Today I leave the floor to Aurélien from the VoyageWay.com blog. Aurélien has been traveling for several years around the world, such as the United States, Peru and Morocco. It's a completely different destination that we are talking about today: Asia and more particularly South Korea.
During my first trip to South Korea, I wanted to learn more about Korean Buddhism. For this, the Templestay program is ideal!
This program offered by the Buddhist temples of Korea allows you to stay in a temple for one night or more. Many temples in the 4 corners of Korea are part of this program, including in the center of Seoul.
Back on this experience to live during a trip to South Korea.
Templestay, what is it exactly?
The Templestay program offers the possibility of staying for one or more nights in many Buddhist temples across the country.
This program is open to Koreans but also to foreign tourists. Many temples open their doors for this templestay program, accessible all year round (with certain restrictions for certain temples). Whatever the month of your trip, it is therefore possible to do a templestay in South Korea.
If you are only traveling to Seoul for a city trip, for example, know that it is also possible to opt for a templestay in the heart of Seoul. I invite you to consult this guide on Seoul to find out more.
The Templestay program includes:
- night in the temple
- meals (dinner, breakfast, lunch)
- activities (prayers, temple activity, making a rosary, …)
A real immersion in the temple to better understand Buddhism and the way of life of the Buddhist monks of South Korea!
The cost is approximately 50 euros for one night (includes meals/activities).
Which temple to choose?
As I mentioned just now, many temples in South Korea are accessible by templestay. The choice is therefore not easy!
For my part, I opted for a templestay in the Haiensa temple. This temple is located in the heart of South Korea and is famous for hosting the tripitaka koreana which are very old Buddhist writings.
The temple is quite extensive and is located in a national park. The ideal place to enjoy the experience but also to stroll around!
Here are some tips that I can share with you to choose the temple where you will do your templestay:
- choose a temple outside major cities like Seoul or Busan if your itinerary allows
- avoid temples that are too small because if you don't speak Korean, the language barrier could spoil the experience
How long to stay in templestay?
The length of your templestay stay necessarily depends on your expectations of this experience, but also on the length of your trip to South Korea.
If you are traveling for 10/15 days and want to live the experience without necessarily being an in-depth discovery, one night should be sufficient. You arrive in the middle of the day and you leave the next day at the same time, i.e. a 24-hour stay.
If you have a real desire to live this experience over several days, it is possible! If the length of the stay allows it, staying for a week in one and the same temple must be a magnificent experience.
To conclude this post, I would like to point out that this templestay stay is clearly the most beautiful experience of my first trip to South Korea. It's also a great way to experience Buddhism from the inside!
