Last day in South Korea

The last days in Korea were spent in Seoul visiting a High School and then visiting the Korean War Museum and Memorial. The school was so interesting and definitely one of my favorites. The students go to school from 8-5 p.m. Then at 6:30-11 p.m. they have mandatory study hall where they do homework, view on line lessons and practice test taking strategies. I taught a lesson about the history of California. Being with the students and interacting with them was by far my highlight! The War memorial was amazing too. We had the pleasure of meeting Paik, Sun Yup, General (R) ROK Army. He is currently 92 years old and continues to work everyday Monday-Friday from 8-5 p.m. Can you believe this? Him memory and ability to retell the Korean War from his point of view as a military leader was inspiring and interesting.

This trip has been such an eye opening educational experience. The learning, growing and relationships made with such inspiring colleague will never be forgotten. The time has gone very quick. It seems like I was just leaving California and now the second portion of the trip begins tomorrow. I am definitely going to miss South Korea's people and culture. The good news is that I get one more day here with Paul before we fly home. Tomorrow I leave for China.

The hills are alives with the sound of Buddhism- last day in thecountryside

We drove about an hour an half from Daegu (3rd largest city in Korea) to Gayasan National Park. "The hills are alive... with the sounds of Buddhism," said our guide as we entered Haeinsa Temple (802 CE). This was a great description of this active buddhist monastery temple complex. The temple is surrounded by many beautiful trees and streams and took a bit of a hike to get to. This temple complex is regarded as one the three best Temples in Korea. We were lucky to watch the monks give their call to worship. If you remember from a previous blog, based on the type of drum or bell used by the monks depend on who they are calling to worship: the heavens, water animals, humans, and the last ring is to give relief to those suffering in hell. Then in the main temple, we heard the monks and worshippers praying and chanting. On the outside of this temple was a beautiful animated story about Buddhism (see below for more information). A little farther behind the temple was a huge national treasure---- 81,258 Buddhist Woodblocks. The Woodblocks are made of aged cherry wood and are protected in wooden buildings. The monks organize these blocks into three groups (Life of Buddha, Dharma- Law/teachings, and How to live in a monastery). Our last stop was Yeongneung the tomb of King Sejong the Great (1418-1450). He was the fourth monarch in the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910). By visiting his tomb, the trip comes full circle. He was the first leader we met and is by far the most enlightened Korean leader we have met in our journey.


As we leave the beauty of the countryside and approach Seoul again, many things are different. First it is extremely humid & hot and there is no sign of rain (sigh), our group is even more connected by this shared experience, and lastly I feel I have learned a lot about the values and culture of the people. There are only two more days left, so I must appreciate and keep discovering new insights about this land and her people.

8 panel story of Buddhism. The panel describes the dream prophesy that the queen had before her son's birth. The second, represents Siddartha Gautama's birth. The third is about him leaving behind the luxuries of the palace to explore the outside world. The fourth is where he witnesses the suffering of the world and is deeply saddened. He creates the 4 Noble truths from this experience. The fifth is where he tries to live an aesthetic life, but realizes it's not the way. Instead it's been to live a disciplined life (leading to the 8 Fold Path). The sixth shows him being tempted from his disciplined life. The seventh show the emergence of disciples. The eighth is spreading the faith and showing mercy as the main component of the faith.

Jeong, Patience, Benevolence in a Confucian Countryside

Today we entered a traditional agricultural village called Yangdong Village. It's unique because it operates in collective way and uses a traditional clan based organization style. It is filled small homes and many of them have the traditional thatched roofs. This particular village has two main families (E family and Son family). The political structure of the village is clan based and operates by reaching group consensus on all issues. Most inhabitants have a deep connection to this village because their family lineage goes back many many generations. We met with the head of the E family this morning. He explained to us about the village and the people. One concept he taught us was the idea of Jeong. This is the idea of heart/affection/caring for others. He describes how it is easy to lose your Jeong with you live a detached or in an alienating urban setting, but here in a collective environment it's easier to focus on this because there are less distractions. We also learned a daily ritual the Son family leader has for his children. Every morning when they wake up they have to copy the chinese character of patience 100 times. This practice would definitely put that concept fresh in your mind every day and perhaps make it easier to be patient. The reason why they are focused on these ideas is because the practice the philosophy of Confucianism. Then we travelled about 15 minutes a little deeper in the hills to Ok San Seo Won. This was a private Confucian academy built in 1572 to honor Yi Eon-jeok (1491-1553) because of his academic achievement and virtue. One of the main Confucian idea studied here was benevolence. Documents show that they studied Mencius Confucious' most prominent disciple. Mencius believed the key element of the human heart is benevolence. He was known for giving advice to the king on this topic, " King, if you practice benevolence, the people will do anything for you. They will stretch their heads out for you." The concepts that the people who lived in these areas practiced are universal themes: Jeong (heart/compassion), Patience, Benevolence. If you can truly practice these concepts, there is no doubt you can find peace.

Number One Tourist Site in Korea: Bulguk-sa Temple

Today we ventured closer to western coast (Pacific Ocean) where we first met the Hyundai Heavy Industry Complex. What a site to see with all the huge ships being built. They explained and showed us how the ships are created, prepared and then how they become ready to launch. It's an impressive site. Over 51,000 people work at this location. The city was even designed to support it's workers and has housing, sports facilities, schools, and entertainment activities.
We also visited some important locations for the silk road which provides evidence of cultural diffusion. Goe Reung which is a burial ground similar to others from yesterday. Then we ventured to the number one tourist site in Korea: Bulguk-sa Temple (main temple) and Seokguram Grotto (natural retreat). They were both built simultaneously in 751 during the Unified Silla Period. However, they experienced destruction during Japanese occupation and then were rebuilt in 1973. The best part was the trip to the Grotto, we had to take a windy bus ride up the hill about 20 minutes and then once we reached the top we walked another 10-15 minutes through the peaceful wildness. We were now up in the fog! There is something about being completely surrounded by nature and in a place that is so quiet. I rarely find my self this quiet. In the quiet places all you can hear is the birds chirping and the water dripping from the rain filled leaves. It reminds how important it is to be still and quiet away from the noise of the city and craziness from the day to day routine. The time we spent there was a nice reminder for me to enjoy nature's beauty and remember how important it is to stop, be quiet, listen to the rain falling from the trees and realize how renewing it is to be surrounded by nature.

Goe Reung
Here is late Silla burial ground, but the stone statues are the most interesting part of the grounds. If you look carefully, you can see evidence of cultural diffusion. The figures reflects features like a lot facial hair that is not native to Korea.

Hyundai Heavy Industry Complex
Hyundai means Modern or New. The company was established in 1972 as a heavy industry shipyard, but now it has many divisions like ship building, off shore and engineering, construction equipment and Research and Development. Asan was the founder of the company. He was born to a farm family in 1915 in North Korea. He began his career as a rice deliveryman and moved to owning a rice shop. Then he wanted to get into the car industry so he purchased a repair shop to learn the business. His first car in 1975 was, the Pony, Korea's first car. From there he developed his business and devoted his entire life to promoting industry and to rebuild Korea. He built many schools, sponsored the Olympics in Korea and is revered as a great man. On display were a pair of the shoes that he wore for over 30 years. He was quoted as saying, "why do I need a new pair when I can fix the ones I have." His ingenuity and hard working spirit has allowed this company to grow and thrive. Another one of his quotes I liked, " There are no failures, only trials."

Seokguram Grotto (751 CE) (retreat)
This temple is very important because it shows that this was the last spot in continental Asia on the silk road. It was first constructed in 751 C.E. in the 10th year of Silla King Gyeongdeok. In the rotunda of the hall sits a majestic Buddha surrounded by many elaborate Bodhisattavas. The reason we know it has influence from the silk road is because the Buddha is in a cave which reflects the way people of Central Asia and India housed their Buddha sculptures.

Bulguk-sa Temple (751 CE) (main temple)
This is the main temple site. Upon entry you see the four guardian and they reflect influence (dress, features) from Central Asia and India indicating cultural diffusion. The rock pattern on the main temple is very symbolic because it represents the path to enlightenment. If you notice at the bottom, the rocks are in disarray which represents your sinful life, then as you begin to put order in your life, the rocks begin to look orderly until you've reached a peaceful enlightenment state of perfect order and symmetry with corresponding looking rocks. Another interesting symbol of the temple is the ringing of the bell or call to worship. This happens both in the morning and at night. Ringing the bell with the gong (calls the birds), clapper (calls the fish), bell (relief for the people in hell), and the drum calls the humans. All these different rings call the different people or things to worship.

Silla Dynasty- South Korea

July 5, 2012

It poured rain as we drove three hours to Cheonmachong area. The fog that just sits right in between the rolling tree hills-- seriously breathtaking. This was the capital of Silla Dynasty. This dynasty was one of the most prominent in Korean history. It lasted for 1000 years. It had active relationship with China's Tang dynasty and the silk road. To help put in better context if you're not familiar with East Asian history, this is the time period of the Classical era of Rome and Greece. Today was a very busy day, so I below please ready the chronology of some of the highlights of the Silla Dynasty!




Today we began our stop with the birthplace of the Silla Dynasty- Gyeonju Najeong. (Early Silla Dynasty)

One day in 69 BCE according to legend, Sobeol, chieftain of the village called Goheo, saw a white horse on its knees by a well. When he went out to the well for a closer look, the horse suddenly disappeared but he found a large egg on the spot where the white horse had been. A baby boy came out of the egg. When he reached the age of 13, 6 chieftains in the area elected him to be the first king. They called their country Seorabeol, the ancient name of Silla.

Some interpretations to this legend is that this was a small village town and some historians believe that perhaps invaders were coming from the north and of course bringing horses (not native to this land). The egg represents birth and re-birth and the horse represents wealth, movement and cultural diffusion.

O Reung
It's 5 tomb complex. These five tomb is a mound burial ground dedicated to members of the royal Silla dynasty. To enter each complex, you have to pass through a typical Confucian Gate that was most likely made later during the Joeson dynasty as a way to honor former ancestors. The gates are always the same and have three doors. Spirits enter the the center, humans enter through the right and exit to the left. The Mounds have not be excavated. The usual rule of thumb is that if you know which ancestors that are buried, you do not excavate out of respect, but when they do not know who is buried, it's okay to excavate. Also inside this complex is the birth place of the first king's wife. Al- Young-Jung. The well marks the birth place of the first Silla queen. There is a another historically inaccurate building style. The Pagoda, which was created during the Joeson period and again probably created an a way to honor her. This place is about one kilometer away from the birth place of the king and was most likely another village. It implies that a political alliance was made by the two kingdoms and created a two center power base for the early Silla dynasty.

Cheon-Ma-Chong- (Middle Silla Dynasty)
This is another temple mound burial site that had been excavated. At the time of excavations they did not know who was in the tomb, which made it okay to dig. What they found in the first mound was that it was a most likely an important figure in middle Silla kingdom and based on an image they found they name this burial ground Heavenly Horse Temple. They found 11,500 artifacts in that one tomb and stopped there since they were able to date the mound. An interesting fact was that up until 1970s many people's homes were built in between the mounds, but now it the area is a national park.

Gyeong Ju National Museum
This museum is a treasure house of the Slla Kingdom. Some of the amazing things here were the the artifacts found in the Heavenly Horse Temple. The greatest artifacts to me were the burial clothing worn by the rulers. Elaborate uses of Gold and precious stones. You can see that the Silla kingdom was influenced by the silk road because they had glass in the burial sites. I also like the shamanistic (pre- buddhist) influence of burying rulers with important objects that would be needed for the after life. You will see a picture that shows some of the artifacts found that are meant to accompany the person in the after life.

Hwanghyongsa
This was a palace during the middle Silla dynasty and had at its height 170,000 inhabitants. It was destroyed in a fire and conquered by the Mongols. Now, many Korean scholars have been studying it and there is talk about one day rebuilding.

Moving South: Gong Ju Region- South Korea

July 4th, 2012

Today we began the field trip component of the trip and ventured south. The landscape is very picturesque with many tree filled rolling hills. This is a picture of me in Gong Ju right next to King Muryeong's underground tomb. At first glance, you might think, "the scenery is very pretty" or "oh how fun to see another country." Living in the modern world we have the luxury to take and have thousands of pictures of ourselves and we can document everything we do. Back in King Muryeong's day and not even that long ago people did not have this luxury. To them having a picture was something special, something you wanted to document and show future generations. A burial site is even more special than just a picture because a great amount of effort was put into making this final resting place. We learned about the importance of carefully selecting a final burial site and the objects that needed to be present to consider it good enough for a king. This careful and precise planning is very important because they wanted to ensure that the king's legacy was honored and would be respected for many generations. When we study history, we think about historical figures and judge them by what they either accomplished or did not accomplish in their life. Even in our own families, we look at family ancestors and think about all they accomplished. Some parts of our family stories are fantastic, some are so so and there are some we would rather forgot. Not everything will always be perfect, but that's the best part of life... we can always change our story by changing our actions. We can build a legacy that we want our future generations to remember. King Muryeong became a king at a late age in life, forty, but he recognized the importance of legacy and accomplished a lot during his reign. The parts of his story that everyone remembers are the positive things he did for his people. When people of this region saw the stone bust of King Muryeong that was located outside his tomb many people must have and probably still feel pride in all he accomplished during his reign. While I won't have an elaborate grave site, be a queen or have a large sculpture of myself, I will have pictures. Snap shots from my life that document the legacy I am creating. Just like in the ancient world, we have to be intentional because if we do not make an effort to document and reflect on the past our legacy it could be forgotten. I want to remember and share with future generations my story and my family's story. My challenge to you is to learn your family story, share it with other family members and think about how it has impacted you as a person. Learning from the past is the only way to success in the future!

Gongsanseong Fortress in Gong Ju, South Korea

It was originally a mud castle, but most parts of it was renovated to a stone castle during the Joseon Dynasty. This fortress was a capital during the Baekje period. It contains many relics. It is a historic site in Korea.

Tomb of King Muryeong

This tomb was discovered in 1971 when archeologists were working on the Songsanri tombs. The discovery of this tomb provided concrete evidence of the historical dates and artistic achievements of Baekje period (18 BCE- 660 CE). This tomb was created for King Muryeong (461-523) and his wife. The tombs in this area are dedicated to royal family ancestors during the period of 475-538.

The tombs are built underground. Artisans used granite which is native to this land and it was made to look like bricks like the Chinese used. When these artisans made the tombs they had to carefully select the site and prepare the tomb site. Most of the tombs have the four guardians either painted on the wall and/or using figurings. The four guardians are animistic figures: Blue Dragon, White Tiger, Red Phoenix, and the Black Tortoise all which are to be placed on the four sides of the tombs to protect it from evil spirits. This practice came from China's Han dynasty. At the very front of the tombs is a stone sculpture of the king and serves as marker for the tomb. It also indicates the dates and funeral procedures used. Inside the tomb are many relics.

Gongju National Museum

This museum displays mainly relics from the period when the capital of Baekje was Gongju. It contains many relics from King Muryeong's reign.


Early Printing Museum

Jikji is one of the oldest metal type printed book (1377) still in existence. Metal type set was first used in Korea even slightly before Gutenberg's press. The difference between the two is that Korean type would only print 4-5 papers at a time before the tray had to be reset, whereas Gutenberg's metal type was locked securely into place and could then print thousands of pages. We learned about the various ways artisans created metal type (sand and wax methods). Then we created a book. First we made some ink prints using both metal and wood carvings, created our pressed cover, made homemade paper, and then sewed it all together. Wow! That was a big production and took over an hour of fast paced effort. In the end, it turned out pretty well.

Korean DMZ

Tomorrow is July Fourth, our national independence day. When the founding fathers declared our independence from Great Britain in 1776 and then won the revolutionary war... a great nation with a lasting constitution was created. While we are still such a new country, we have managed to create a stable and constant government. Even though, our great union was tested during the Civil War, thankfully strong leaders helped the nation remain unified. That said, as a citizen I feel a constant sense of safety and have experienced a much higher standard of living than many other people around the world. I am proud of to be an American citizen and do not take lightly the freedoms we have by living in a democratic nation. Today we left Seoul to visit the 38th parallel DMZ line. It was a very interesting and yet a serious place. Issues of democracy,communism, power, wealth, security are a real part of the atmosphere in this area. It is clear that the people in the north do have the same rights and luxuries that I have and it makes me feel even more appreciative of my nation on her birthday!


During our visit we had many stops a long the way culminating to the official Military Demarkation Line (MDL). See the information below about each stop.

Background
After WWII & independence from Japan in 1945, the peninsula was was divided at the
38th parallel. In the North the Koreans were influenced by Communism and China and
in the South would be democratic and influenced by America. The land that is between
North and South is called the Demilitarized Military Zone aka DMZ. Officially North and South Korea are still at war because after the Korean War they only signed an armistice, which is just an agreement to stop fighting. Kind of like taking a break. This is why visiting the DMZ is a very serious excursion.

Stop 1:
We first stopped at the Philippines Monument dedicated to the 7,000 soldiers who assisted in the war and the 300 that died during the Korean War.

Stop 2:
Unification Park which is nestled in between many tree filled green hills. The park is more of a memorial because it is filled with many smaller memorials dedicated to specific important figures during the Korean war.

Stop 3:
Imjingak Park. There are three spots to see here. The first was a train that was a casualty of war. It was derailed by bombs during the Korean War. More than 1020 bullet holes show the tragedy. The second is the ancestor memorial. Since South Koreans can not visit the North, they do not know if their ancestors in the North are still alive. Thus, they perform their ancestral ceremonies at this site. The third is Freedom Bridge where the train used to pass from north to south. This was also one of the locations used to exchange prisoners after the Korean War.

Stop 4:
Upon entry into the DMZ zone we stop twice at Camp Bonfas where a Korean then American officer came on the bus to check dress code and passports. At this point an American soldier was with us the rest of the journey to help ensure our saftey. There were very strict dress code and behavior requirements. From this point on, we could only take photos in a few designated locations. In the middle of the DMZ is called the Joint Security Area (JSA) which is the main area. Many important meetings take place here and it is the main area where tourists are allowed. Then we went a little further into the zone called the United Nations Command. We entered the main entrace of South Korea's side. There we saw the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) that is the official division of the peninsula. South Korean soldiers stand right on the South side and are on guard. Both North Koreas and South Korean main halls face directly at each other with the MDL in the middle. If you look closely you can even see a North Korean soldier watching all tourists from the North Korean main hall. Directly in the center on the MDL is a set of 6 temporary buildings. The center building is where the armistice was signed. Inside it has a conference table that is directly on top of the line. The microphones in the center of the table is another way to show the division. If peace negotiations were to happen, government officials from both sides would meet here. Technically when we crossed to the other side of the room, we were in North Korea. As we were leaving, we could see another bridge called, "the bridge of no return." After the Korean War, this was another point where prisoners of war were able to cross to either side, but once you crossed there was no going back.

Interesting Facts
All South Koreans must join the military for one year service with out pay.
South Koreans can not visit North Korea.
North Korea is a very poor country and people earn about $110 per month.
The South is lush with many trees, but the North has cut down many of the trees to use for heating their homes in the winter. As a result their landscape is not as beautiful. In the South they are industrial and use electricity to warm their homes.