Experiencing a Formal Zen Meal (Baru Gongyang)

no. 36 and no. 37

Watching this video, you may think this process is peaceful. But for someone new, it can be quite stressful, especially when there are 4o other people involved. It’s all about figuring our strategies. With the silent help of my neighbor — I was assigned bowl no. 37, I assume she was no.36 — it took me about three days to adopt the skills for eating faster and cleaning my bowl on time. A process testing your ability to stay in the moment.

If you don’t have your strategies down, you could be the person everyone is left waiting for. When they say, “Make sure not to take too much food”, it’s because if you do, you could be the last one eating. Although monks and meditators should be pretty cool about waiting, being the last one cleaning your bowl still isn’t a fun feeling.

And that bowl must be clean! Once you quietly pour your bowl cleaning water into the pot, it must be clear. The water goes to the hungry ghosts, and their necks are too thin to accept even the smallest kimchi chilli flake. We don’t want to choke them.

by Timothy Wright (http://timothyssketchpad.blogspot.com)

Minus the murder investigation, while at Musangsa, I often imagined I was in a surreal movie. The formal meal truly added to the surrealism.

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My 7 Day Meditation Retreat at MuSangSa

The Saturday I arrived at MuSangSa (Kyeryongsan International Zen Center), marked the last week of Kyol Che (Tight Dharma). This meant I was going to be spending my time with people who had been silent for up to 3 months: silent and unplugged from all things tech. My adventures into the “don’t know” mind began. Here is a basic run down of our daily schedule:

Mornings started off at 3:25am with 108 bows in Meditation Hall (see pictures below), followed by Kido chanting at 4am at the Buddha Hall. We then would walk back down to the Meditation Hall to start sitting meditation at 4:40am until 6am, when we would head to Dinning Hall for our formal breakfast. Then it’s time for working meditation until 7:40am. We break until 9am, where we meet in silence for 2 hours of meditation. Remember, except for the chanting, this is all done in silence. Then it’s a formal lunch. Then break. Then meditation from 1:30 until 4:30. Then a silent informal dinner. Break. Our final chanting of the day begins at 6pm. Once this is over, we return to meditate until 9pm in the Meditation Hall. Lights are out at 9:20pm.

We do it again the next day.

The regiment, the order, the silence, and the community has a fascinating impact on ones thoughts. For once, I got a glimpse into what real clarity might be like.

What did I learn or at least glean from this time? Scroll to the end of the photo gallery to find out.

Our morning chants (4am) & evening chants (6pm) were done here

Buddha of Compassion – Gwanse-eum Bosal (Buddha Hall)

Dragon above Gwanse-eum Bosal (Buddha Hall)

Buddha of Compassion – Gwanse-eum Bosal (Buddha Hall)

My accomodations for 7 days

To my room

During our silent work period, my silent friends and I were in charge of bedding and ironing

For breakfast (6am) and lunch (11am) we silently ate from these bowls (Baru Gongyang))

My bowl was #37. The meal is quite an orderly process.

Dinning room

Winter work clothes

Meditation Hall

These meditation pillows were set up the whole week

At specific points during our meditation periods, one of the monks would walk behind us, and we could request a tap from this Zen stick. Very helpful when nodding off.

My meditation pillow was #37.

For some reason, ladybugs seemed to have found refuge in the meditation hall. A sign of wishes fulfilled.

The monks’ pillows

First snow of the retreat

To Buddha Hall

The House Master kindly sweeps the snow before our 1:30pm meditation period.

Snow on bamboo

Bo Haeng Sunim organizes our outdoor walking meditation practice

Walking meditation was usually done indoors, so this was a treat!

Retreat attendees and monks

By day 5, we weren’t always silent.

Back from the walk

“Bo Haeng Sunim, can I take a picture?” – “Why not? It’s just a building?”

Only plain gray clothing for the week

These were posted throughout the living quarters.

Working meditation with Joseph in the storage room

Winter and summe clothing for retreat attendees and staff

Tea room in the Meditation Hall

Non-silent hike

Getting ready to do a deep cleaning of the Buddha Hall. This is done after every 3 month retreat.

Cleaning the year-prayer candles

Cleaning the meditation pillows

Learnings to hold on to

- The fact that we think that we think we make decisions is a huge delusion. – Won San Sunim

- We take audio and visual silence for granted. It’s amazing how much one word or one image can trigger the ego.

- DanJeon (Tantien) breathing techniques helped keep me focused when meditation got hard.

- Zen sticks are necessary for rigorous meditation. I couldn’t have done without those courteous wake up calls.

- Zen Masters are pretty darn cool to talk to in Kong-an interviews or simply over tea.

- “Decide and do.” – Bo Haeng Sunim

- “Have a ‘don’t know’ mind” – Seung Sahn Haeng Won Sunim

- 41.5 hours of meditation in 7 days taught me that I need to meditate a whole lot more.

A Single Word for Autumn in Korea

Dan-poong (단풍).

This single Korean word describes the period of time when leaves change color in autumn. In English you have to describe this event within a phrase (“the colors of the leaves this fall are spectacular!”), but in Korean all you have to utter is “dan-poong is spectacular!”. I love this about the Korean language. Complex events or experiences are often described within one word. (See jeong & han)

Dan-poong is a wondrous phenomenon of nature and deserves to be in this week’s photo challenge: wonder.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Dragon Window

My husband and I visited an arboretum today. We followed a long path up the mountain that indicated it would lead us to a look-off. Below is the look-off building, and above is one of its windows.

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Ginkgo Row

This is what I’ve been seeing during my morning and afternoon commute this week. The yellow pops, and I wake up just a bit more.

“Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot; others transform a yellow spot into the sun.”
–Pablo Picasso

Revisiting Fall on a Korean Campus

The crickets are still out, the grasshoppers and praying mantis are showing off their summer tans, and the cicadas are singing their last song. The multicolored cosmos have just bloomed, but the leaves are still green. So for this weekly photo challenge, I decided to revisit pictures I took two autumns ago on our campus, Keimyung University. If you want to see more of this photo collection, visit the following link, Fall Feedback in Images, which will take you to my teaching blog, Throwing Back Tokens.

Gingko Trees

Hanok House Roof Tiles

Quince

Campus Couple

The Textures of 추석 Chuseok

Every Autumn Equinox, my Korean family gathers – like most all other families – to give thanks to our ancestors for the harvest, and for the life we are able to lead today. For Koreans, this day is called, Chuseok 추석. I have been taking part in this tradition for 4 years now, and each year I am still impressed by the table of offerings my mother-in-law prepares. Although she does most of the cooking — I play a minor role in this job — my husband, being the oldest son, is in charge of setting the altar. This year, thanks to inspiration from the weekly photo challenge, I took the chance to record this display as a way of sharing with you the many glorious textures this thanksgiving holiday has to offer.

    문어 octopus

밀감 mandarin or tangerine

돔 sea bream

Songpyeon 송편 filled with 깨 sesame seed paste

거봉포도 large dark purple grapes

수박 watermelon

This bordered straw mat 돗자리 is placed under the offering tables. We also use these mats to bow on to give thanks to the ancestor spirits while they eat their special meal.

The octopus was far too much fun to photograph to share only one shot of it.

imitation crab, ham, and green onions

The end result…many thanks!

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