Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

For those who are looking for a change from the usual weekend plan of drink till you fall down and/or puke, here is an idea.

Temples Tailor Retreats to Weekenders' Needs


With the five-day work now rolled out across medium-sized companies and the public sector, the nation's Buddhist temples are offering weekenders a variety of meaningful breaks, from healing meditation to bird watching.

Temples have always offered mountain retreats where lay people could experience the daily life of monks or nuns, including dawn worship and meditation. But the new programs are more specifically tailored to visitors�� personal needs, the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism says.
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A typical example is Magok Temple in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, which runs special programs for divorcees, senior citizens and the young unemployed. Bogwang Temple in Paju County, Gyeonggi Province offers training courses for children, while Sudo Temple in Pyongtaek, Gyeonggi hosts a traditional temple food festival.

Making use of its unique surroundings, Mihwang Temple in Haenam, South Jeolla Province offers a "wetland experience and forest stroll." Those interested in Zen practices will find Zen meditation at Haein Temple in Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province and a Zen martial arts course at Golgul Temple in Gyeongju.

"Because traditional temples have their own unique cultural and historical backgrounds, vacationers will be able to enjoy different attractions at each one," said Yu Sang-woo of the Jogye Order. "The aims and themes of temple stays have been subdivided this year, giving even non-Buddhists a taste of temple life."

Further information is available online at www.templestay.com.

[ilovebdt]

Temple stays are fab! I did one when I was last in Korea through KNTO and would definately do it again!

[pet lover]

a more user-friendly link: http://eng.templestay.com/

[PolyChronic Time Girl]

Temple stays are great. I did one at Naksan Temple (the same temple that burned down just a few months ago).
But I highly discourage making your reservation through this website, LifeinKorea.com. I did a temple stay with a couple of friends. There was also some other foreign group next to our room that was scheduled to come. Well, the dumba** foreign group didn't show and hired a tourguide. The tourguide showed up and tried to hang around my friends and I so she can get money. She wouldn't leave after we told her we didn't want a tourguide....but since the other foreign group didn't show up or didn't even bother to call and cancel, this women felt she needed to be paid. She bugged my friends and I and we called LifeinKorea and they didn't want to bother with us. Needless to say, the temple stay was beautiful and loved learning the ways of the monks, but this dumba** tourguide ruined it for us.

[Swiss James]

I stayed at a temple once, we just showed up and said we wanted to sleep. No booking, no charge, no tourguide, no messing about.

There weren't any beginners lessons on how to meditate or photo ops wearing monks clothes, but we did get up at 3am to pray with the monks and and our evening meal and breakfast with them.

[kimchikowboy]

Could you please post a link to the original article? Also, the link posted with that article doesn't seem to work.
Thanks