wanted to become a novice here. I was stunned by the question. He offered this as a way for me to work and make money here in Korea, and, as a way to get into and to practice Seon.

At first, he said I'd need to commit for 3 or 5 years. I told him no straight away. I told him why. In the end, we agreed that I'd do the novice practice for a year. I can stay longer if I want. So we have an agreement.

The following Sunday he cut my hair. The next day I went into town to get a picture taken for my passport application. It expires in November of this year and I'll need to have a passport that will be valid longer than the one year religious visa that we'll start the application process for tomorrow.

I'm actually really pleased to do this. I don't know how the practice will differ from lay practice where I'd just live and work here at the temple. It may not differ much at all. I suppose it would if I were Korean. You know, language and all. But anyway, I'm looking forward to it.

I'll need to get some clothing which will be similar to monk's clothing. That'll cost a bit.

I'll just stop here. Want to get on to a couple of other things before I get ready for bed.

Oh, I'll be home in early May. I'll visit as many people as I can. But I suppose I'll only be home for about 10 days. Sunim wants me to get back as soon as possible. I'll start teaching after I get back.

I'll write about the kids in another entry. And about the gardening work.

Troy.

Hmm… seems I’ve written all this before. Have I?!

There’s one other lady who lives here most days. She sometimes goes to stay with her daughter. She’s fairly old. Maybe in her 70’s. Still quite strong. I saw her easily pick up and hold something really heavy not long ago. She’s super quiet. I used to greet her in the mornings but she never returned my greetings so I stopped. I’m not pushed out of shape or anything. I just suppose she doesn’t care for “good mornings” and I’m not so interested myself, so why bother? Actually, it’s nice so maybe I’ll start up again.

Anyway, this morning I was sweeping the leaves on the lawn when she came up to me holding a crate. I looked at her with curiosity, hoping to convey that I wondered what she was going to do with the crate, she put it down on the ground and gestured that she’d put the leaves in the crate. Expressionless communication. I understood immediately. So I swept the leaves in her direction. She gathered them by hand and scooped them up and put them into the crate. Cool.

Then a bit later she came up close to me and uttered a few things. I don’t know what language she speaks to me. (She doesn’t often say anything to me. A few days ago I understood one word out of one sentence. “Eat” in Korean. But I don’t know what she wanted to say with that sentence.) Anyhow, this morning when she came up close to me, she said something that I understood much more. I heard the Korean for “sweep” and “don’t”. But nothing else. A little while later Sunmi and her mother arrived. I told her that the old lady had said something to me, I didn’t understand, and asked if she’d go ask the old lady what she’d said. Sunmi came back a bit later and said that the old lady had told me that if I wanted to stop I could stop and rest! That’s all. Well, no, I wasn’t tired or anything. I kept on. But it was a heartwarming little encounter with this lady. There’s something about old country folk, those really laid back sort of people …. This lady’s got a quality that appeals to me.

Enough for now. Better short than long, I feel.

Troy.

Her name is Kong Yang Ju. I have a feeling that I’ll be writing more and more about me and this lady. She’s in her 60’s I guess. So, don’t think that there’s any “relationship” kind of relationship. She seems to be a pretty bitter woman. I really empathize. I wish her the best. She works so hard. Doesn’t often smile. But she did two nights ago.

About 10pm, after the 2 hours of meditation, in the Dharma Hall, I was still on the cushion, while she had stood up and was getting ready to leave. I said her name, then paused. She closed her eyes and smiled. She seemed to me somewhat reluctant to smile, but, it seemed a genuine enough smile just the same. I stuck out my tongue for some reason and bit it gently when I saw her smile. I just wanted to tell her that there was some work I wanted to do in the garden. I felt like it would be a good idea to pass the idea through her. But I couldn’t say everything I wanted to say so I had Sunmi help. Yeah, no problem.

So I did some of what I wanted to do yesterday. Worked all day in the garden. Sunmi told me this morning that Kong Yang Ju was pleased!!  Yes! Right on. She said that she was pleased with something I’d done.

I was straightening out a mess, a real mess that garden is, when she came into the garden. She started digging up the ground. I didn’t pay that much attention. Then a bit later she called me over. I went, giving up my work for the time being. Making a tomato bed. Boy, so many rocks in the ground on this island. So so many. I want to look into a Korean farming association that does not till the ground. Seems so incredibly appropriate to the situation on this island. And, my understanding is that the farmers who use the techniques of this association have fabulously rich soil. I got some experience with some of the techniques while living with Asoke in Thailand.

And, a few days ago, Kong Yang Ju helped me learn to work with a weeding tool. She put the tool in my hand, then took my hand into hers to show me how to use the tool. Wow. That was the first big breakthrough, I felt, in my relationship with her. So we worked pretty much side by side for a couple of hours weeding the spinach bed. Boy did my back ever hurt. And my knees to because I was kneeling for so many hours.

Ah, the tomato bed. After digging the ground we put down a black plastic sheet with holes for the plants. I’d never ever used one of these things before and I sure as hell wouldn’t now if I were on my own. Plastic. There’s so much plastic trash all over. That’s something I’ve been doing quite a bit of lately – picking up trash. The garden is no less trashed than any other place at the temple. Despicable in my opinion.

It was about 11:30 when we finished with the sheeting. Then I went for lunch. After lunch I went back into the garden to continue the work I’d started in the morning. When I arrived I saw her there and that she’d already planted all the tomato plants. This was after 1:30. The plants of course were lifeless looking, flat on the hot black plastic, but their roots in the ground. She’d put the stakes in and was tying the limp plants to the stakes. I helped. We finished before 2:00. The she watered thoroughly. About 5:00 I looked at the plants again and astonishingly all but one or two had recovered remarkably. Amazing. I’ve read that plants should not be watered in the heat of the day because the heat of the sun will burn the leaves. I noticed no such burning. And today I went and they all looked much stronger. Wow. I still don’t like plastic but I do realize these plastic sheets are good for some things.

Enough, I’m off to the garden to do an hour or so of watering. Then dinner. A banana – pineapple smoothie if my friend shows up. He and his girlfriend will share it with me.

Troy.

You know what, I just wrote about three paragraphs. Most of it I am pretty sure will not interest anyone of you. So I’ll delete it heavily. Here goes the new, edited version of this blog entry.

There are three monks here. There are two besides Dae-hyo Sunim and they are both sick at the moment! They’re both pretty good humored guys. I talk occasionally with one but rarely with the other. I think he’s been keeping to himself because of a sickness. He’s in the hospital now. The monk in the hospital comes back to help with ceremonies sometimes. I like his singing voice for the chanting. There’s a quality to his voice that is just right. When he doesn’t come for ceremonies the chanting / singing is just not quite as enjoyable! (Piyanuch, you’re probably saying, “Troy, how could you?! They’re singing the chants, and you’re enjoying it? Didn’t you learn anything with Asoke?!” I always enjoyed the singing chanting in Thailand. Yeah, I still enjoy it. ;-))

I really couldn’t tell you much about what they do all day. Even the head monk, I don’t know much about what he does all day. I do know that he’s having another temple built somewhere in the northern part of the country and so he goes there nearly every Tuesday morning and comes back Saturday afternoon. So we don’t see him here all that much. He’s busy with kindergarten administration, coordinating the building of the new temple, and who knows what.

Okay, I just edited a bunch. Still probably nothing very interesting for any of you. Sorry!

I’m typing this in my room on my laptop and will save it onto a “data stick” and send it later, in the office.

There are three young kindergarten teachers. All women. None of them, apparently speaks much English. One of them might speak a bit more than the others but probably not all that much more. They seem like nice people. We talk a little bit.

I’ve gone into their classes on occasion. The kids are great fun. They hang all over me, they are so incredibly cute. They are doing their little activities or playing, running around and just being kids. Makes me think back to my kindergarten years. I don’t remember much really. Wonder if I had as good a time as most of the kids that I notice here. Surely there are kids not having such a good time, and I just don’t notice them. Because they’re not the ones running all around me, jumping up and down, poking their finger in my butt!

I tell them not to do that. Doesn’t seem to be working though. Yesterday a kid did it and I got a little irritated. So I told him to not do that. I let it be known. I’m sure he got the message. But he didn’t really get it. You know what I mean, yeah? I got a bit more irritated after I saw that he didn’t get it. In the next moment, I calmed down realizing that it takes time. We all take time to really understand something. How could I expect a child to learn anything immediately?

I did start to learn this lesson at the English school. But changing our attitudes isn’t usually a quick process, is it? So it’s good to be patient, with ourselves and with others. Especially with kids. I look forward to spending more time with these kids.

They’re all 5 to 7 years old, Korean age. When a Korean child is born, it is one year old. Then on the first of each year everybody ages one more year. They celebrate birthdays it’s just that they don’t add another year to their ages on their birthdays. So these kids are between 3 and 5 in our system of counting age.

By traveling you encounter these different ways of looking at life, and in doing life. It’s pretty neat. But I do understand, to some degree, that it’s nothing to get too interested in. Not long ago I heard a Dharma Talk (Buddhist teaching) where the guy said that someone else once said, “If you can’t meditate, travel.”!! I love that. To me, it means that meditation is the best way to learn about the world. Traveling is the second best way!