Heungryunsa Buddhist Temple

I can't say that I know much about Buddhism, but when I got invited to hike around a Buddhist temple with some of my expat friends, I couldn't say no.  I also can't say that I learned much about Buddhism while hiking around the temple, but it was really a breathtaking sight from the peak.
The temple itself is set high on a hill, overlooking Songdo, where we live.  And then behind that is a series of trails along the ridgeline that take you to the peak where there is a pagoda where you can sit and rest.

The dropped point is the temple and the red line is where we hiked above the temple.

All I really remember from my trip to Chinatown in San Francisco, at around age 8, was that if you rub Buddha's belly it's supposed to bring you good luck.  So, we took turns climbing up and rubbing his belly.

This golden statue is visible from far down below, shining like a beacon when the sun hits it.

I did not want to be disrespectful to the temple (assuming rubbing Buddha's belly didn't already cross the line), so I didn't actually go inside any of the buildings.  I just stood at the doorways and peeked in.

We took some pre-hike photos.  We asked this Buddhist monk to take our picture.

Then we hiked up to the top.  There were many stairs.  At the top of the first flight of stairs is a lookout point with some benches for resting. We could see all of Songdo, including the kids' school from up there.

Then we continued the hike up to the rocky outcrop with the elevation marker and the pagoda.  The panoramic view was so beautiful.

Cheongyangsan Mountain

 

inside the pagoda, looking up

view of Incheon bridge over to Incheon International Airport on Yeongjongdo Island

 Then we hiked back down and wandered around the temple area some more.

Okay, not going to lie, my legs were like jelly by the time we got to the bottom.  And I was sore for days.  But, I came home and told Eric and the kids all about the temple and the hike and they thought it sounded like so much fun, we went back as a family 2 days later.  Eric thought it would help me get over the soreness if I did it all over again.  Not sure about that, but I did it anyways.

Now, the second time around it was a totally different atmosphere.  This time it was a Sunday afternoon.  I was not aware that Sunday afternoons are when people come to pray at Buddhist temples.  It was a lot more crowded and there were people there praying.  This caused major confusion in my kids.  They did not understand why people pray to Buddha.  Charlie and Willow felt sorry for them that they don't believe in God and the kids wanted to spread God's word to them, so they wouldn't be lost.  I did not anticipate those conversations around God and Buddha, but maybe I should have.  It will not be the last time we go to a temple while in Asia, so I better figure out how to explain this to them.  Eric, meanwhile, had to explain to them that it wasn't a park to run around and make loud noises in; it's their church.  We eventually made it onto the trails where they could make a little more noise.

When we stopped at the top of the stairs, there was this nice woman selling popsicles.  Eric bought one for everyone.  Somehow I missed the message that they had been kept cold on dry ice and that I shouldn't put my mouth on it straight away.  It quickly turned into a scene from The Christmas Story.  My mouth was stuck to the popsicle like a tongue on a frozen flag pole.  And, not thinking clearly, I ripped it off.  I've never bled on a popsicle until that day.  It took several days for my mouth to heal.

The kids took their own turn rubbing Buddha's belly for luck.

INTERESTING FACT: In researching the Heungryunsa temple for this blog post, I learned that it was established 613 years ago, during the Goryeo dynasty.