Temple Stay in Haeinsa (South Korea)

Haeinsa is a UNESCO heritage site. The treasure of the temple is the collection of wooden print blocks of the Chinese Tripitaka. It is the oldest complete print blocks in the world. That was the reason why I wanted to visit this temple in my Korea trip. When I discovered that the temple had a temple stay program, I decided to sign up for it.

The temple offer two types of programs: one that requires participants to follow the full temple regime (including waking up at 3am in the morning for the morning prayers, 108 prostrations and meditation) which is available only on the weekend, and a free and easy program for the rest of the week. I registered for the free and easy program.

Haeinsa is nestled in the Gaya mountains and is most easily accessed from Daegu. I arrived in the early morning at the Incheon airport and took a direct KTX express train from Incheon airport to the Dongdaegu station in Daegu. I originally intended to book the train tickets online before I flew but luckily I didn't -- the flight was delayed by an hour and I would have missed my train. As luck would have it, there was still one ticket left on the next available train when I tried to buy the ticket at the airport, but it was a bad seat -- it's right in the middle cabin and the seats faces each other. The issue was not so much you are facing a stranger, but you cannot stretch your legs without hitting the passenger opposite. It took about 2.5 hours to reach Dongdaegu.

From Dongdaegu, I had to take the subway to Seongdangmot station and then transfer to a bus at the Seobu Bus Station. The bus ride took about 1 hour and 15 minutes. From the bus stop, it was another 1 km trek to the temple. It was uphill and it's tough exercise as I was carrying a backpack and a cabin size trolley bag. By the time I reached the temple, I was perspiring like crazy and had to take off my jacket.

There were two ladies from USA who took the same bus as me and we registered ourselves for the temple stay. The guy in charge spoke English reasonable well. He explained that since we signed up for free and easy program we only had to follow 2 rules: we must join the evening prayers at 6:10 pm and it's lights off at 9 pm. He showed us to our rooms. The room is basic but clean and comfortable. There are no beds -- it's traditional Korean like you see on TV. You take out the mattress and lay them on the floor when it's bed time. I left my luggage in the room (no locks) and went out to explore the temple with my camera.

Basic room with attached bathroom.

The door is the traditional type. Wooden frame and papered over.

The temple was quite a sprawling complex. There were a few new modern buildings (such as the admin building and the temple stay block) and quite a number of traditional buildings. The main shrine hall is the Daejeokgwangjeon, which puzzled me for a while because a typical Chinese Mahayana Buddhist temple will name the main hall as the Hall of the Great Hero (  大雄宝殿). Then I realized that Buddha enshired in the main hall is not the Sakyamuni Buddha, but rather, the Vairocana Buddha. It's obvious if you notice the mudra (the hand gestures).

Monks entering the main hall for prayers

Murals depicting Bodhidhammo, the 1st patriach of Zen Buddhism.

This is a "wooden fish".

The stone stupa

There is a "maze" through which the devotees will traverse, as a prayer.

During prayer time, every shrine hall will have a monk chanting. The chants just resonates throughout the temple grounds.

Each prayer session begins with a rather long drumming session. If you are there around 11am, you can observe the monks drumming. There are a few of them taking turns to drum.

The reason I was here was to see the Tripitaka Koreana (The Korean version of the Chinese Tripitaka). I was a little disappointed because it was closed to visitors. But I understand the rationale: this is to protect the historic treasure.

You can view from outside the building and photography is not allowed. However, there is a sample wood block of the Heart Sutra on display at one corner and there are sample prints available for sale at 5000W each. I bought 2 copies of the Heart Sutra.

Where the Tripitaka Koreana is kept.

The wooden print blocks are in these buildings.

A sample print block on display. This is actually the Heart Sutra.

Dinner was 5:40pm. I thought there might be some meal time ceremony so I was there early. But there wasn't. The monks start their meals 10 minutes ealier and we had to wait outside until it was 5:40pm. This was when the dining hall is opened to lay visitors and temple staff.

The dinner is served buffet style. You pick up a plate and just take rice and vegetables and soup. I thoroughly enjoyed the meal. The food is simple and the flavour is light. I had three very satisfying meals at the temple. My favourite was salad cilantro and stewed baby potatoes. There was always soup and I tasted three different soup for my three meals: perserved vegetables, bean sprout, and daikon. The soup were all slightly spicy, which suited my well.

While there were no meal time rituals, meal time was still a pretty solemn affair. You are suppose to eat in silence. I saw a monk asking a visitor to take off her hat. Photography is not allowed (sorry not pictures of the food for show).

The evening prayers was at 610pm, right after dinner. It was quite a long session, running for almost 2 hours. It started was a long drumming session. Then the monks started to filter (I had thought they would all turn up together). I was given a prayer book in English but it was no use as I couldn't follow it and there was a lot of prostrations. However, when they started chanting the Heart Sutra, I could recognize it as it was actually in Chinese transliterated in Korean. I could also recognize when they started chanting the Diamond Sutra. Afterwards, I took a peak at the prayer books they were using and indeed the sutras were in Chinese (all transliterated but with Korean explanation).

It got cold and dark after the evening prayers and there was nothing much to do. In any case, I could hardly sleep on the plane the night before. So I just went to bed early. I slept through the morning prayers. The Australian lady actually woke up at 3am and went through the prayers, prostrations and meditation! Kudoes to her! The Australian, her American Korean friend and myself were the only foreigners doing the temple stay. The rest were Koreans.

I work up early enough for the breakfast. The breakfast is also rice with dishes and soup. In fact all three meals I had were the same format.

I spent the whole morning walking around the area around Haeinsa. The region was almost like a holy mountain and there were many temples. Some were closed to visitors. There were a few that were quite interesting.

Temples near Haeinsa

Most temples have their own farms.

This temple is being reconstructed -- hence the crane. The peak of Gaya Mountain is visible in the distant.

A little further away from Haeinsa was that start of the mountain trail to one of the peak of the Gaya mountains, which was a 5km trek according to the map. I thought I would trek for one hour and see how far I could go. I turned back after 100m. The trail was a pretty tough trail. It was very narrow, uneven and steep. I wasn't equipped for it.

But the environs around Haeinsa was pleasant enough. Besides the evergreens, there were deciduous trees which were just beginning to show their autumn colors. If you listened carefully, there were many birds with an occasional woodpecker pecking away. There were trails down to the river where I spent quite a bit of time sitting on the rocks and listening to the running water and the birds. (Note: be wary of flashfloods!)

Beautiful flowers in bloom.

The trees were just beginning to turn yellow with the approach of autumn

There are trails down to the river. I spent quite some time sitting on the rocks by the river. But you need to be on the alert for flash floods if you get down to the river. Get out quickly if you notice a sudden increase in water flow.

This is a very nice tea house near Haeinsa

A temple just beside the river.

This is bridge is a single piece of log! It's kind of scary walking across it.

Watch out for interesting flora and fauna. This is a national park after all.

There were also quite a number of art installations sprinkled around the area. My favourite was the split Buddha image.

This is near the main gate of Haeinsa. I went past several time without noticing it. When I finally saw it, I was quite fascinated by it.

This is easily my favourite art installation

Art installation in front of the main gate of Haeinsa temple

One of the art installations.

I was back at the temple around 11am in time for the noon time prayers. There was the drumming sessions again as the prayer starts. What was also interesting about the prayer sessions is that there were monks in the various shrine halls chanting and the chants just seem to resonate throughout the whole complex.

Lunch was served at 11:20am. The canteen was now very busy as many aunties who came to pray also ate lunch.


After lunch, I checked out and headed to the bus stop to take the bus back to Daegu. The temple stay was definitely a very interesting and fulfilling experience and a highlight of my Korean trip.


Logistics:

1. All KTX trains stop at the Dongdaegu station (East Daegu), while other trains stop at Daegu station. There are direct KTX trains to Dongdaegu from the Incheon International Airport. Schedules available on the Korail website. You can book the rail tickets in advance but do consider possible flight delays.

2. From either train stations take the subway to Seongdangmot station. TIP: if you haven't had your lunch, eat at the Dongdaegu station before heading to the bus station. There are more options at the train station.

3. The Seobu Bus station (Seobu means west) is directly above the Seongdangmot station. Buy the tickets to Haeinsa. The bus schedule is on the wall. Tickets was 7100W. TIP: there are lockers at the bus station. So you can leave your lugguage in the lockers and just carry the essentials to the temple. The locker looked like it could only accomodate cabin size luggage. I think it was only 1000W to use it. I choose to carry all my luggage to the temple. But it can be tough lugging all the bags for 1km uphill to the temple.

Time table for the buses to Haeinsa

The buses for Haeinsa depart from berth 2

4. Haeinsa is the terminal station. You don't have to worry about missing the stop.

5. From the bus stop, it's another 1km uphill to the temple. It is possible to catch a cab if you do not want to walk there. If you have a trolley bag, use the road and go around the museum to the start of the trekking trail. If you following the directions that passes by the museum, you will end up walking around a stretch which is not paved and is just loose gravel.

6. You should book your temple stay ahead, although it appears to be possible to check in on the spot subjected to room availability. But you need to check in before 5pm for the free and easy program. Anyone regardless of religion is welcome to participate. But do be aware that you will be expected to participate in the prayer sessions before you sign up.

Brochures given by the temple.

7. Socks are expected in the prayer hall. So bring socks if you are not wearing shoes. There are lots of trekking opportunities around the temple so a good pair of walking shoes will be helpful. As it is dark at night, torchlight can be useful.

8. Return journey is basically the same. If you are heading to Gyeongju, there is direct bus from the Seobu Bus station. The journey takes roughly an hour and you end up in the inter-city bus station in Gyeongju which is just across the Express Bus station.

The time table for the buses departing from Haeinsa