Tag: Buddhist Monk View All Tags

Learn the Monk's Life in South Korea

September 20, 2007 at 9:20 AM | 0 Comments

If you're looking for a soulful cultural experience in South Korea, you can now try staying in a temple with Buddhist monks. According to a recent Go World story, the temple stay program in Korea isn't a long-standing tradition. Quite the opposite: It just sprang up during the 2002 World Cup season when accommodation was in short supply, and grew from there.

These days there are 43 temples participating in the coordinated program and you can learn traditional crafts like making prayer-beads or lotus lanterns. You'll get fed a lot of mild-tasting vegetarian food, drink tea with monks and even meditate, all of which makes for a different kind of holiday, but probably a good contrast to bustling capital Seoul. And you never know when prayer-bead-making skills will come in handy in life.

Related Stories:
· Temple stays: Korea's Buddhist Retreat Centers [Go World]
· Temple stay Korea [Official Site]
· I Like My Korea Bubbly [Jaunted]

[Photo: Photocapy]

Zen Travel: Getting To Tiger's Nest Monestary

August 22, 2006 at 1:59 PM | 0 Comments



What:
::Taktshang Goemba Monestary::
The Dzong is also a major place of pilgrimage as it is here that Guru Rinpoche - a founder of Buddhism in Bhutan - flew to the on the back of a tigress -hence the name 'tigers nest'. The Dzong is perched on the side of a cliff 900m above the Paro Valley floor.

Where
The Paro Valley in Bhutan, located somewhere around here.

Getting There:
Since Bhutan has no air service to speak of, (Druk Air only seems to operate international flights in and out of Paro) has no helicopters, and is without railroads, the only way to get to Taktshang Goemba is to hike, or bike. Even then, special permission is required for non-Bhutanese to visit the monastery, usually granted only to practicing Buddhists, and no, we are fairly sure listening to a Dali Lama book on tape doesn't count.

There is a viewpoint across the valley where you can get excellent photos. Your best bet is to set up a trip to Tiger's Nest Monestary with a tour operator, New Zealand's Adventure Consultants offer a 14 day Bhutan biking journey (think Backroads) that should get you up close and personal with the Dzong.

Related Stories:
· Taktshang Goemba [Flickr]
· Boutique Bhutan [HotelChatter]