The Temple

The Temple

I went to Busan National University in South Korea for a semester to teach English as a Second Language. During my time in Busan, on the weekends I would take the cable car up the mountain and hike around the trails for exercise. On this day, I had followed a trail that I had not traveled before, and I came across a very old and weathered wooden temple. I had just begun to photograph the building when an old monk in his orange robes wandered out.

‘What are you doing here?’ he said sharply.

I apologized at once as I thought I had perhaps done the wrong thing by taking photographs of the temple. He showed no reaction but just continued in a normal voice. “Where are you from?”

I said, ‘I work down the mountain at Busan National University teaching English”

‘No! Where do you come from?’ he asked again.

‘Canada.’

‘That is good. Do you know anything about the Internet?’

‘Yes, I know how to use it!’

Good! Come with me now.’

He took me through the dense, verdant gardens to the rear of the ancient building where I was amazed to see a large satellite dish attached to the rear of the temple. It seemed so out of context in this setting, so incongruous when I compared the temple’s tranquility to the frenetic virtual world.

‘Would you teach my young novice monks how to use the Internet?’

I thought about this proposal for a short time and asked what he wanted them to learn.

‘I want them to be able to find information in the modern world.’

I thought some more and proposed to him that I would come for an hour at noon on Sundays to teach his young monks if he would give me an hour of his time after I taught the boys. He thought about that and quickly said; ‘You have a deal, see you next Sunday.’ I went back down the trail with some strong misgivings about what would happen the following week.

The next Sunday had me retracing my steps along the seldom-used track back to the temple. I was ushered into a small, dimly lit room where five boys of various ages were waiting in crowded anticipation. The monk explained that one teenage boy, Soo Yonge, could speak good English and would translate for the other boys. I began the first lesson by finding out what they knew and what they wanted me to teach them. I then told them m about who I was. Many questions came from the boys through translation as they seemed to be at ease with me as we sat cross-legged in front of the single computer screen. The hour passed very quickly. I went to another room with the old monk. He was a thin man, sixty, his head hairless, his face round and tanned. His eyes had a piercing but gentle look. He poured me a cup of tea as we sat cross-legged on a mat in front of a low table.

‘Well, the young boys like you. You are a good teacher.’ said the monk.

‘Thank you! What do I call you? ‘I asked

‘Guide or Master will be fine. What do you want to know?’ he replied.

Despite the moment and my years of experience and education. I admitted, ‘I don’t know where to start?’

With the wisdom and assurance of his many years of contemplation he smiled and just said, ‘That is the best place to start.’

In that first session with the Master, he asked me many questions about my life and beliefs. I told him I was born in Canada but now live in Australia. I was a university lecturer who taught teacher-education students about the internet, English as a second language, and teaching methods. I worked in Canada, Jamaica, Australia, China, the Philippines, and now South Korea. My childhood religious education was Christian, but I didn’t go to church often. As an adult, I was an avid reader of other faith systems like Judaism, Islam, and Christian sects. I knew very little about Buddhism. My belief system about reality was based on scientific evidence. My ideas changed as new knowledge is discovered. I then asked the Master to tell me about his life.

‘At the end of WW2 when the Japanese left the country, I was a teenager who had just finished primary school. My father took me to this Korean monastery in the mountains. I started my training as a novice, and I have been here ever since. During the last seventy years, I have seen many changes in Korean Buddhism. In the 1960s. The government accused Buddhism of immorality and many Protestants used this as the reason for their missionary work. Currently, Korean Buddhism is in a state of slow transition. The modern Korean Seon masters believe that sudden enlightenment is what Korean Buddhism is now. The Master said, ‘I became an enlightened man who is a leader and a teacher.’ That was our encounter for the first week. I found out some general cultural history but didn’t learn much about the man. I wanted to ask him if he felt that he had any choices in his life as he was so young when he entered the Temple.

The next Sunday I was back one hour early as I wanted to draw the building. At noon I began to teach the novice boys how to use the internet to find information. A novice called ‘Soo Yonge’ was the translator. I asked the boys if they understood my English. Some said that my English and voice were understandable but some of the words were new to them. I wanted to teach them how to be critical of information that they found. There are many search engines of which Google is the most important and largest in the English Language. There is also a search engine written in the Korean language called Naver which started in 1999. Because I could not read or write Korean, I would have to teach them in English. I told them in the print world there were journalists and editors. On the open-ended nature of the internet, some sites like Wikipedia do have content moderators which is a free online encyclopedia. It is created and edited by volunteers around the world. I gave the boys some homework for the week.

My second hour began with the Master. I had been a teacher all my academic life, but I had never stopped being a student of new information, ideas, and culture. I had lots of questions after having read many articles during the week on the Internet about the history of Korean Buddhism. I didn’t get a chance to ask the Master anything as he wanted to teach me his meditation practice.

‘Please take off your socks and belt and sit comfortably on the mat. I want you to close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing. After the out-breath you count one, then you breathe in and count two, and so on up to ten, and then you start again at one.’

I became aware of the mind’s tendency to jump from one thing to another. I heard my stomach gurgling. I found it was hard to concentrate on my breathing, but I persisted as I didn’t want to appear a failure. After a time, the Master said to me,

‘I want you to stop concentrating on your breathing and just sit and open your eyes.’

About ten minutes later he said.

‘I will see you next week but try to meditate daily for 20 minutes during the week. We shall talk more next time. I left the temple and slowly walked back down to the cable car feeling very peaceful.

When I came back for the third week, I spent my hour with the novices and the lesson went well. But I was impatient to ask the Master many questions.

‘Did you practice the mediation that I taught you?’

‘Yes! I did about four sessions this week just before I went to sleep.’

‘What happened?’

‘I found it hard to concentrate on what I was doing.’

‘That is progress! Now let’s talk some more. Tell me something in your life that you resent.’

‘I was married when I was young, and my wife left me and took the children with her.’

‘How does that make you feel?

‘I sometimes still feel sad and angry’

‘When you meditate, concentrate on those feelings as you do the breathing counting. Now you want to ask me some questions?’

‘Yes. ‘Is your personal concept of Buddhism a belief system or a scientific and rational religion? I have been reading some articles online and some of the novices want me to answer this question? My second question that has come to mind is, is Korean Buddhism different from other countries?”

‘Those are two large questions, my view is that Korean Buddhism encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs, and spiritual practices largely based on original teachings attributed to the Buddha and resulting interpreted philosophies.

Early Korean monks believed that the traditions they received from foreign countries were internally inconsistent. To address this, they developed a new approach to Buddhism. My belief system is that the new teachings are true. My belief is that spiritual practice moves a person along a path towards a goal of personal liberation.’

‘You have spent most of your life here with little contact with the outside world while I was just the opposite. I have traveled extensively, living in other cultures where I was a foreigner. As a child, I went to a multicultural government school, so I was not a racist person. It started when I was thirty, I went to Jamaica for the Canadian Government to work on an Aid program. When I arrived in Jamaica, I met a different racial and cultural group of people. My ideas about race and culture were constantly being challenged as I moved out of my cultural context. I learned what mattered most to me about my upbringing. I learned a lot about different cultural views. The biggest thing I learned was to reflect on the parts of the new culture that were different from my experiences. My continued travels in other countries taught me to reflect on who I was and what values I held. I believe that traveling was a type of personal liberation for me.' The master said, ‘Do your meditation and we shall talk more next week.’

During the next week, my workload at the university was intense as it was mid-term examinations that were video recorded. I tried meditation on a few nights, but my mind was overloaded and in turmoil. Sunday came and I was back at the temple with the boys. I started the lesson with the homework I had set them. I had asked them to try to find good methods of fact-checking information. Because the boys hadn’t had much formal education, they found this concept hard. The Korean education system was formal, and the teacher was the authority figure. Developing critical analysis by students was not taught or encouraged. I started with them to look at some academic search engines. I explained that as an academic if I did research and wanted to publish it. I gave my writings to a journal. The journal evaluated my work before publishing it. The material in good academic journals was highly probably true. We spent the remaining hour looking at different topics.

When I was with the master again, I told him about my turmoil in the week. Meditation did not seem to work. His response was pragmatic,

‘Well, what do you expect? It is your own body and mind and sometimes it is busy.’

I changed the subject as I wanted to know about the relationship between Buddhism and God.

I asked, ‘Do Buddhists believe in a God?’

‘No, we do not. There are several reasons for this. The Buddha believed that the God idea has its origins in fear. Buddha did not believe in God because there does not seem to be any real evidence to support the idea. Many Buddhists, live useful, happy, and meaningful lives without belief in God.’ He then quoted Buddhist teaching. ‘No one saves us but ourselves. We ourselves must walk the path, but Buddha clearly shows the way. We shall talk some more next week after meditation.’ I left the temple that week feeling that I could outgrow my ignorance and irrationality and see things as they really are. It was such a peaceful feeling.

I arrived early in anticipation of this meeting. I asked So Yonge to come outside so I could talk with him. I said, ‘Soo Yonge, I want to run this class a little differently today. I want you to tell the boys in Korean to look up some new ideas on the internet that interest them, like a country or food, and copy down Information in English. Next, I will ask each boy to tell me what they found in English. You can help them.’ Soo Yonge went to the class and told them what was going to happen that today. After about half an hour I asked the first novice to speak, and he told me what he found.

He said, ‘Australia has some very strange animals”

‘Why’ I said.

‘Some lay eggs like the platypus’

‘Australia is a very old part of the world.’ I said.

The second novice said.

‘Rice, corn, and potatoes seem to be the main food of all counties.’

‘How was this started?

‘People stopped hunting and became farmers many years ago.’

All the boys had their chance to say something and practice their English speaking. I praised the boys for their good work. My hour with the Master did not happen today so I just went back down the mountain to the university.

This was to be my last week at the temple. I arrived early in anticipation of the last meeting. I am really going to miss my sessions with the Novice monks and especially the Master. The Master said that he wanted to sit in my class. I felt nervous but I wanted to get some feedback from the boys about what they had learned. I asked Soo Yonge to speak first in English and then in Korean about the classes.

‘Finding information in Korean or English is now very easy on the internet. You have taught us to be careful fact-check the information for truthfulness.’ He said. The other boys spoke In English similar things about my teaching, and it was better than it was at school. They all said that they were learning to have a critical eye like the Buddha. They thanked me for my teaching and gave me a necklace of beads they had made those symbolized ideas. The Master thanked me as well for teaching the novices. He came over to me and put his hand on my head and said,

‘I believe that you have the making of a good novice if you make the effort, guided and supported by the teachings of Buddha. Keep on the path. Walk forward now. ‘

I left the temple with a great sense of peace.