Beomeosa Temple

If Haedong Yonggungsa Temple is the most popular temple in Busan, then Beomeosa Temple is surely the most revered.

As I climbed the steps out of Beomeosa Station on the Busan subway, I found I was walking next to an old man in running shoes who seemed to be matching my stride and steps.  He asked where I was going, and I told him I was going to Beomeosa Temple.

"We walk," he said.

Though languaging in English was intensely difficult for both of us, we enjoyed profound communication as we ascended the steep face of Mt. Geumjeongsan, on the outskirts of Busan.  He told me how he has made this trek to the temple every day for the past 20 years.  Unsure whether he worked there or lived there or what, I asked him why.

"Mind peace," he said.

Of course, I thought, mindfulness.   He goes there to meditate--every day.

We parted company at the temple gate.  Though I later saw his running shoes outside one of the many hermitages on the temple grounds, I chose to sit in the Daewoong or Grand Shrine.  Korean Buddhism is known as "Six Ways to the Heart," which a number of adherents were practicing while I sat.  It's an active form of worship, involving a liturgy and a great deal of bowing.  They did not, however, seem to mind a westerner simply sitting in meditation.

When I was finished sitting I meandered through the temple grounds and stumbled upon a walking trail through the Gregarious Wisteria Habitat of Beomeosa Temple.

Gregarious Wisteria ... what a lovely concept.