There were three things on the itinerary for the next day: The Poyohun Buddhist temple, the Friendship Exhibition and, after drive back to Pyongyang, the Korean State Circus, and all proved to be very interesting in their own peculiar ways.
First up , straight after breakfast was the Poyohun Buddhist temple.
There is no doubt that this was once an active and important Buddhist temple. It was founded in 1042 by a monk called Kwanghwak. Located in the Mt Myohyang region , it was partially destroyed during the Korean War but, though it was rebuilt after the war, I'd say that there is considerable doubt about what it is nowadays.
It certainly looks the part. I've been to plenty of Buddhist temples in my time and this, though fairly small, looks like any of the others. The buildings are the typical designs and with the typical colourful decoration. The place is calm and tranquil and photogenic and something about it feels utterly wrong.
We had been told that although the DPRK is an officially atheistic country there is freedom of religion but that only a small number of older people insist on maintaining any religious belief. I'd had my doubts about both parts of that assertion and, at the temple, I still had them. The trip's other Bob, a retired Canadian, put his finger on it. There were, as far as we could see, only four people present, the guide, one soldier in uniform, one woman in traditional costume and one monk in the familiar saffron robes. Looking at the last of these Bob mused on whether he was the "monk of the week", who would be back with his army unit next week replaced by someone else putting on an act for the tourists. I have no idea whether this was a fair assessment or not, he could have been pretending or he could have been genuine. It was hard to tell. Either way what was wrong was that at other temples I've visited you can see that they are active. There are lots of monks around. Bits of them, as with any building in constant use, are none too clean; the trappings of daily life are there. The monks are busy. This was different. It was too clean, too unused, too empty. The "monk" was just stading there, apparently with the sole intention of being on everyone's photographs. It felt like a museum. The effect was heightened by a visit to a newish building near the end of the compound where we saw an exhibition about ancient printing, the Koreans having had moveable metal type centuries ago. The guides stories about warrior monks who had joined Kim Il Sung in his fight against the Japanese also rang untrue, given what little I know of the principles of Buddhism.
To round off the “museum” feeling, here was a cafe and gift shop near the gate.
It was an interesting enough experience but it rang rather false. It felt like what it was: a showpiece for the tourists, an ostentatious cry of "see how free the people are"!
First up , straight after breakfast was the Poyohun Buddhist temple.
There is no doubt that this was once an active and important Buddhist temple. It was founded in 1042 by a monk called Kwanghwak. Located in the Mt Myohyang region , it was partially destroyed during the Korean War but, though it was rebuilt after the war, I'd say that there is considerable doubt about what it is nowadays.
It certainly looks the part. I've been to plenty of Buddhist temples in my time and this, though fairly small, looks like any of the others. The buildings are the typical designs and with the typical colourful decoration. The place is calm and tranquil and photogenic and something about it feels utterly wrong.
We had been told that although the DPRK is an officially atheistic country there is freedom of religion but that only a small number of older people insist on maintaining any religious belief. I'd had my doubts about both parts of that assertion and, at the temple, I still had them. The trip's other Bob, a retired Canadian, put his finger on it. There were, as far as we could see, only four people present, the guide, one soldier in uniform, one woman in traditional costume and one monk in the familiar saffron robes. Looking at the last of these Bob mused on whether he was the "monk of the week", who would be back with his army unit next week replaced by someone else putting on an act for the tourists. I have no idea whether this was a fair assessment or not, he could have been pretending or he could have been genuine. It was hard to tell. Either way what was wrong was that at other temples I've visited you can see that they are active. There are lots of monks around. Bits of them, as with any building in constant use, are none too clean; the trappings of daily life are there. The monks are busy. This was different. It was too clean, too unused, too empty. The "monk" was just stading there, apparently with the sole intention of being on everyone's photographs. It felt like a museum. The effect was heightened by a visit to a newish building near the end of the compound where we saw an exhibition about ancient printing, the Koreans having had moveable metal type centuries ago. The guides stories about warrior monks who had joined Kim Il Sung in his fight against the Japanese also rang untrue, given what little I know of the principles of Buddhism.
To round off the “museum” feeling, here was a cafe and gift shop near the gate.
It was an interesting enough experience but it rang rather false. It felt like what it was: a showpiece for the tourists, an ostentatious cry of "see how free the people are"!
4 comments:
Are you receiving me? Just wanted you to know I'd been reading.
Loud and clear, mate. Read and enjoy.
Bloody hell, that was quick. Was it a coincidence or do you have some sort of alarm thingy?
I'm afraid I don't understand these things, which will be evident if you look at the Facebook page that I only have because Emily set it up for me. I worry that there is a whole cyberworld passing me by that I don't quite get the point of. A bit like the actual world, come to think of it.
coincidence and the fact that I'm not at work today
Post a Comment