Haeinsa

On Saturday I visited the much awaited Haeinsa temple. It was good to get out of the city where the 'Chinese yellow dust' blows down from the north at the start of spring. It took an hour and a half bus journey to get there, but the air was certainly fresher and the temple offered a nice walk and some history.

Haeinsa is most noted as the home of the Tripitaka Koreana which became a UNESCO world heritage site in the 1990s. It consists of 80,000 wooden blocks engraved with ancient Chinese Buddhist scripture. It was completed in the mid 16th century and stored in a building specifically designed to avoid the rotting of wood. It was excellent to see and to catch up on a bit or Korean culture. However all of the blocks were locked in on shelves you could only glimpse through slated wooden walls. No photos are allowed either, so I've uploaded the diagram from outside the temple and a few sneaky photos I got in.

I find the walk round the temples always relaxing and interesting. They are usually built in the countryside overlooking Korea's mountainous but lush territory. This allows for fresh air, amazing scenery and an easy hike. The temples themselves allow for a little musing over religion, architecture and about the anecdotes painted on the outer and inner walls of the buildings

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I get paid next week so time for something completely different. Seoul perhaps?