october 19, 2007: we were all invited to hwaeom temple for lunch. here we are standing in line to wash our dishes! dechen, jennifer, me, doug (joanne's husband), manish, and chium.....
after lunch, we were led uphill along a trail of bamboo to meet a monk who was preparing a tea ceremony for us.
before the ceremony, we were granted the opportunity to view the house of one thousand buddhas. as i looked inside the small temple room, overflowing with statues mirroring back my own awakening buddha nature, i felt a strong sense of possibility, an expansiveness of mind....a feeling of interconnectedness....of belonging to something so much larger and infinite. i would love to someday create a room filled with 1,000 taras....or 1,000 kuanyin statues!
jiri mountain peak
won il, jennifer, dechen, joanne shenandoah, manish vyas
tea ceremony.....the green tea we were served is grown and harvested by the monks at the temple and reserved for the monks themselves to drink or for special occasions. it was so mild and smooth with a delicate, almost sweet finish, not at all like any green tea i've had before.....aaaahhh. laurelin, you would have LOVED LOVED LOVED IT!!!! check out the apparatus the monk is using to pour the hot water into the teapot!?!? after having learned so much about tea back in berkeley, jennifer and i were both in heaven during this experience!
there was a point during the ceremony when the monk's cell phone rang!! he answered, of course! after all, this is korea!! everyone has a cell phone and everyone answers their phone no matter what they are doing at the time! it was such a rare and strange sight!! it took me a few seconds to realize that what i was witnessing was truly happening, so i missed the kodak moment with the monk holding the cell phone to his ear....but at least you see it in hand! what a trip!
jungmyung and i with the monk who served us tea....
after lunch, we were led uphill along a trail of bamboo to meet a monk who was preparing a tea ceremony for us. 
before the ceremony, we were granted the opportunity to view the house of one thousand buddhas. as i looked inside the small temple room, overflowing with statues mirroring back my own awakening buddha nature, i felt a strong sense of possibility, an expansiveness of mind....a feeling of interconnectedness....of belonging to something so much larger and infinite. i would love to someday create a room filled with 1,000 taras....or 1,000 kuanyin statues! 
jiri mountain peak
won il, jennifer, dechen, joanne shenandoah, manish vyas
tea ceremony.....the green tea we were served is grown and harvested by the monks at the temple and reserved for the monks themselves to drink or for special occasions. it was so mild and smooth with a delicate, almost sweet finish, not at all like any green tea i've had before.....aaaahhh. laurelin, you would have LOVED LOVED LOVED IT!!!! check out the apparatus the monk is using to pour the hot water into the teapot!?!? after having learned so much about tea back in berkeley, jennifer and i were both in heaven during this experience! 
there was a point during the ceremony when the monk's cell phone rang!! he answered, of course! after all, this is korea!! everyone has a cell phone and everyone answers their phone no matter what they are doing at the time! it was such a rare and strange sight!! it took me a few seconds to realize that what i was witnessing was truly happening, so i missed the kodak moment with the monk holding the cell phone to his ear....but at least you see it in hand! what a trip!
jungmyung and i with the monk who served us tea....
2 comments:
Good to have you back in the blogosphere. I missed your posts. Ok... I CANNOT believe the Monk answered his phone during a tea ceremony. I'm never going to feel bad again that I can't quite get into all the little intricacies of tea serving. I like by iron tea pots and my tea cups that hold more than a few sips of tea! I rarely turn my cell phone on, so this choice will redeem my inability to go slowly with making tea, no?
Holy Moly! You've been busy! What interesting travels.
I like your photos of the temple with the mountain in the background. DSCN2323.JPG looks like it'd make a great framed a print to hang on a wall. Love the colors of the leaves and trees. Very nice!
Post a Comment