... “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand."
Between 1392 and 1910 Korea was ruled by the kings of the Joseon dynasty. During this time Confucianism replaced Buddhism as the state religion, and the culture of Korea changed. One extreme example is that Buddhist monks were prohibited from entering Seoul, and this ban lasted 300 years. We learned about the Joseon Dynasty by visiting historical sites and museums and reading about the culture of the time. We were fortunate to be here during the annual ancestral rites ceremony on May 5th. The event started as a parade of hundreds of people dressed in traditional costumes, with many carrying banners or swords. These musicians were playing as they paraded up to the Jongmyo Shrine where the ceremony would be performed.
Here you see the “king” being carried in the parade. (This man is of noble ancestry, but the true royal Korean bloodline has died out.)
This is a walkway for the spirits, so that they can travel to the ceremony. The belief is that the deceased are not actually gone, instead they are part of the living world but as spirits only. We took a tour of the Jongmyo shrine a few days after the ceremony, so we could see it without all the crowds. We were instructed not to walk on the center part of this walkway; We happily complied since we are not yet ready to join the spirit world!
Once all the costumed participants had filed into the main shrine areas, an elaborate Confucian ceremony was performed. This included making food and drink offerings to the spirits of the deceased kings. There were 35 tables of offerings like this one, so that every King or founder of the Joseon dynasty was included. Originally these rites were performed at least five times a year to ensure good weather and crops in the coming season.
Related to this ancestral rite is the Confucian ideal of filial piety, which is that supporting and serving one’s parents is the most important duty. We learned at the Korean Folk Museum that the mourning period when someone dies is three years. During mourning it was lauded when an adult child would build a grass hut and live by the tomb of the parent. The ceremonial offerings were accompanied by music and dance.
We visited two of the five Joseon palaces. This is Gyeongbukgung palace.
A lot of important advances were made during the Joseon dynasty. The palaces were heated from underneath the stone floors with wood-burning furnaces and stone channels akin to duct work. This chimney was away from the living area to vent the heating system's smoke and we liked the clay decorative patterns.
These women are dressed in traditional hanboks. The palace tour guides were dressed in a similar fashion.
Peonies were the royal flower, and we saw painted screens with these flowers.
We also saw real peonies in the gardens of the palaces.
Called the forbidden garden, only the royal family and officers could enjoy the lovely environment. The guide told us that the king and his buddies would hang out at a pavilion like this, drinking wine and writing poetry. Supposedly they played a drinking game: if an officer couldn't make up a poem about the beauty of the garden quickly, he was forced to drink three glasses of wine. So that's where that game comes from!
Changing of the guard is done three times each day at the palaces. We enjoyed watching and listening.
At the end of the ceremony, they let the tourists take their picture with some of the guards.
The practice of medicine also advanced during the Joseon reign, with acupuncture and hundreds of herbal remedies being used to treat illness. We like this Confucius saying, "turnip in winter and ginger in summer keep the doctor away” as it shows the concept of food as preventative medicine. Ginseng is called the king of a hundred herbs and is an ideal tonic for summer heat. Shown here is ginseng chicken soup, which is made from a young chicken, a poulet, stuffed with rice and simmered with ginseng, ginger and garlic. It tasted delicious, even in the cooler weather of spring.
Feng shui also has connections to Confucian beliefs. Palaces had to be built to include the correct feng shui with mountains behind and a stream in front. Since there are so many mountains here, it was easy to do. Here's a picture of the top of Inwangsan, which is behind the palaces.
And here's a photo of us hiking on Inwangsan with our friend Namhee Park.
We met Namhee at the February meditation retreat in Bodh Gaya, India. Namhee was kind enough to meet us at our hotel and lead us on this beautiful hike.
Seoul had been ringed by a defensive wall encompassing the four mountains that surround the city. The wall is being restored. Here you can see that the wall in the area where we hiked was in good shape.
The spring blooms were abundant, with peach blossoms peaking. The cherry trees were starting to leaf, and we saw cherry blossom "showers" as the wind blew the flower petals off the trees.
Namhee also took us on an evening hike to Namsan so we could enjoy the lights of Seoul and digest after a big meal of Korean barbeque. This is the tower at the top, which was beautifully lit.
Confucius says, "wheresoever you go, go with all your heart."
Between 1392 and 1910 Korea was ruled by the kings of the Joseon dynasty. During this time Confucianism replaced Buddhism as the state religion, and the culture of Korea changed. One extreme example is that Buddhist monks were prohibited from entering Seoul, and this ban lasted 300 years. We learned about the Joseon Dynasty by visiting historical sites and museums and reading about the culture of the time. We were fortunate to be here during the annual ancestral rites ceremony on May 5th. The event started as a parade of hundreds of people dressed in traditional costumes, with many carrying banners or swords. These musicians were playing as they paraded up to the Jongmyo Shrine where the ceremony would be performed.
Here you see the “king” being carried in the parade. (This man is of noble ancestry, but the true royal Korean bloodline has died out.)
This is a walkway for the spirits, so that they can travel to the ceremony. The belief is that the deceased are not actually gone, instead they are part of the living world but as spirits only. We took a tour of the Jongmyo shrine a few days after the ceremony, so we could see it without all the crowds. We were instructed not to walk on the center part of this walkway; We happily complied since we are not yet ready to join the spirit world!
Once all the costumed participants had filed into the main shrine areas, an elaborate Confucian ceremony was performed. This included making food and drink offerings to the spirits of the deceased kings. There were 35 tables of offerings like this one, so that every King or founder of the Joseon dynasty was included. Originally these rites were performed at least five times a year to ensure good weather and crops in the coming season.
Related to this ancestral rite is the Confucian ideal of filial piety, which is that supporting and serving one’s parents is the most important duty. We learned at the Korean Folk Museum that the mourning period when someone dies is three years. During mourning it was lauded when an adult child would build a grass hut and live by the tomb of the parent. The ceremonial offerings were accompanied by music and dance.
We visited two of the five Joseon palaces. This is Gyeongbukgung palace.
A lot of important advances were made during the Joseon dynasty. The palaces were heated from underneath the stone floors with wood-burning furnaces and stone channels akin to duct work. This chimney was away from the living area to vent the heating system's smoke and we liked the clay decorative patterns.
These women are dressed in traditional hanboks. The palace tour guides were dressed in a similar fashion.
Peonies were the royal flower, and we saw painted screens with these flowers.
We also saw real peonies in the gardens of the palaces.
Called the forbidden garden, only the royal family and officers could enjoy the lovely environment. The guide told us that the king and his buddies would hang out at a pavilion like this, drinking wine and writing poetry. Supposedly they played a drinking game: if an officer couldn't make up a poem about the beauty of the garden quickly, he was forced to drink three glasses of wine. So that's where that game comes from!
Changing of the guard is done three times each day at the palaces. We enjoyed watching and listening.
At the end of the ceremony, they let the tourists take their picture with some of the guards.
The practice of medicine also advanced during the Joseon reign, with acupuncture and hundreds of herbal remedies being used to treat illness. We like this Confucius saying, "turnip in winter and ginger in summer keep the doctor away” as it shows the concept of food as preventative medicine. Ginseng is called the king of a hundred herbs and is an ideal tonic for summer heat. Shown here is ginseng chicken soup, which is made from a young chicken, a poulet, stuffed with rice and simmered with ginseng, ginger and garlic. It tasted delicious, even in the cooler weather of spring.
Feng shui also has connections to Confucian beliefs. Palaces had to be built to include the correct feng shui with mountains behind and a stream in front. Since there are so many mountains here, it was easy to do. Here's a picture of the top of Inwangsan, which is behind the palaces.
And here's a photo of us hiking on Inwangsan with our friend Namhee Park.
We met Namhee at the February meditation retreat in Bodh Gaya, India. Namhee was kind enough to meet us at our hotel and lead us on this beautiful hike.
Seoul had been ringed by a defensive wall encompassing the four mountains that surround the city. The wall is being restored. Here you can see that the wall in the area where we hiked was in good shape.
The spring blooms were abundant, with peach blossoms peaking. The cherry trees were starting to leaf, and we saw cherry blossom "showers" as the wind blew the flower petals off the trees.
Namhee also took us on an evening hike to Namsan so we could enjoy the lights of Seoul and digest after a big meal of Korean barbeque. This is the tower at the top, which was beautifully lit.
Confucius says, "wheresoever you go, go with all your heart."