On New Years eve I did a temple stay at Donghwa-sa temple, outside of Daegu, where we could get a taste of the Korean monk's daily life. We wore traditional clothing and moved throughout the complex to different buildings where we met monks, chanted, bowed and prayed with them (a Buddhist monk spends the majority of their waking hours praying and meditating). Additionally, we each made a Buddhist necklace from 108 wooden beads (one for each sin man is prone to according to Buddhism). To do this we had to fall to our knees and bow deeply, then string a single bead, after which we would stand, then go to our knees again and repeat until we had done this 108 times, completing the necklace. In the evening we were able to have a long Q and A with one of the monks over tea. I've often been curious about what drives people to become monks. Fortunately, one person present soon asked that question. The monk told us that he used to own a music store in the city and had a fairly normal life. Then one day he heard a monk out on the street singing and it touched something in him so deeply that he decided to quit his job and business and begin studying Buddhism. Perhaps there were other factors at work besides that, or maybe it really is was as simple as that for him.
