불편하고 생소할 수 있지만
절제된 경험 불가해한 매력


“새벽 3시30분, 한국의 어느 사찰. 스님들이 사찰의 하루를 시작하기 위해 치는 목탁소리가 나를 흔들어깨웠다. 몸을 일으켜 담요에서 빠져나온 나는 옅은 회색옷을 여믠 뒤 새벽 어둠을 뚫고 법당으로 터벅터벅 걸어갔다. 그곳에서는 분홍빛 연등들이 새벽예불을 기다리는 사람들을 비춰주고 있었다. “
지난 25일(토) 뉴욕타임스 주말섹션 여행면을 장식한 장문의 기사는 이렇게 시작된다. 한국의 전통문화와 정신문화를 체험할 수 있는 사찰체험(Temple stay)에 대한 외국인들의 관심이 고조되고 있는 가운데 세계최대 권위지 뉴욕타임스지는 한국사찰체험기(필자 캐서린 프라이스)를 소개했다.

강화도 연등국제선원의 산사체험에 참가한 필자는 사찰에 1박2일동안 묵으면서 경험한 내용과 한국 내 사찰체험 장소 등을 자세히 소개하면서 승려의 생활체험이 이방인에게는 매우 불편하고 생소할 수 있지만 각박한 현대생활에서 벗어나 정제된 생활을 경험할 수 있는 것이 산사체험의 불가해한 매력이라고 평가했다.

필자는 산사체험에 여러 나라의 사람들이 참여하는 것이 매우 인상적이었다면서 승려들의 생활을 이해할 수 있게 만들어준 이틀간의 사찰체험이 편하지는 않았지만 쉽게 잊혀지지 않는 기억으로 남았다고 부연했다.
필자와 함께 사찰체험에 나선 영국 웨일스 출신의 케이트 로리 프리처드는 산사체험이 일상에서 경험할 수 있는 활동과 공동생활을 제공해 준다면서 모든 사람들이 너무 친절하고 자신을 배려해줘 마치 거대한 확대가족에 속한 느낌을 가지게 한다고 말했다.

뉴욕타임스는 지난 2002년 월드컵을 계기로 시작된 사찰체험이 최근 급속하게 확대되면서 산사체험을 할 수 있는 사찰이 14곳에서 50곳으로 늘어났으며 지난해에만 5만2천549명이 사찰체험에 참여했다고 소개했다.
한편 한국관광공사 LA지사(323-634-0280, la@kntoamerica.com)는 이에 앞서 22일 본보 등 한인언론사에 보내온 보도자료를 통해 강원도 구룡사(원주) 삼화사(동해), 전라도 송광사(순천) 백양사(장성) 화엄사(구례) 대흥사(대둔사, 해남), 경상도 기림사(경주) 봉정사(안동) 직지사(김천) 통도사(양산) 해인사(합천) 등 한국내 49개 사찰에서 템플스테이가 가능하다고 전했다.


<정리-정태수 기자>
※이 기사 중 뉴욕타임스에 게재된 한국 사찰체험기의 영어원문 기사는 본보 웹사이트(www.sfkoreatimes.com)에 있습니다.


Journeys

In South Korea, Immersion in Buddhist Austerity
/By CATHERINE PRICE

AT 3:30 a.m. in a temple in South Korea the sound of
the moktak ? a wooden percussion instrument that
Buddhist monks play every morning to start the
temple’s day ? jolted me awake. I pulled myself up
from my floor mat, straightened my itchy gray uniform
and stumbled through the pre-dawn darkness to the
temple, where pink lotus lanterns illuminated a small
group of people waiting to begin their morning
prostrations.

Living Like a Monk I was at the Lotus Lantern
International Meditation Center on an overnight trip
run by an organization called Templestay Korea.
Created by the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism ? the
largest Buddhist order in Korea ? the program aims to
allow visitors to “sample ordained lifestyle and
experience the mental training and cultural experience
of Korea’s ancient Buddhist tradition,” according to
its Web site. Although the program only began in 2002
on the occasion of the World Cup soccer tournament
held in Korea and Japan, it has grown swiftly over the
last four years from 14 temples to 50, with 52,549
participants in 2005.

The meditation center on Ganghwa Island, about two
hours from Seoul by public transportation, certainly
seems like the sort of place that could inspire calm.
The grounds are nestled between rice paddies and a
leafy forest, and the center’s brightly painted
temple sits several stone steps up from a gentle brook
and a small pond stocked with lotus flowers and koi.
Monks wander silently, occasionally gathering at an
outdoor wooden table and offering tea and small snacks
to guests.

But be forewarned ? the point of the temple stay is
not, as the pictures on its Web site might make it
seem, to lounge next to a brook nibbling crackers as
you consider what it means to reach nirvana. The point
is to live like a monk. And monks, it turns out, keep
strict schedules, are vegetarian and spend a lot of
time silently meditating in positions that can become,
quickly and without much warning, incredibly
uncomfortable for those unused to them.

I got my first hint of this austere lifestyle when I
arrived and was greeted by Cho Hyemun-aery, who
introduced herself in fluent English. In the
guesthouse, she showed me the communal bathroom and
the small room my friend and I would stay in, which
was unfurnished except for sleeping pads, blankets and
small pillows. Then, after we’d dropped off our bags,
Ms. Cho handed us our clothes for the weekend: two
identical extra-large sets of baggy gray pants and
vests, along with sun hats and blue plastic slippers.
We looked like we’d stepped out of a propaganda
poster for Maoist China.

On this particular temple stay, the first activity was
community work time. Clad in our Mao suits, we
followed Ms. Cho to the garden, where eight or so
other guests squatted between raised rows of dirt,
piles of potatoes scattered around them. Our job was
to sort the potatoes into piles of small, medium and
large, as monks walked by, examining our efforts. We
worked in silence, sweating under the afternoon sun,
and were rewarded when we’d finished with small,
freshly boiled potatoes, lightly salted and offered to
us by a grinning Vietnamese monk.

After our snack, we wiped the dirt off our pants and
gathered in the temple, where Ms. Cho showed us how to
arrange our slippers neatly at the door, and taught us
to prostrate according to the Korean Buddhist
tradition: kneel down, touch your forehead to the
floor and rest your hands, palms up, on the ground. We
then meditated silently for half an hour, a slight
breeze blowing through the open doors at our backs as
we sat cross-legged on our prayer mats, trying to
clear our minds.

Meditation and prostration, both essential parts of
monks’ lives, are included in every overnight temple
stay program, as are meal or tea ceremonies, lectures
on Buddhism and exceptionally early wakeup calls.
Beyond that, though, programs differ. Most average
about 30,000 South Korean won (approximately $33, at
972 won to the U.S. dollar) a night, but temple stays
can range anywhere from a few hours to a few months,
depending on your budget and enthusiasm.

They also offer different activities. Lotus Lantern’s
program included walking meditations through the
temple grounds, calligraphy practice, a traditional
Buddhist meal ceremony and a discussion about Buddhism
led by the temple’s head monk. But other temples
offer Buddhist martial arts, stone rubbings, hiking
and painting. And the buildings themselves can also
vary, from newly built meditation centers to temples
that are more than a thousand years old.

Golgulsa Temple, for example, about five hours from
Seoul on public transportation, was built by an Indian
monk in the sixth century and is surrounded by ancient
stone caves. Its program is more physically active
than the other temples’, offering training in a
Korean Buddhist martial art called sunmudo that
incorporates traditional martial arts with yogalike
poses, weapons training and breathing exercises.

Musangsa Temple, about two hours from Seoul, caters to
people who don’t want to limit a wee-hours wakeup
call to just one morning ? it has extended temple-stay
programs during the summer and winter seasons that can
last for up to three months (new participants can join
on Saturdays, pending approval from the temple’s
abbot). The retreats at Musangsa are silent, so if you
think rising before dawn and performing 108
prostrations before starting a 10-hour-long day of
strictly scheduled temple activities might make you
want to scream, try a different program.

An easier option is Jogyesa Temple, right in Seoul, at
27-11 Gyunji-dong, which offers half-day visits on the
last Saturday of every month that include a tea and
meal ceremony, meditation practice and a temple tour.
If you won’t be around on the last Saturday and can
scrape together a group of five or more people, you
can also organize your own day at the temple, even on
weekdays ? just make sure to e-mail five days in
advance for reservations. The e-mail address is
10mirror@ijogyesa.net.