Seoul

So I spent the past week or so in Korea and took lots of pictures.


(all pictures are thumbnails — click to view fullsize)

Bongeunsa Buddhist Monastery

The first stop we took was the buddhist temple across the street. No, really, it was LITERALLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM OUR HOTEL.

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Probably the most mindblowing part of the whole thing was this entire temple complex, right there in the middle of a busy city. I don’t really have much commentary on these pictures, because to be honest what can I say, not being Buddhist.

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Here was rice and offertory candles for sale just before entering the complex. This wasn’t a museum, but a functioning temple.

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As you can see the Buddhist view of swastikas isn’t the same as ours.

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People were actually in the middle of services during our visit, which kept me from going picture happy inside the temple buildings. I mean, wandering in the middle of a church service and firing off flash bulbs just seemed rude. Still I managed to get a few shots from outside.

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There were these paper balloons everywhere. I found out later it was because it was Buddha’s birthday this week.

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The centerpiece of the temple complex is this huge Buddha, that looked about 5 or 6 stories tall.

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Bongeunsa’s website (which is all in Korean) is here.

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