Sunday, September 27, 2015

Bongeunsa Temple

History of Bongeunsa Temple


In 794, the 10th year of the Silla king Weongseong's reign Gyeonseongsa Temple was constructed by Ven. Yeon-hoe. It was refurbished in 1498 by Queen Jeonghyeon and renamed Bongeunsa ("offering benefit"), the name it still carries today.

In the Joseon dynasty known for repressing Buddhism, Queen Munjeong (1502-1565) and acting regent for her young son lifted the official ban on Buddhism, patronized it and instigated an impressive resurgence in its religious beliefs. And in 1562 during the reign of King Myeongjong (1545-1567), the 13th king of Joseon and son of Queen Munjeong who in effect still ruled,  the temple was transferred to its current location. With Queen Munjeong's reawakening of Buddhism and patronage of Bongeunsa, the temple became a cornerstone of early-Joseon Buddhist revival.

Ven. Bo-woo played a key role at this critical period, having been assigned as the Chief Monk of Bongeuns in 1548. He revived an official system of training and selecting monks in both the Seon (meditation) and Gyo (doctrinal, scholastic) sects of Korean Buddhism. Then, from 1551 to 1936, Bongeunsa became the main temple of the Jogye Seon Order as well as becoming the main base for the overall restoration of Korean Buddhism. [The present-day center of the Jogye Order -- since its establishment arguably in 1937 -- is the Jogyesa in downtown Seoul.] This revived training system produced such illustrious monks as Ven. Seo-san, Ven. Sa-myeong, and Ven. Byeok-am. However, soon after Queen Munjeong died in 1565, Ven. Bo-woo was killed by anti-Buddhist officials who had regained dominance in Korea towards the end of Queen Munjeong's rule. From 1552-1564 the temple was the center of the Buddhist National Exam, the prestigious exam only held once every three years.

In 1902 Bongeunsa was made one of Korea's 14 major temples, but during the Japanese occupation the temple became the headquarters of 80 smaller Buddhist temples around Seoul. (In 1922 and 1929, the head monk Cheong-ho saved over 700 people from drowning in the Han River, an act that inspired a monument of recognition.) After colonial rule and the reorganization of sects of Buddhist temples in South Korea, Bongeunsa became subordinate to the Jogye Order, the largest sect in Korea, and the main temple for the Jogye Order was transferred to the Jogyesa in downtown Seoul. 

present-day Bongeunsa 

Treasures at the Temple


A fire in 1939 destroyed most of the buildings (which had been rebuilt a number of times since the temples establishment), and other parts of the temple were destroyed during the Korean War. Fortunately, one of the very few halls which escaped destruction during the Korean War continues to hold the woodblock carvings of the Flower Garland Sutra, completed in 1855 by Monk Young-ki. The temple has undergone many repairs and renovations, and is now once again a large, thriving complex with reconstruction efforts continuing today.

The oldest building at Bongeunsa is the main sanctuary known as the Pan-jeon. Inside this cultural asset are others: preserved and engraved Buddhist sayings. Additionally, the letters on the front board are famous for being written by Kim Jung-hee, pen-name Chu'sa (among other pen-names) and master calligrapher in the Joseon dynasty. In painting the signboard he was imitating the front sign on the main sanctuary of the Jinkwan Temple in Bukhansan.

There are 3,479 preserved Buddhist scriptures, which are divided into 13 types, housed in the Pan-jeon. On September 9 (lunar calendar) a Buddhist ceremony called Jeongdaebulsa is held in which the monks carry scriptures on their heads and recite Beopseongge (Buddhist rites).

The great statue of Maitreya Buddha, at 23 meters, is the tallest statue of Maitreya Buddha in Korea and has become the pride of Bongeunsa. The construction started in 1986 and took 10 years to complete. The surrounding courtyard is used for various ceremonies and cultural events. 




The temple is in the throbbing metropolitan area across from COEX. 


References:

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Art in a Park

Students in a wide age range from kindergarten to high school were scattered throughout a temple ground, not a park (but it sounds so much better to use assonance). The students had such a beautiful range of drawings of various aspects of the temple and were using such a wide array of art supplies that I felt inspired to document the range of artistry employed in Korea. The US is just so deficient in art training and usage of artistic supplies and skills ... it's so sad ... so seeing this is truly inspirational to me!

coloring with oil pastels - the Korean version of Crayola crayons

tubed Chinese water color paints (which have more glue than typical water colors)
And a paint palette to squeeze out the water color paints in
Felt-tipped markers
very inexpensive water colors in plastic tubes so very popular in elementary school arts and crafts
the typical elementary and middle school medley of art materials: wax-based pastels, colored markers, paintbrushes ...
more of the wax-based pastels (the Korean crayon)
Very nice! water color pencils! 

Friday, September 25, 2015

Korean Calligraphy: Writing a "Gahun"

The Itaewon Global Village Center offers special cultural programs for foreigners with the stance that Korea is marketing their culture to foreigners to "take home" or "use" within the host country. The program today was a special Korean calligraphy learning experience with participants choosing and completing a gahun (family motto) to not only remind one of the principles of the family but also to dual-function as a work of art.

In years gone by, many Korean families had a gahun or family motto, and from it parents taught their children the importance of good behavior and morals via promulgating the gahun, which expressed filial piety to one's family, and promulgating the hyangyak (the village creed), which was a marker of respect to elders and the group beyond one's family. The Korean Confucian culture places great emphasis on education, so parents used the gahun for edifying their children morality and righteous behavior, a practice that has been passed down through the generations. The present-day younger generations, however, don't understand the meaning or the importance of the gahun, an example of traditional teaching methods being flung by the wayside as western education is embraced more and more.
Traditional Calligraphy Tools-of-the-art
벼루 - a plate of stone for grinding inkstones on 
- inkstone, made of charcoal and oil. Because it is an all natural product without chemicals that break down over time, the inkstone and ink on paintings can last for over 1000 years. 
먹물 - ink, which literally derives from "inkstone" and "water"
- brush. The handle of a brush for painting calligraphy is typically made of bamboo while the brush fibers can be made from many organic substances, animal hair mostly; however, the most preferred fibers are made from goat hair, which is boiled free of the natural lanolins before the fibers are dipped into ink. In older times, when parents cut their baby's hair, they used the hair to make a brush and presented the gift to the baby. This practice seems rather auspicious for trying to form the child into a scholar by presenting a scholar's symbol. 
화선지 - This is a special type of hanji (Korean traditional paper) and is specifically used for writing a letter, which of course was always written with moist calligraphy ink. Because hanji is unlike modern paper that causes ink to pool and run, 화선지 easily absorbs the ink liquid. Extra ink spots can even be blotted, which, if carefully done, does not smear or streak the painting -- rather amazing as modern paper smears and streaks horrifically. 
도장 and 작관 - 도장 means a type of identification stamp, and is needed for "signing" one's artwork. However, the specific type of 도장 in calligraphy is referred to as 작관, basically a 3-piece stamp set. The smallest stamp, a small rectangle, is the 두인 roughly meaning "head" and "stamp", or a stamp at the beginning or head of the work. The other two stamps are for one's name and for one's nickname, which a Confucian scholar often had, and it was the Confucian scholars that painted and those paintings are what are stocking present-day museums. The 두인 our teacher used was 빔, "emptiness", which denotes emptying one's mind and heart of wants and desires in order to be more satisfied. Beautiful concept!
The stamps are vigorously dabbed into a red paste and then stamped in their proper locations on the artwork. The 두인 at the beginning of the gahun or proverb and the other two beside one's painted signature. In traditional times the red inkstone was harmlessly edible, but no one in their right mind would go about sampling the modern concoction now.
Just before one signs the artwork, the date is painted on (not required). Our teacher painted the date in the Asian order on his model - 2015.10.2 - but in ancient times there was no specific date attributed to a painting but rather one of the 16 seasons comprised its "date". Each of the four common seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter) were further divided into three seasons, e.g. early-spring, mid-spring, late-spring. On the Chinese calendar these 16 seasons were accurate markers of the passage of time, as was the 만월 or full moon, and the observer could then know the circumstances of the time by reading the "date" of the painting.
Creating our own hanging scrolls
The teacher was a professional calligrapher, who spoke almost nil English but was very quick to understand body language and knew that modeling was the better way of "teaching" for a hands-on learning session. This was a foreigner-only class. Koreans are taught calligraphy sometime along the way in grade-school and this class was more for promulgating things Korean rather than teaching a serious and deep concept. About 20 of us were there, and we all loved it! It was my first experience in using a brush for Korean calligraphy and I was excited about the freedom we were allowed to try and find our "voice" in the ink.




The tables were set up with a dark cloth for soaking up excess ink and hiding ink spills. Shared plates of ink and brushes were set out for groups of four to gather around and use. And of course stacks of hanji was waiting for our drippy brushes. But before we just dove in with painting, it was of course assumed that we foreigners didn't already have a family gahun so there were a few copies of compiled idiom books that we could choose from and claim one as our family motto. Proverbs are not unusual family mottos although I do understand that many families carefully considered their mottos and preferred to shape language in creating something unique. I'm also guessing that a few, if not many, of these unique gahun became, over time, what we know as traditional proverbs today.
행복이 남는 집 - Home of overflowing happiness
참 부지런한 집 - Home of diligence
언제나 부끄럽지 않게 - Always without shame
구름일 벗어난 달처럼 - Like moon fresh out of cloud
참 향기로운 가족 - Family of real fragrance
흐르는 물처럼 - Live like flowing water
After practicing several times on loose-leaf hanji, we were given an elegant scroll and were to paint our gahun on it. Many of the participants didn't like their lettering and the teacher was only too happy to paint their gahun professional for them. 
As for me, I didn't want to just grab a proverb for creating a scroll painting, which is supposed to have deep significance to the painter and his or her family by extension, so beforehand I translated my favorite Bible verse, Psalms 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God." It has deep personal meaning and so it became my family gahun. I'm sure my family won't mind :)
Practicing my gahun in the traditional left-to-right top-to-bottom method. 
Certainly not perfect but I'm satisfied as it was a first attempt at Korean calligraphy.

시편 46:10. 이르시기를 너희는 가만히 있어 내가 하나님 됨을 알찌어다. 
"Be still and know that I am God." Psalms 46:10. 

Korean/Chinese calligraphy has more than 3000 years of history and development. Traditionally it was a meditation art and was to be done methodically, heart-felt-fully, and with deep intentions and pure thoughts. Nowadays, however, the strokes have become quick and less methodical. I understand the purity of thought in writing calligraphy as one cannot write well if there is emotional overflow. One must be at peace to keep the strokes even and smoothly flowing.

Calligrapher at Insadong

The day before going to the 2-hour class at the Global Village Center I was inspired by a street calligraphy in Insadong. It seems a lot of other people were too because many were stopping to watch, and even there were a few small transactions. So I watched him a while and started preparing my questions about the three dojangs (stamps) being used. I'd never noticed more than one, but one is more typical of personal paintings. There is so much about this art form that is fascinating. I think I could seriously enjoy this as one of my many hobbies!



This calligrapher attracts a lot of attention in Insadong, and even little kids watch with fascination!

Using the 작관 or 3-piece stamping set for calligraphers, the man stamps his name and nickname (아호) at the far left, or the end, of his art form.
Then the calligrapher adds a mood seal at the beginning of his art. The mood seal can be a Chinese character or even a picture (I think this might be a modern-day addition). Basically the mood seal might state the season in which the painting was created, a Chinese character reflecting a sentiment the calligrapher wants to commute to the viewer, or a proverb idea. 

Friday, September 18, 2015

Joseon Dynasty Court Instruments

The court musical instruments are rarely seen in public but during traditional Confucian rites may appear in ceremony to invoke the spirit world. The instruments used include flutes (hun, so, and bamboo flutes), zithers (seul and geum), stone chimes (pyeongyeong), bronze bells (pyeonjong), various drums played with sticks, tiger-shaped wooden scraper (eo), wooden box (chuk), and wooden clappers (bak).

This is one of the bi-annual ceremonies at Munmyo Shrine, Sungkyunkwan seowon, in Hyehwa. For a detailed description of the ceremonial music, purpose and function of the ceremony read Seokjeon Daeje at Munmyo Shrine. Of particular interest in the entry is the symbolism of the dance performance to court music throughout the ceremony.




"Sheet music" - While western music is based on the octave, Korean music is based on a five-note range. Keep in mind that five is a very perfect number in traditional society: 5 colors, 5 tastes, 5 directions, 5 elements, 5 deities, 5 mythological creatures, 5 temple gates, 5 ethical practices, 5 classics, 5 vices and 5 virtues. Sheet music is a relatively "new" development as traditionally musicians were trained by ear and having a good memory were important.


Pyeongyeong - a set of 16 tuned triangle-shaped stone chimes





Hun - a globular flute made of baked clay and originating from prehistoric times



Bu - a clay pot struck with a bamboo whisk



Eo - the tiger-shaped wooden scraper played by running a bamboo whisk along its serrated spine




Pyeonjong - a set of 16 tuned bells played since ancient times (since 2,000-3,500 years ago)



Bak - a wooden clapper used since ancient times for court music and rituals




Nodo - a set of two hand-held drums pierced by a pole and twisted to play, particularly used in court music




barrel-shaped drum (Korea has many drums so I haven't identified exactly which one this is. For more on drums see Wikipedia's Traditional Korean Musical Instruments.


Nogo - a set of two drums in a frame and which are pierced by a pole; not to be confused with the hand-held two-drum set, the nodo




Chuk - a wooden box used to mark beats and played by striking the inside with a stick




And of course the purpose of playing court music is to give background to some kind of ritual or court celebration. Below, officiators file in with dignity in order to start yet another Confucian ritual ceremony at Munmyo. 


One further comment about court music itself: From what I have heard so far in regard to court music, the instruments used are limited to percussion and wind. Korea has many kinds of stringed instruments and yet not one ritual I have witnessed has employed any in court music. The entire musical melody is played with wind instruments, which are accompanied by a very large number of percussion instruments.