KOREA
- images from KAYASAN -
- featuring scenic mountain Jeilbong -
Page initiated: 2021-10-30
Page finished: 2021-10-31
Now a series of pictures from climbing the Jeilbong, .- another beautiful mountain in Korea's Kayasan National Park -
1996-21-082 - Kayasan - view to the Jeilbong as seen from the Hongnyu-dong valley - (Photography by Karsten Petersen)
1996-19-006 - Kayasan - mountain scenery on the way up Jeilbong - (Photography by Karsten Petersen)
1996-19-020 - Kayasan - some strange rocks on the way up to the top of Jeilbong- (Photography by Karsten Petersen)
1996-19-021 - Kayasan View down - - - great rocks - - (Photography by Karsten Petersen)
1996-19-022 - Kayasan - the heavily eroded top of Jeilbong - (Photography by Karsten Petersen)
1996-23-029 - Kayasan - standing on the very top of Jeilbong - (Photography by Karsten Petersen)
1996-19-026 - Kayasan - view from Jeilbong - (Photography by Karsten Petersen)
1½996-23-031 - Kayasan - view from Jeilbong - (Photography by Karsten Petersen)
1996-23-021 - Kayasan - view from the top of Jeilbong towards Kayasan - Strange to think about the fact, that a few days earlier I actually stood on top of this great mountain - (Photography by Karsten Petersen)
The famous Haeinsa temple is seen in the lower left side of the picture -
More about this unique temple will follow on the next page - - - But first, - after another icy cold day in the mountains, - what can be better than visiting a friendly monk, - and getting some hot tea in his warm hermitage, - where only he lived?
Here the lonely monk in Huirang-dae, - "The Hermitage of Master Huirang"-, is serving tea for a tired and very cold traveler, - ME!
After that he spent the rest of the day guiding me around the mountain slopes and showing me "hidden" Buddhist sites and secrets.
He did not speak a word English, and my Korean, - to put it mildly -, is not really anything to boast about, but still he knew exactly what I was interested in - - How did that come about?
Well, - I really do not know, but it has happened several times during my many travels in Korea - -
Maybe by their great insight in the human nature, - and a deep knowledge of "how things are" -, those friendly monks could actually by instinct read my mind and "feel" a deep and genuine interest from my side - - -
Being a Buddhist myself could also have triggered this instant bond, that cannot be explained, but maybe somehow felt by the monks in their hermitages in the mountains - or for that matter, - in the big cities too!
They just seem to "know", regardless if it happen in the middle of Seoul or on a remote mountain - -
The strange thing is, that whenever it happens, it does not really matter if we can communicate by language or only by "mind" - -
Both methods, - language or "mind" -, work perfect!
1996-21-086 - Kayasan - Here the lonely monk occupying Huirang-dae, - "The Hermitage of Master Huirang". (Photography by Karsten Petersen)
Let's finish this page with a picture of the "Hermitage of Master Huirang" - - -
Take note of the great foundation of natural rocks and stones - -
1996-21-084 - Kayasan - "Huirang-dae" -, the "Hermitage of Master Huirang" - (Photography by Karsten petersen)
Next page in this series shows the unique HAEINSA Temple with it's collection of more than 80.000 handcarved printing blocks with Buddhist texts - - -