A Korean shaman dances in Andong.
We headed to Andong for a festival, and spent at least three hours watching this Korean Shamanism ceremony. My tail-end was sore, but I couldn’t believe how interesting and engaging the ceremony was. People in the audience were at once mesmerized or crying or bowing their heads in prayer. Even though I couldn’t speak the language, some parts of the ceremony were very moving. Other parts, were…entertaining.
They put on quite a show. From dancing, to balancing knives on their heads, to parading a dead pig around the stage, the show was [...]
Continue reading Reflection #540 – Korean Shamanism Ceremony
How do you choose the best Korean pot?
One of my favorite books I like to read to my third and fourth grade students is A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park. It is about a 16th century Korean orphan whose deepest desire is to become a potter. Unfortunately, only potter’s sons can become potters themselves. Our hero manages to work for the best potter in his town and helps the artist achieve his life’s goal, a royal commission. A fantastic story, one of the things I like most about the book are the descriptions of Korean customs and the [...]
Continue reading Korean Ceramics – How to Buy the Best Pot
Songgwangsa Temple is one of Korea’s Three Jewel Temples of Buddhism, along with Tongdosa and Haeinsa.
All of them are important religious sites. The three temples symbolize the three key tenets of Buddhism. Songgwangsa represents the Buddhist community or sangha, Tongdosa represents Buddha, and Haeinsa represents dharma or Buddhist teachings. These are immortalized in their library of UNESCO World Heritage Tripitaka Koreana, on a collection of woodblocks.
Songgwangsa temple is considered the greatest of the three temples and was founded in 1190 by a zen master whose teachings have been carried into modern Korean life.
Living or traveling [...]
Continue reading Reflection #520 – Songgwangsa Temple, Korea
It’s winter on this Korean beach and yet the police station looks ready for action. No one to monitor, and it’s cold, cold, cold. It kind of looks a little lonely. Who got this job?
Daegu, Korea – After an arduous slog up the side of a mountain, being pushed aside by ancient ajimas (grandmas), I was finally rewarded with this vision. Read the full story here. It is a great memory…and maybe I would even consider it a “once in a lifetime” experience. When’s the last time you climbed to the top and loved the view?
This is one of those UNESCO World Heritage Sites that is just too, too cool. Located in a non-descript building on the Haeinsa Temple complex are shelves and shelves of Korean and Buddhist history captured on woodblocks. I don’t read or speak Korean, so it was ok that I wasn’t allowed to touch or try to read the volumes, but it certainly gave me a feeling of the ancient wisdom found in this country, South Korea. The temple is absolutely gorgeous as well.
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Continue reading World Heritage Site Korea – Tripitaka
This is the very first image I manipulated in Photoshop. I like it. It was certainly not difficult; it was just a filter, but it did start to open my eyes to looking at photographs in a different way.
Don’t you just love the way an Asian rooftop curls up at the end like it is smiling?
One thing you can say about Koreans is they love to eat! And boy do they do it right! Here Jim and I are being treated to a duck barbeque. That’s all the restaurant did, but as you can see it’s not just duck. On the table were all kinds of vegetables, toppings, rice, sauces. The idea is to grill the meat, season it, wrap it up and eat it. Delicious!
There’s something we all love about watching children play. These three kept it up for a really long time, playing with the water, drinking, but mostly playing. They were just so fun to watch.
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