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=0=| Hein Sah is, like most monasteries, is in a very beautiful setting. Here you can see some terraced rice fields with the monastery above them. |
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| Here is a picture of Barbara and I at the balanced rocks which this monastery is famous for. With all the ivy it is not so obvious that those are actually two separte rocks, but that is the case (and the reason they put this monastery there). The shirt I am wearing is a Guayabera shirt that they made in Koiea and were quite cheap, only $2. I really like them as they are comfortable and cool in the summer and have nice colors. I still wear that shirt sometimes even though that style of shirt is sometimes considered 'out of style' (to make an under statement), but I am not trying to impress people so comfort comes first. |
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| This the entrance to Bul Guk San. It is a temple with walls all around. Mr. Nam explained that when you enter a temple you can be entering heaven or hell according to your state of mind. The darker statue represents hell (according to their ancient tradtitions) and so, if you were in a bad frame of mind, it would draw your attention. If you were in a good frame of mind the fairer statue would draw your attention and you would be entering heaven though the fairer one doesn't look all that friendly to me, so perhaps I am in a mixed frame of mind (but aren't we all). |
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| The tape claims this is the image of the heaven statue on the other side (facing the set shown previously), but I doubt it. I think it is a better view of the first one. It does look a little friendly, but not very comforting to me. |
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| This is the hell image on the other side. It must further prove my mixed state as it doesn't look all that unfriendly to me. |
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| At the feet of the each of the large carven images was a smaller image. The larger image was supposed to represent a god and the image at their feet represented man. This smaller image was at the feet of the one above and was our favorite of all the images. |
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| Bul Guk Sah is famous for its large stone foundations. This foundation is about 1200 years old. Most of the temples we visited would only be about 100 years old as the structures were of wood and would catch fire at some time. The temple would often be located at the same site for a long time, but the individual buildings would be rebuilt as they were destroyed. I took a couple of more pictures of the foundation as shown below. |
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| In this picture it is clear where the stone foundation stops and the wooden building starts. The building itself is probably only about 200 years old. Below there is another picture of the steps and stone foundation and beside that is another wooden temple view, but the Hindu peace and harmony marking. |
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This page was last updated on September 5, 2005.
