The temple

Temple

I was slowly walking down a dirt trail up on the mountain near the city of Busan that I had not been on before when I came upon a very old wooden building. It looked like some sort of temple structure. I had my camera with me so I started to take some photographs for sketches I would do later.

Suddenly an old Monk came out of the building. He was short and bald; I could see that he was slightly built even in his robes.

‘What are you doing here? He said rather sharply.

‘I am sorry sir’ as I apologized at once as I thought I had perhaps done the wrong thing by taking photographs of the building.

He showed no reaction to my apology but just continued talking to me now in a normal voice.

“Where are you from?”

I said, ‘I teach down the mountain at the University.

‘No! Where do you come from?’ he asked again.

‘Canada.’

“What do you do at the University?

 ‘I teach ESL English”

‘That is good. Do you know anything about the Internet?’

‘Yes, I know how to use it!’

 ‘Good! Come with me now.’ He said.

He took me through a dense, verdant garden to the rear of this ancient wooden building where I was amazed to see a large satellite dish on a rack. It seemed so out of context in this setting, so incongruous when I compared the tranquil look of the setting.

‘Would you teach my young novice monks how to use the Internet?’

I thought about this proposal for a short time and asked, ‘What do you wanted them to learn?’

‘I want them to be able to find correct information in this modern world.’ He said.

I thought about what he had proposed and said to him that, ‘ I would come for an hour at noon on Sundays to teach his young monks if you would give me an hour of your time after I taught the boys.’

He answered quickly; ‘You have a deal, see you next Sunday.’ He turned and walked quickly back into the rear entrance to the building.

As I slowly started walking back along the trail to the cable car terminal, I wondered what I had agreed to.

I had gone to Busan National University in South Korea for a semester to teach English as a Second Language. On the weekends I would take the cable car up the mountain and hike around the trails for exercise.

The next Sunday had me retracing my steps along that seldom-used track back to the temple. The same old Monk ushered me into a small, dimly lit room where five boys of various ages were waiting.  He explained to me that one of the teenage boys, Soo Yonge, could speak very good English and would translate for the other boys.

I began the first session by finding out what they knew and what they wanted me to teach them as Soo Yonge translated. I then told them about who I was. Many questions came from the boys through translation as they seemed to be at ease with me. The session seemed to be going well as I was a experienced teacher, the hour went by rather quickly.

After I left the young boys, Soo Yonge showed me to another room where the old monk resided. He was a thin man, elderly, his head hairless, his face round and tanned. His eyes had a piercing but gentle look. He asked me to sit across from him. He poured me a cup of tea as we sat cross-legged on a mat in front of a low table.

‘Well, the young boys like you. You seem to be a good teacher.’ said the monk.

 ‘Thank you, we had a good first session where we got to know each other.’

‘What do I call you?

‘Guide or Master will be fine. What do you want to know?’ he replied.

Despite my preparation for this moment, I felt nervous about what to say.  During the last week of reading about Buddhism and my years of experience and education I finally admitted.

 ‘I don’t know where to start or what to ask you Master.’

With the wisdom and assurance of his many years of contemplation he smiled and said,

‘That is the best place to start.’

The Master then asked me many questions about my life and beliefs.

I gave him a brief outline of my life as we sipped tea. It was a comfortable setting, and I felt relaxed.

I told him I was born in Canada but now live in Australia. I was a married man with three children: two boys and a girl. I was a university lecturer who taught teacher-education students. I had worked all around the world in Jamaica and now South Korea. My childhood religious education was Christian, but I didn’t go to church often. As an adult I was an avid reader about the other faith systems

“But I knew a very little about Buddhism.’

The Master replied, ‘I can teach you about Budda as it has been my life. I have become an enlightened man. a leader and a teacher.’

I thanked him for this opportunity, and I will come back next Sunday.

As I slowly walked back down the trail to the cable car to go back to my accommodation in the men’s dormitory, I was feeling relived that this day went well, I was looking forward to going back next Sunday to work with the novices and learn new ideas from the Master.

During the week I was rather busy preparing lessons and teaching the three classes. One class was a challenge as the students were all military middle-aged men who had to improve their speaking skills as this was a compulsory class. One man was a very good English speaker, so I asked him to be my assistant. Most students could write so I asked them to make up scripts and become actors by reading what they wrote. I asked my assistant to write me a script in Korean which I took my turn reading with him.

We all had some good laughs at me struggling with my Korean pronunciations, but it relieved their tensions about making mistakes.

I was back early as I wanted to draw the building, so I took some photographs and wrote some notes about colour and structure. I began to teach the novice boys how to use the internet to find information. Soo Yonge was the translator. I asked the novice boys “Do you understand my English.’

Three older novices said that my English and voice were understandable but some of the words were new to them. The youngest two boys only spoke Korean with Soo Yonge. I brought some gifts for the boys this week.

 I asked the youngest boy, ‘What was is your name?  He replied ‘Bae Hoon”. I wrote his name on a name tag and gave it to him as I asked the second youngest what was his name? He replied ‘Dae Ho’ so I wrote his name and gave it to him to wear on his robe. The other boys were, Chang Ho, Bon Hwa, Bo Bae and of course Soo Yonge. Each got a name tag. I also wrote my name on a tag to wear which made our communication easier.  I gave each Novice a small notebook and told them to write their name on the first page and on the second page to draw a line down the center where they could put Korean words in one column and the English words in the other column

We had one computer connected to a bigger screen. I started by showing them how to operate the keyboard and asked the novices to write notes in their notebooks about the computer system about how to type and use keywords.

I asked them to write done the name of their favorite animal to use as a keyword to try a search. Each Novice took a turn with the help of Soo Yonge. They wrote results in their notebooks.

I told them there are many search engines of which Google is the most important and largest in the English Language. There is also a search engine written in the Korean language called Naver which started in 1999. Because I could not read or write Korean, I had to teach them in English. But I also wanted to teach them how to be critical of information that they found next week. The Master monk and I had talked about this concept in the first week.

 That was the end of the lesson for this week.

My second hour began with the Master. I had been a teacher all my academic life, but I had never stopped being a student of new information, ideas, and culture. I didn’t get a chance to ask the Master anything that hour as he wanted to teach me his meditation practice.

He spoke to me in a soft voice ‘Please take off your socks and belt and sit comfortably on the mat. I want you to close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing. After the out-breath you count one, then you breathe in and count two, and so on up to ten, and then you start again at one.’

I became aware of the mind’s tendency to jump from one thing to another. I heard my stomach gurgling. I found it was hard to concentrate on my breathing, but I persisted with this routine as I didn’t want to appear a failure before the Master. I could not stop my mind from wandering. 

After a time, the Master said to me, ‘I want you to stop concentrating on your breathing and just sit and open your eyes.’ About ten minutes later he said.

 ‘I will see you next week but try to meditate daily for 20 minutes during the week in the morning. We shall talk more next time. 

I left the temple and slowly walked down the trail towards the cable car feeling very peaceful.

My week teaching was very busy as the Department wanted the Lecturers to have some mid semester testing. We had a staff meeting and developed some plans for some exercises that we would all do with the classes. I suggested some visual stimulus photos for the students to describe. Most other teachers thought that was a good idea as it would demonstrate the range of students’ written language. I prepared ten different photographs which I shared with the staff.

When I came back for the third week, I spent my hour with the novices and the lesson went well. We reviewed the searching process with a topic about Canadian landscape. They were delighted to learn about my country.

I asked them to find ways to check information as some homework for the week.

I was impatient to ask the Master many questions.

‘Did you practice the mediation that I taught you?’ was the first question he asked as we sipped our tea.

‘Yes! I did about four sessions this week just before I went to sleep.’

‘What happened?’

‘I found it hard to concentrate on what I was doing.’

‘That is progress! He stated.

Now let’s talk some more. ‘Tell me something in your life that you resent.’

‘I was married when I was young, and my wife divorced me and took the children with her.’

‘How does that make you feel?

‘I sometimes still feel sad’

 Concentrate on that feeling as you do the breathing and counting.

Now you want to ask me some questions?’

I asked the Master ‘Is your personal concept of Buddhism a belief system or a scientific and rational religion? I have been reading some articles online and some of the Novices want me to answer this question.’

‘My educated view is that Korean Buddhism encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on original teachings attributed to the Buddha and resulting interpreted philosophies that have evolved over time.’ My belief is that spiritual practice moves a person along a path towards a goal of personal liberation.’

 ‘Tell me more about your life”

  I told him more about myself

I started teaching when I was thirty, I went to Jamaica for the Canadian Government to work on an Aid program. When I arrived in Jamaica, I met a different racial and cultural group of people. My ideas about race and culture were constantly being challenged as I had moved out of my cultural context.

I learned what mattered most to me about my upbringing. I learned a lot about different cultural views. The biggest thing I learned was to reflect on the parts of the new culture that were different from my experiences. My continued travels in other countries taught me by reflecting on who I was and what values I held. I believe that travelling was a type of my personal liberation.’

‘That is interesting, but our time is up, so I look forward to next Sunday so  try to practice your meditation.’

I slowly walked back along the trail to the University.

During the next week I tried meditation on a few nights and in the morning, but my mind was overloaded and in turmoil.

Sunday came and I was back at the temple with the novices. I started the lesson with the homework I had set them. I had asked them to try to find good methods of fact checking information. Because the boys hadn’t had much formal education, they found this idea hard. The Korean education system was formal, and the teacher was the authority figure. Developing critical analysis by students was not taught or encouraged. I asked Soo Yonge what his opinion was.

 He said, ’The internet was like a jungle’. We all laughed.

I started the lesson with them by looking at some academic search engines. I explained that as an academic if I did research and wanted to publish it. I submitted the writing to journal. The journal evaluated my work by experts before publishing it. The information in good journals was highly true. We spent the remaining hour looking at simple topics that they suggested.

When I was with the master again, I told him about my turmoil in the week. Meditation did not seem to work. His response was pragmatic,

‘Well, what do you expect? It is your own body and mind and sometimes it is busy.’

I changed the subject as I wanted to know about the relationship between Buddhism and God. I asked, ‘Do Buddhists believe in a God?’

‘No, we do not. There are several reasons for this. The Buddha believed that the God idea has its origins in fear. Buddha did not believe in God because there does not seem to be any real evidence to support the idea. Many Buddhists, live useful, happy, and meaningful lives without belief in God.

He then quoted a Buddhist teaching.

 ‘No one saves us but ourselves. We must walk the path, but Buddha clearly shows the way. We shall talk some more next week after meditation.’

I left the temple that week feeling that I could outgrow my ignorance and irrationality and see things as they really are. It was such a peaceful feeling. For all of us speaking a new language is always the hardest. Next week we will start practicing more speaking skills.

               On Sunday I arrived early in anticipation of this meeting. I asked Soo Yonge to come outside so I could talk with him.

 ‘Soo Yonge, I want to run this week’s class a little differently. I want you to tell the novices to look up some new ideas on the internet that interest them, like a country or food on Google or Naver and copy down Information in Korean or English. Next, I will ask each boy to tell me what they found in English. You can help them.’

Soo Yonge went to the class and told them what was going to happen today. After about half an hour I asked the first novice, Bae Hoon to speak, and he told me what he found. He said,

 ‘Australia has some very strange animals”

‘What kind’ I said.

 ‘Some mammal animals like lay eggs like the platypus’

 ‘Australia is a very old part of the world.’ I said.

All the boys had their chance to say something and practice their English speaking. I praised the boys for their good work.

This will be my last week at the temple. I arrived early in anticipation of the meetings. I am really going to miss my sessions with the Novice monks and especially the Master. 

The Master said that he wanted to sit in my class. I felt nervous but I wanted to get some feedback from the boys about what they had learned. I asked Soo Yonge to speak first in English and then in Korean about the classes.

‘Finding useful information on the internet in Korean or English is now very easy. You have taught us to be careful and fact check the information for truthfulness.’ 

               The other boys spoke In English similar things about my teaching, and it was better than it was at school. They all said that they were learning to have a critical eye like the Buddha. They thanked me for my teaching and gave me a necklace of beads they had made symbolizing ideas.

The Master thanked me as well for teaching the novices. He came over to me and put his hand on my head and said, ‘I believe that you have the making of a good novice if you make the effort, guided, and supported by the teachings of Buddha. Keep on the path. Walk forward now. ‘

I did walk forward down the trail with tears of sadness and joy for the experience.