South Korea: the sights!!

I thought I would break the blogsilence and share about my travels in Korea. I arrived at the Incheon International airport on January 5 after two days of traveling (missed my connection in San Francisco and had to spend the night). My paternal side of the family came to pick me up at the airport and took me sight seeing before dropping me off in the town where my mother’s side of the family lives. We traveled to Pohang, which is on the eastern coast of South Korea.

a photo of my cousin and I, she was my official translator for my time with my paternal side of the family.

A picture of Pohang Beach…

We also hit up the famous Lighthouse museum and surrounding sights. Thousands of Koreans from all over Korea come to this spot to bring in the new year at sunrise since this is the eastern coast. Its claim to fame is that it is the eastern most part of Korea and the sunrise here first. There are huge bronze hand sculptures called "The Hands of Harmony."

While there we had a great bowl of fresh SASHIMI!!!

I was also taken to see two of the most famous pagados in Korea at the Bulguksa Temple. Possibly the most impressive temple in Korea. It is regarded as a masterpiece of Buddhist art, and was built in the 8th century during the Silla Kingdom period.

In front of the main prayer hall, there stand two famous stone pagodas. They are both National Treasures. Dabotap means the pagoda of many treasures. Standing on the right of the courtyard facing the main hall, it shows the artistic beauty of Silla culture. In comparison to the simple Seokgatap, it is highly decorative. It was so delicately carved that they say ‘Silla masons managed stones like clay.’

Seokgatap means the pagoda of Buddha. It stands on the left of the courtyard facing the main hall. This three story pagoda is admired for its simple and dignified design. It is considered Korea’s most typical stone pagoda

We then took a 20 minute curvy, car-sickness producing ride to Seokguram Grotto.

At the main gain it is a 5 or 6 minute brisk walk to the main temple. Outside the main temple there was this water fountain PICTURE.

According to legend this water has healing properties. It was incredibly cold and tasted awesome. I silently prayed that the curing properties were not mistaken laxative properties caused by amoebaes or giardia. It was hard not to draw the parallel with Christian beliefs that Jesus is the water of Life and how Buddhism is merely a counterfeit of the Gospel.

After my trepidatious drink, we then trekked up the well worn path along with many other Buddhist belivers to see a seated Buddha protected by two sets of 12 royal guards (just as God is surrounded by 24 elders as described in the book of Revelations. On the soltice the third-eye of the Buddha is hit by a ray of the sun coming through the dome above his head. The light from the third eye is said to shine South-south-East, in the direction of an ancient temple in the valley below, destroyed by Mongols in the 13th century. The line continues and points exactly to the tomb of King Mum-Mu in the East Sea, 3km father South-south-East. This was said to protect Korea from Japan.

After seeing the impressive Buddha we descended to the fully functioning temple where a Buddhist monk was offering prayers and incense to Buddha. As we drew near the musky scent of incense and murmured prayers of the faithful Buddhists, I fought back tears as I watched a young boy kow-towing to the serene faced Buddha. My heart ached as I saw the passionate devotion this young boy earnestly offered to a long dead mere-mortal that could no longer hear his urgent prayers or receive his fervent reverence. I looked around at all of the Buddha faithful that with out Jesus were destined to the same destruction and judgement as their revered god. Again I was faced with my inadequacy of communication. I couldn’t even tell them that Jesus loved them and died for them. God Lord I could even tell them that Jesus was love. As I trekked down from the temple and even further away from those peole I knew would be destined to go to hell I was frustrated but challenged to not only learn Korean but to pray for the many who follow Buddha that the light of the Gospel would shine on them and their understanding would be opened to the knowledge of Christ Jesus and his Gospel. That they would find true enlightenment. May that be all of our prayers as well, for those of us who call ourselves followers of the true Way, disciples of the one and only Teacher and Master.

here is the link if you want to see the rest of my photos from this time. Facebook photos I will try to blog at least every couple of days or as things come up. Happy blogging!!