Pilgrimage closing ceremony

By Tony MacGregor

We walked up the mountain again today –six of us – to visit Wonhyo’s cave and listen to the words of Master Kim, a Taoist teacher, who is also a follower of Wonhyo.

Wonhyo (617 – 686), one of Korea’s most beloved and unconventional monks, reached enlightenment after walking across the Korean peninsula with his friend and fellow monk Uisang. The pair were on their way to China when somewhere near present-day Pyeongtaek they were caught in a storm and sought shelter in what they thought was a cave.

During the night Wonhyo woke up with a compelling thirst. He felt around on the floor for a container of water, found what he thought was a gourd, lifted it to his lips and drank deeply of its sweet, refreshing contents.

In the morning he found that he wasn’t in a cave at all. It was a tomb, and what he had thought to be a gourd full of water was actually a human skull filled with foul, brackish water a what he had and rotting human flesh. He was so overcome with revulsion about what he had drunk during the night that he fell on his knees and vomited. The question came to him,” Why? Why did the water taste so sweet and refreshing during the night and yet was so revolting during the day?” The answer came to him that it was the mind – truth exists in the mind. At that moment he reached enlightenment and his life was changed. He decided not to continue on to China but to return to Shilla and chart his own course. He called himself “Muoae Geusa” (unhindered practitioner).

We sat just below the cave in a rough circle around a plastic bowl and a bottle of spring water as we listened to Master Kim, a professor of natural health management at Hanseo University, talk about Wonhyo. He said Wonhyo was important and we should remember him as a person not as a myth or legend, but as a man who lived his life fully in his era. In an earlier talk, Master Kim had told me that Wonhyo emphasized that everything in the world is interconnected and that in Wonhyo’s view the whole and the part exist as one. As a result, Wonhyo’s position embraced all viewpoints, not only within Buddhism but outside of Buddhism as well. Master Kim believes Wonhyo’s teachings have a message for world today.

To commemorate Wonhyo’s enlightenment we each drank spring water from the plastic dish and focused on his experience of enlightenment. We then ate a late lunch of kimbap, a role of rice and vegetables wrapped up in green seaweed that looks somewhat lie sushi before heading back down to the base of the mountain.

Earlier on our hike up the mountain Master Kim led us to a spectacular view of the surrounding valleys and mountains. We sat on huge slabs of rock looking at the view while Miss Kim Jiyun prepared fruit for us – crispy slices of Korean pear, apple slices, kiwi fruit, bananas. While we were eating the fruit Doug Tignor, a visiting American from near Philadelphia, played haunting melodies on the daegeum, a Korean bamboo flute. It was a precious moment, ideal for stopping time and experiencing the moment.

As we left the viewpoint and continued our walk, I was humbled and gratified as I thought of all the help and generosity that had gone into making the pilgrimage a success, and also how important it was for the pilgrims to stop their habitual ways of thinking and look inside during their journey.

Wonhyo’s Cave

By Tony MacGregor

In a last burst of energy we pushed on through the rugged and spectacular landscape surrounding Wonhyo Bong (peak) and arrived at Wonhyo’s cave near Dangjin, on the west coast of South Chungcheong Province, just south of Incheon.

We have been emulating the journey of Wonhyo, a 7th Century Korean monk, who crossed the Korean peninsula and found enlightenment at the end of a journey from Gyeongju, ancient capital of the Shilla kingdom, to a place near Pyeongtaek.

This was the second time his journey has been emulated. We made a similar trip, an exploratory pilgrimage, last December. This time we made a documentary film of the pilgrimage, which we expect to release on Buddha’s birthday next year. We hope the film will be an important tool in helping to establish a permanent Wonhyo pilgrimage trail across Korea.

Wonhyo (617 – 686), one of Korea’s most beloved and unconventional monks, was a great scholar with more than 80 commentaries and essays to his credit. Born into a simple family in the Silla Kingdom, Wonhyo, a monk for many years, renounced the formal religion life to teach ordinary people. He was known to carry a gourd, dancing and singing around the country, encouraging people to chant and recite the Buddha’s name. He called himself “Muoae Geusa” (unhindered practitioner).

My companions allowed me to visit the cave first. It is an irregular, jagged gouge in a white/gray rock face. I bowed in front of the entrance in honor of Wonhyo and the shamans who practiced there and then went down on my hands and knees and crawled in. The floor is covered with flat rocks. The cave itself goes back about 15 feet. It wouldn’t be a comfortable place to spend the night.

I was worn out by the time we arrived. It is a strenuous two-hour hike but we passed some of the most beautiful scenic views I have ever seen thanks to our guide Park Kwang sa, who knows the area like the back of his hand and took us to some fantastic look-outs.

At the beginning of the hike, the terrain and trees reminded me of the woods of my boyhood in Norfolk, England: oak trees, maples, pine, brambles, mossy rocks, rotting trees, a twisty, root-encrusted dirt path that wound higher and higher.

The we came out of the trees and stood on some rocks that overlooked a spectacular view that fixed my eyes. Twenty or 30 kilometers away from us through the clear air dark green forests clinging to the mountains pushed into light-green rice paddies specked with blue-roofed houses. The rock I was standing on was on the top of a cliff that plunged downwards hundreds of yards into the tops of trees. It was breath-taking and frightening at the same time.

The higher we got, the deeper the brown and crispy dry green leaves became underfoot so before we arrived at Wonhyo’s cave we were ankle-deep in leaves that crunched and crackled underfoot.

What did I learn on this pilgrimage? The kindly abbot of Yeoungpyeongsa had given me a new name, Tae-an, a saint who had been a friend of Wonhyo’s. He gave us money and encouraged us to honor Wonhyo with the pilgrimage. But what had I learned? I had learned how to live in close quarters with three other guys, sleeping in the same room, hiking and driving together, planning together, creating together.

But what had I learned beyond that? I had learned that prostrations can be a helpful form of practice for me. Prostrations are emphasized in Korean Buddhism. I had always ignored them but a few days ago for the film I did many prostrations in front of the Buddha on the mountainside above Sudoek-sa. I found the constant, repetitive bowing developed a sense of humility and gratitude within me. I thanked the monk who took care of the Buddha for letting us worship there and thanked him for the plum tea he brought us and when I gave him back the paper tea cups, I thanked him again.

When I asked the monks we talked to in the various monasteries how can I find a teacher, several of them gave the same answer: Everyone and everything is your teacher, so on this trip I have tried to learn from the mountain streams, the mountain forests, the still mountains themselves, the grumpy monks, the happy monks and the lay people who showed me so much hospitality.

The smile of the Buddha

Today I realized again what attracted me to Buddhism as I gazed upon a 7th century carving of the
historic Buddha and stared deeply at his face.

It was his smile. No written treatise could express as well the reality of the Buddha’s experience
as well as that smile. The ancient carver, who lived in the Korean kingdom of Baekje in the sixth or
seventh century, clearly understood the Buddha’s knowledge as intimately as Śāriputra and Ananda,
disciples who lived with the Buddha.

I was looking at the Seosan Rock-Carved Buddha Triad near Sedoeksa Temple in Deoksungsan
Mountains about an hour and a half ‘s drive from Seoul. Gazing at that carving was one of the
highlights of my pilgrimage to honor Wonhyo, a 7th Century Korean Buddhist monk whose famous
journey across the Korean peninsula ended his enlightenment. I and three companions are
attempting to emulate Wonhyo’s journey and interviewing monks as we travel from one mountain
monastery to another. We are making a film of the pilgrimage.

The Buddha’s smile has always fascinated me and this visit was very special to me. Right from the
beginning of my interest in Buddhism, I was attracted to his smile – not Buddhist mythology or its
teachings about the nature of reality or its majestic liturgy.

That smile caught my imagination – full of peace and knowledge and self-understanding. It is
concrete. It’s real. More than any teaching, it shows the Buddha had found within himself a garden,
a garden of unspeakable delight and peace, a garden that was impervious to winds and storms and
floods, an eternal garden.

In the carving, the historic Buddha is not alone. He is flanked on the left by a standing Bodhisattva
who is holding in his hands a precious gem. What does the gem represent? I’m not sure, but his
compassionate smile shows he has found a treasure more valuable than any he could hold in his
hands. On his right the half-seated Bodhisattva, perhaps the Maitreya, the future Buddha, smiles
calmly and benignly, perhaps to give assurance that although the path to inner peace may be
forgotten it will never disappear.

The ancient creators of the carvings made them in such a way that their smiles change as the sun’s
light changes. In fact, it seemed to me as I stood gazing at the three figures that the smile of the
central figure, the historic Buddha, became wider and richer as shadows on his face changed.

Today, we lost one of our party on the mountain at the back of Sudoeksa temple. Kim Jiyun, our
ever-so-patient translator and a key organizer on the trip became separated from us as we made our
way up the mountain to film a sunset. We – my fellow pilgrims Snorre Kjeldsen and Chris McCarthy
– climbed up to the Cheongheisa, a temple complex a few hundred yards up the mountain from
Sudoeksa. Miss Kim didn’t walk as fast as we did, missed the turnoff to Cheongheisa, and continued
on up the mountain.

We finished filming the dusky mountains and were then told to leave by monks at the complex.
Believing Miss Kim had stayed at a statue of the Buddha on the way up the mountain to pay her
respects, we returned to that spot. She wasn’t there. Alarm bells began ringing in our minds.
Darkness was flowing quickly over the mountain. My cell phone wouldn’t work because it was out of
money. Snorre’s Australian phone didn’t function in Korea. Chris had a phone but didn’t have Miss
Kim’s number. We shouted out for her but there was no response. We returned to the spot where
we had done the filming. She wasn’t there. We called out for her again. No reply.

A young Korean couple appeared, also slightly lost. They hadn’t seen her on their way up the
mountain. We decided to take the fastest route back, a narrow asphalt track, suspecting that she
had returned. We ran down the track to the Sudoeksa temple complex. She wasn’t there either,
but my phone was and it had her number. Chris called her on his phone and she answered. What a
relief!

There are no dangerous wild animals in these mountains but it could have been dangerous for her
health if she had had to stay on the mountain all night. She told us she was making her way down
the mountain and we went out to meet her and found her not far from the temple. I was so happy
to see her face and to have her back with us safe. I suspect she slept deeply and well that night.

Top-of-mountain conversation with Zen master

By Tony MacGregor

We did a hair-raising climb to the top of a mountain today to see one of South Korea’s greatest monks and learned that he is a huge supporter of Wonhyo, the subject of our pilgrimage.

We had a long talk with Seol Jeong Sunim, one of South Korea’s five Bang Jang or spiritual leaders. We are attempting to emulate the journey of Wonhyo, a 7th Century Korean Buddhist saint, who walked across the Korean peninsula about 1,300 years ago and found enlightenment at the end of his trip.

Seol Jeong Sunim praised us for undertaking the pilgrimage and said he believes Wonhyo has a message for the modern world. Through our interpreter, Mr. Chun, Seol Jeong said Wonhyo’s teachings on the interdependence and interrelatedness of all things and his teachings on harmony and reconciliation are important for the modern world.
“All is one. One is all,” he said through the interpreter. He said Wonhyo’s approach embraced all differences, not just the differences within Buddhism but differences even between religions. That, he said, is the outcome of Wonhyo’s “one mind” approach.

Seol Jeong Sunim talked to us in a sparsely furnished room in Cheongheisa, a temple complex a few hundred yards up the mountain from Sudoeksa, the temple where we had been staying. The gray-stone building, which housed the room, reminded me of an ancient European fortress dug into the side of a mountain. It offered a stunning view of surrounding mountains.

Seol Jeong Sunim sat at the back of the room underneath a huge painting of a woman in a stylized translucent gown. She was Kwanseumbosal, the Bodhisattva of compassion. The juxtaposition of the painting with Seol Jeong Sunim’s softly smiling brown face, white eyebrows, quiet voice and gentle laugh seemed appropriate.

He pointed out that Wonhyo went against the traditions of his day by having a relationship with a princess, which resulted in a son, and by renouncing his monk’s status and returning to the lay life, indicating that the lay life is as important as the Sunim’s life.
Before our meeting with Seol Jeong Sunim we were served one of the best Korean meals I have ever tasted: mushroom and radish soup, bibambab (rice and mixed vegetables) with side dishes of sesame leaves, kimchi and dark doc (rice flour cakes) embedded with green and red beans and vegetables. The meal was full of subtle, quiet tastes, not over spiced or salted.

During the meal, in the huge dining room, where we sat on the floor on cushions, Seol Jeong Sunim sat alone at the center of the back wall opposite translucent doors, which allowed the clear mountain light to spread throughout the room. My fellow pilgrim Chris McCarthy said Seol Jeong Sunim had a face like an adult child. I agreed. His face was child-like, full of happy curiosity.

After the talk he took us on tour of the garden, mountain views and surrounding temples. In a small temple room he showed us two large portraits of past Seon (Zen) masters who had helped revive the Zen tradition after a period of persecution. Buddhism, he said, didn’t believe in the eye-for-an-eye approach, but believed in breaking the cycle of attack and revenge. During our walk I also learned that he is 72 years old.

We interviewed Seol Jeong Sunim for our documentary film with an incredible mountain view as a backdrop, asking question such as “How do we achieve happiness?” and “What is our true nature and how do we find it?” I will report on his answers in a later blog after a more careful translation is done.

I and the interpreter Mr. Chun decided to take the hair-raising drive down from the mountain while our companions Chris McCarthy, Snorre Kjeldsen and Kim Jiyun walked down. We were just in time to meet our friend David Watermeyer, who hiked the first Wonhyo pilgrimage, and came to spend a little time with us. Because Sudoeksa was crowded with weekend visitors, we spent the night in an ecological farmhouse and listened to a talk by Mr. Yu, a middle-aged farmer, on the importance of ecological farming practices before we bedded down in a huge room at the farm.

Zen and the art of film making

Kak Seong sunim, the friendly middle aged monk at Magoksa Temple said something that struck a chord with me as we talked to him before we left the temple.

When I asked him about learning from nature, he said anything can be your teacher. As we travel across Korea filming our pilgrimage to honor the 7th Century Korean Buddhist monk Wonhyo, I’m learning that he’s right.

I’m learning a lot about mindfulness and concentration through making a film of the pilgrimage. When you’re searching for an interesting event or scene in a film like ours, you become conscious of tiny details you normally overlook – the ways ants crawl over a dead bird or how bees feed off a decaying apple or the beauty of water gushing over a rock in a stream.

Today in my bare feet I walked across a river over a series of jumbled rocks while the cameraman shot the water flowing around my ankles and carves. I was totally conscious of the cold slippery, slimy patches on the rocks as I walked carefully across the river, feeling the water bubbling and gushing around my ankles and toes.

Earlier, we had filmed a Korean Cosmos, a beautiful mostly pink flower that lines many of the small roads and high ways in Korea. I had to gently cup my hand around the flower and bend down and smell it. I had to do it slowly, carefully and gently. I did so with full awareness. It has been a long time since I have looked at a flower so carefully and examined it so minutely.

This mindfulness or awareness is a goal of Buddhist practice and I was happy to realize that I could grow and develop my practice even while making a film. I suspect we can all grow spiritually if we realize that we can learn from anything.

While chatting with Kak Seong sunim for whom English is a second language, he threw a word at me that I hadn’t heard before – limen. We were examining one of the massive gates at Magoksa temple. Typically, gates of Korean temples are huge affairs, the size of a small cottage with dark-grey tile roofs and housing huge statues of demon-like guardians.

Kak Seong sunim wasn’t interested in those symbolic guardians so much as in the concept and meaning of the gates. Limen, he said, was a word like threshold, signifying both exit and entrance, an ambiguous area a kind of either/or world, an area of potential and possibilities. I had never thought of a gate that way before and it opened my eyes to the possibilities of the in between worlds, the world between sleep and wakefulness, the world between ignorance and knowledge, the world between the conscious and unconscious, between enlightenment and samsara.

Today we left our big room at Magoksa temple, the “flax field” temple. We were using a large tea room/classroom with a huge charcoal drawing of Bodidharma. You see drawings and statues of Bodhidharma everywhere in South Korea. I often wondered why. He is usually portrayed as a scowling, ill-tempered-looking man with a beard, and is often referred to as a blue-eyed barbarian, almost the direct opposite of the fat, happy Chinese Buddhas. Reputedly the son of an Indian king, he is credited with bringing Zen to the East. I was told he was a direct, no-nonsense person who had little respect for position, including the emperor, which may account for the way his face is portrayed.

Our last breakfast at Magoksa was a delicious meal of rice, tofu, sesame leaves, acorn jelly, and crispy apple/pear.

I again looked at the signs on the dining room wall and our interpreter , Miss Kim jiyun, translated one of them. Roughly translated it said: “A shallow stream makes a lot of noise while a deep river is quiet. Shallow people, like a stream, make lots of noise but a wise person, like deep water, is quiet.”

Later in the day, Mr. Chun, our senior interpreter arrived back with us after spending some time in Seoul working at his regular job. Like his assistant Miss Kim Jiyun, he is a volunteer on this project to establish a permanent Wonhyo Pilgrimage trail across Korea. The pilgrimage wouldn’t be possible without Korean volunteers and wonderful help we’ve received from Koreans as we travel across the peninsula in emulation of Wonhyo’s trip 1,300 years ago.

The Buddha and Nature

We finished off our day (Sept. 20) with tea and a long chat with Hoseon sunim, a middle-aged man who had been a monk for 12 years.

I asked him about nature and what it can teach us. I had been inspired by the day’s filming near Magoksa Temple, beautiful vistas and long walks along country lanes. I and three companions are making a film of our pilgrimage from Gyeongju to a cave near Pyenontaek to honor the 7th Century Korean Buddhist monk Wonhyo, who found enlightenment after traversing the Korean Peninsula.

Hoseon sunim said we should take the Buddha as our guide in our approach to nature. The Buddha had few clothes, ate only food which was given to him and lived in simple shelters so he had little impact on nature.

Nature, the sunim said, cannot be conquered or controlled. We need to let nature be and adjust to it, he said. He also said it is teaching us all the time whether we realize it or not.

I thought of the “Five Observations” I saw on the wall in the dining room. They were, slightly edited, the following: (1) Where does this food come from? (2)I don’t deserve it through my merit. (3) Putting down all desires of my mind (4) This offering is medicine to maintain my body. (5)It will help complete the task of enlightenment.
Temple food is delicious but you are not supposed to return any once you have taken it. I have learned on this pilgrimage that it is better to take little and go back for seconds rather than taking too much at first.

Breakfast at Magoksa was delicious apple slices that crunched in my mouth, a kind of green squash, rice tofu, kimchi, baked beans, morning glory and many other side dishes, which are a feature of Korean food. I ate the food slowly, carefully, deliberately, feeling the texture of the vegetables with my lips and tasting the salty variety of plants, and feeling grateful for the food. The dining room is huge, about 20 by 25 yards with modern tables and chairs that fold under the table.

I went for a walk around the temple grounds after breakfast, which starts at 5.30 am. It is a beautiful and unique temple, founded by the monk Jijangyulsa in 643 AD. It has a river running through it, the only temple in Korea with that feature.

The temple name means flax valley, but a more appropriate name from my view would be “sound of running water temple” because the running water sound is with you all the time at the temple. I listened carefully to that sound in my morning reflection as I sat by a low dam near the river. Within the steady low roar there is constant sound movement – splashes, bubbling, gurgling and rippling.

The air is alive with a fresh-water river smell, fishes and water plants. I remembered the last time I visited the temple how impressed I was by the two bridges across the river, one wooden, one concrete. Both curved graciously across the river.

In the evening tea session, I also asked Hoseon sunim about the nightmares I suffer from. I asked him if they were a feature of a troubled mind and he said they were. He said following the Buddha’s eight-fold path is the way to eliminate them and as well as finding an object to focus on. I decided I would focus on the Buddha’s smile, which has always fascinated me because it is so full of contentment, knowledge and self-understanding.

Traditions Expert Reveals Korean Buddhist Links to Mountain-spirits at Gap-sa Temple

by Tony MacGregor

Today we were visited by a leading expert on Korea’s religious traditions, mountain temples and folk-shamanism.

David A. Mason arrived on Tuesday night at Gyeryong-san Gap-sa Temple where we were staying as we make our way across the Korean Peninsula in a pilgrimage to honor Wonhyo, a 7th Century Buddhist monk who found enlightenment after his journey across the Peninsula. We are making a film of our pilgrimage and the conversations we have with monks in the mountain monasteries we visit.

David has been intimately involved in the pilgrimage, helping us select temples to stay at and giving us guidance in marking out a route. He took us – myself and fellow pilgrims Chris McCarthy, Snorre Kjeldsen and Jiyun Kim – on a climb up the mountain into the National Park beside a roaring stream to the Shinheung-am [Arising Spirit Hermitage].

It took us about an hour to reach the shrine and I stopped a couple of times and rested by small pools of bubbling, boiling, white foamy water and breathed deeply of the misty, oxygenated air. The previous day I had talked with an 80-year-old (Korean age) monk from the temple, Yunwol.

I had asked Yunwol how do you find a teacher. He said everything is your teacher. I thought of his words as I looked into the bubbling pool and listened to the sound of the water rushing over the rocks. It was a happy sound that spoke of rejuvenation and vigor.

What could the little stream teach me?

The shrine we visited was like nothing I had seen before. It featured a huge rock protruding from the side of a mountain in the rough form of a pagoda, named the Cheonjin-botap [Heaven-Truth Treasure-Pagoda]. Legend has it that Indian Emperor Ashoka (304–232 BC), the first great Buddhist emperor, gathered the sari (crystallized post-cremation remains) of the Buddha and had his men distribute the holy relics around his realm. He also held a ceremony in which he gave some sari to the Four Heavenly Kings [Sacheonwang], guardians of the four directions, asking them to distribute the holy relics further around the world.

The legend says that the Heavenly King of the East found Gyeryong-san to be the holiest mountain, and gave the sari to the local Sanshin [Mountain-spirit] who built this natural pagoda and enshrined the relic within it. There have been consistent reports that the rock lights up and shines with a kind of luminosity. One report, recorded in the Stars and Stripes, was by an American soldier who visited the area and saw the mystical light in 1964.

We climbed the rock, which provided a beautiful view of the surrounding mountain ranges. We also looked for a cave which local healers use to rejuvenate their healing powers but we couldn’t find it.

After opening an apple and placing it on an altar near the natural pagoda, David led us in brief ceremony of prostrations and chanting, which honored the Buddha and the relic that supposedly lies beneath the pagoda-shaped rock-tower.

In one of the hermitage shrines we found a painting of the Sanshin, depicted as an old man with a flowing beard in traditional Korean or Chinese garb. He was attended by two dongja or child attendants. They were offering him mushrooms and fruit symbolic of good health and longevity while by his side was a tiger (kind of the animals) and a pine tree (king of the plants). In his hand he held a white, crane-feather fan, which symbolized his control or influence over nature. A little further away from him was a waterfall, full of the shapes of dragons, a representation of powerful natural force that comes from water.

We took a different path down from the shrine, which didn’t provide such an intimate view of the stream but did have a spectacular waterfall that we photographed. A temple meal of rice, bean sprouts, egg plant, tofu and assorted plant side dishes was provided for lunch. Then we saw David off at a bus station so that he could make his way back to Seoul, while we made our way to the next temple, Magok-sa.

We have made our way across Korea, and have travelled almost 250 kilometers, and it has been an epic journey so far. In this, our second trailer for the coming documentary, we have captured the serenity of the ricepaddies, the clear mind and face of a female Zen-monastic (whom is also a master of the Zen tea-ceremony), the dynamic Qi practice of a kind hearted Korean templestay worker, daily rituals involving drumming at the temples, as well as the astonishing location and architecture of Cheongryang-sa, which is located amidst misty mountain peaks. We hope you will enjoy this trailer, and are looking forward to showing you more soon.

We have been on the Wonhyo Pilgrimage now for three days, making our way from Gyeongju to Pyeongtaek in honor of the 7th century monk Wonhyo, who found enlightenment at the end of his journey. 25 days of September have been dedicated to a quest of selfdiscovery, and so far we have visited three temples – Bunwhang-sa, Gulgosa and Oeosa, and have interviewed the abbots of the last two. We have captured their wonderful words of wisdom and joyful laughter and will share that with you when the documentary film of the pilgrimage is released in April 2013 for Buddha’s birthday.

I have climbed up steep hills, walked alongside country roads and wandered through a field of wild flowers on my hike as I attempt to emulate the journey of Wonhyo, whom traversed the Korean Peninsula. This trailer is our first attempt at capturing, and transmitting the beauty and simplicity of Korea and Koreans, its nature and Korean Buddhism to you all. We are lucky to have been embraced by the outstanding Korean hospitality and helpful spirit, which is helping this project tremendously along the way.

The mountains have always been a refuge and haven for the Korean people. Before the coming of Buddhism, the spirits of the mountains were worshiped. They still live on in tiny shrines on the mountains and in the native shamanism, which still flourishes in Korea. It was in the mountains that the Koreans built their monasteries and developed a unique Buddhist perspective and way of life that lives on today. In times of world turmoil and division, we believe these ancient teachings have a vitally relevant message.

In September we plan to explore the ancient mountain monastic way of life of Korea in a documentary film.

The film project evolved from a pilgrimage in 2011 to honor the 7th Century Buddhist monk Wonhyo, who found enlightenment under unusual circumstances in a cave near Pyeongteak after walking with a friend across the Korean Peninsula. The modern-day pilgrims, inspired by Wonhyo’s teachings on oneness and reconciliation, walked 500km across the Korea peninsula in an attempt to emulate his spiritual journey. During their trek, they stayed at mountain monasteries and talked with many monks. It was the answers the monks gave to their questions that inspired the pilgrims to document the perceptions and way of life of Korea’s mountain monks.

- SYNOPSIS -

The documentary is recorded through the eyes of a Western pilgrim, a retired Canadian writer and a Buddhist, who attempts to follow Wonhyo in his walk across the peninsula. He discusses with meditation masters in the monasteries Wonhyo’s teachings on oneness and reconciliation and asks two key questions: “How do you overcome suffering?” and “How do you practice to reach enlightenment?”

- THE WONHYO TRAIL -

The pilgrimage trail, mostly back roads and dirt tracks, meanders roughly 500km from Wonhyo’s birthplace near Gyeongju to Dangjin, located near the end of Wonhyo’s journey.