BigHominid's Hairy Chasms: Jogyae-sa, August 15

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Jogyae-sa, August 15

A few shots of our time at the downtown temple on August 15 (hover your cursor over each image to see its caption):

A shot of Sean at the front of the temple.

A shot of Sean at the front of the temple.

A monk works the huge drum, beating out the dharma for all sentient beings to hear.

A wide shot of the building that houses the drum and huge bell, which the monk also rang.

The monk attacks the bell with gusto. Sean, a musician, noted that the drum and bell rhythms were in threes; he asked me what the significance of 'three' might be, and I had no answer. I guessed it might have something to do with the Three Jewels, but there are plenty of Buddhist tropes that come in threes. The Trikaya, for instance—the Three Bodies of the Buddha: Sambhogakaya (bliss-body), Nirmanakaya (instantiation-body), and Dharmakaya (truth-body).

A bit hard to see, but those are paper fish 'swimming' above us, representing all living beings. The fish is a major trope in East Asian Buddhism.

Jeff gives the camera a serious look while he stands in front of a 'tap,' i.e., a pagoda-like structure found at most Korean Buddhist temples. Some such 'tap's contain 'sari,' i.e., the cremains of a venerated monk or nun, often a temple abbot.

1 comment:

Nathan B.August 21, 2014 at 11:18:00 AM GMT+9
Significance of "three" as a common motif in Buddhism: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Just kidding.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

READ THIS BEFORE COMMENTING!

All comments are subject to approval before they are published, so they will not appear immediately. Comments should be civil, relevant, and substantive. Anonymous comments are not allowed and will be unceremoniously deleted. For more on my comments policy, please see this entry on my other blog.