KyeongJu III

Photowise we're still at Bulguksa, but I think, other than letting the photos speak for themselves, I'm about done with Bulguksa. Let me remark though that there will be no photos of the insides of the temples and the beautiful big Buddha statues because I obey "no photo" signs. There are some here. Check out the "panographies" at this site The "VR" view at this site looks promising but is not mac-compatible. Anyway, I encourage people to look around for photos of the insides, and if you find good ones put something in comments. They can't let everybody who comes through take pictures of the Buddha but I bet that people can get a special dispensation to do so somehow... Actually, clearly so since there are photos on the temple's own website. But they ... leave some room for improvement....

Narrative-wise I did think of one more thing I wanted to mention before moving on from Bulguksa which was the religious aspect. SB is a very pious Christian. SH is from a Christian family but doesn't go to church. (I think he's "Church of Saint Mattress," not an atheist.) J is from a Buddhist family, but not observant. I do want to avoid using these guys as "material" but one can't really tell a story about a day spent with them without saying something about them. SB once asked me whether I had heard the Good News about Jesus Christ. (It was a bit oddly timed. I had just finished explaining to him about how my mom is very religious, went to seminary, etc.... ) So I have the impression he might be an evangelical type. At some point someone, I think SH suggested that I could pray to one of the Buddhas and I did so. Well, or rather I put my hands in Namaste position and bowed slightly as demonstrated. Actually, I got it wrong the first time and needed a second demonstration. It occured to me immediately afterward to wonder how SB was going to respond to that. But he just smiled. I don't know. A lot of people are interested in you embracing their country's culture in a way that is seperate from thier personal beliefs. For example, I think it was SH (the lapsed Christian) not J ( the lapsed Buddhist) who suggested this act of idolatry. And also when I visited Lebanon, the friends I have there are Christian, but were as interested in taking me to mosques as churches. I also think of all the times Thane took me to temples. (Thank you, Thane.) But I'm not sure how that fits with the whole asking me if I'd heard the Good News thing.