10/9

Still in the Paekche Kingdom, we travel to Magoksa (sa in Korean means temple), founded in 642 in a beautiful spot on the south side of Mt. Tachwasan. Kodranch’o, a rare bright green species of orchid, grows along the stream in front of the temple. We climb Wongak Mountain, high above the temple, to the small hermitage in which DSSN began his hundred-day solo retreat in 1948, ten days after his ordination. (Dropping Ashes: 227ff.) We recite The Great Dharani, then present chocolate and cheese to the guardian monk. We linger there; nobody is in a hurry to leave. Eventually we return to Magoksa, where ZM Ko Bong said to the young Seung Sahn Sunim, after his descent, “A monk once asked Zen Master Jo-Ju, ‘Why did Bodhidharma come to China?’ Jo-Ju answered, ‘The pine tree in the front garden.’ What does this mean?” It was the question that set DSSN on the path of Zen. 

I have always been intrigued by the story (Compass of Zen: 282-83) about a cat’s Great Courage and predilection for tofu at Magoksa. My cats won’t touch the stuff!

Our next stop is Donghaksa, where Kyong Ho was once sutra master. It is where, returning later as a visiting Zen master, he encountered the young Man Gong (Compass: 235ff.).  Nowadays nuns come to study at this lovely location in the Sangbong Valley, beneath Mt. Gyeryong and north of Daejeon. It also draws a lot of visitors, especially during the annual cherry blossom festival. Scholars believe that a Buddhist hermitage was founded on this site as long ago as 724, during the reign of Silla’s King Seongdeok. At the beginning of the 19th century it was a Confucian school;  in 1836 another Buddhist temple was built, but many buildings were first destroyed by fires and then during the Korean War. They have been rebuilt.

After dinner we drive southeast to a nice hotel at Shinwon, near Unmunsa, owned by Buddhists. In the room Michael O’Sullivan and I share there is a screen showing the text of  The Heart Sutra, written in beautiful calligraphy. 

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