On the first day of our Seon Meditation Templestay program, the guiding teacher, Yeoga Seunim, who was guiding us on the temple tour, pointed to the Medicine Buddha Hall and asked,
“If you look above this hall, which is Heungguksa’s Main Buddha Hall, you will see green roof tiles. Do you know what they mean?”

Heungguksa Temple is an ancient temple with a history of over 1,400 years.
It is said that when Wonhyo Seunim was practicing at Wonhyoam Hermitage on Mt. Bukhansan, he founded this temple after following an auspicious energy force that flowed down from the northwest.
After building the Medicine Buddha Hall and enshrining in it a stone Medicine Buddha that had radiated light even though it was buried in the ground, he named this temple Heungseongam Hermitage, meaning “place from where auspicious light arose and where many sages will emerge in the future.”

Later, Joseon’s King Yeongjo designated it as a temple to pray for the safety of the royal family and the peace of the nation, and he renamed it “Heungguksa,” meaning “temple that brings prosperity to the state.”
The name plaque hanging on the Main Buddha Hall was written by King Yeongjo himself, and the green roof tiles symbolize it is a royal temple.

A Meditation Method Even Beginners Can Follow

We sat quietly in the Seon room. Most of the participants were beginners in meditation. That means that anyone can participate, even if they are beginners in meditation. Because they are beginners, they can learn the basics in this class. They can learn better and correctly.

Why is this? Is it because the energy of the Seon room is absorbed by the participants? Before the class began, the participants looked awkward while sitting on the cushions, but their determination seemed as clear as the spring breeze. Their faces were filled with curiosity, a bit of determination, and excitement. Perhaps because Heungguksa is located near Seoul, the participation of 20 and 30-year olds was particularly noticeable. Thanks to these young people who came to find happiness, the Seon room was filled with smiles.

“I came here to relieve the stress that had built up over the week. It was easy to get here because it’s close to Seoul, but once I got here, it felt like I was in a temple deep in the mountains. The scenery is different and fresh,” added one participant, and I nodded in agreement.
One participant who came with a friend jokingly told him, “Even if I’m dead tired, I have to meditate at least once before I die!” and everyone laughed. We were talking about how to let go of stress.

Yeoga Seunim, the Templestay guiding nun, spoke affectionately.
“If you want to be happy now, don’t look for an answer outside yourself. You have to find it within. If you’re driving on the road and there’s fog, you can’t see ahead. When it rains heavily, you can’t see the bottom of a muddy stream. The delusions in our minds are like that. When it clears up, you can see the path to becoming the master of your world. How can we clear away the debris in our minds?
Today, I’m going to teach you a practice that has been used since the time of the Buddha: mindfulness of breathing meditation. There are two key points in doing it: posture and breathing.”

Change Your Posture, Change Your Life

In exercise, the first thing you learn is posture, and the reason you learn this first is clear; the first is to avoid injury, and the second is to move more efficiently. The same goes for Seon meditation and mindfulness of breathing meditation. For smooth breathing, posture must come first.

Yeoga Seunim wrote her master’s thesis analyzing “posture” and “breathing” from anatomical and physiological perspectives to resolve obstacles to sitting meditation. She values posture and breathing as the basics of meditation. This is because correct posture leads to natural breathing, and deep breathing leads to peace of mind.

She says, “I will teach you that correct posture has four key steps: pelvic alignment, hand position, shoulder and neck position, and tongue position. Your breathing will change every time you change one of these four steps. You will meditate for 10 minutes for each change of step. Feel the changes in your body. Observe for yourself how your breathing changes. If you feel the changing sensations in your body, you will know how to meditate.”

We learn how to sit comfortably but correctly to do meditation well. When your body is comfortable, your breathing will become natural, and when your breathing becomes deeper, your mind will also become calmer.

Yeoga Seunim said that when your breathing passage is open wide, your life will change. This is the moment when you learn the posture that will change your life. She explained: “When your body is tense, it becomes stiff and you get sick. When your body is completely relaxed, that becomes the basis for meditation. That’s why senior monastics say, ‘Tame your body first.’ Now, we are looking for the posture that makes our body feel comfortable and stable.”

Life and Death Exist in One Breath

It may seem strange to teach someone who is already sitting how to sit, but under the nun’s guidance, we had to admit that we could not sit properly. Moving between the cushions, she carefully corrected each person’s posture. Surprisingly, each time I corrected my posture, I felt my breath filling my abdomen. When I breathed while paying attention to the fourth step, the position of the tongue, I felt the breath pass through my airway and fill my entire torso.

Yeoga Seunim said, “In one breath exists life and death. If I breathe in but not out, I die. Through my breathing that determines life and death, I see impermanence. Without attachment to the process, just focus on your inhalations and exhalations. Keep observing impermanence, and eventually you meet the buddha within.”

The sound of the singing bowl announcing the start of meditation rang out, and only the quiet sound of breathing could be heard in the Seon room. When I straightened my back and corrected my posture, the breath went in through my nose and into my abdomen. My thoughts poured out like a burst sack of grain, but soon I took a deep breath, and I naturally focused on my breathing. The thoughts that had been rolling around in my head soon calmed down.

The singing bowl sounded again, and I looked at my watch; 20 minutes had already passed. I closed my eyes, sat upright, and just breathed, but my head felt clear and my body felt refreshed, as if I had just had a good night’s sleep.

After finishing the two-hour class, one participant, whose face looked unusually bright, said: “I’ve tried meditation many times, but today was the first time I properly learned how to focus on my breathing. At first, I thought, ‘Is my posture uncomfortable?’ ‘Are my legs numb?’ But since I focused on my breathing, I didn’t feel discomfort or pain. My mind became much calmer, and I think I was able to concentrate well.”

Yeoga Seunim encouraged us that although the proper posture may seem difficult, it is not difficult once you get used to it. She said, “If your posture changes, your breathing changes. Just by focusing on your breathing, all 10,000 afflictions and delusions fade away. There is nothing that cannot be done when your air passage is fully open.”

She added, “Humans defy gravity by crawling first and then walking. What is there that we cannot accomplish? Let’s set aside 10 minutes a day for ourselves so that we can cast off our afflictions.”

The Wise Seek the Answer Within

guided us through the temple on the first day. At that time, we stood like stones looking at Wonhyobong Peak from the outdoor meditation area behind Medicine Buddha Hall. She consoled us saying we had only been trying hard to live our lives at full speed. She then told us to take a deep breath in the open air and shake off the cobwebs that had accumulated in our minds. I slowly closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The sounds of birds I had not heard before seemed very close by, and a warm spring breeze passed over my body.

Yeoga Seunim said, “This kind of silence gives me a brief moment of comfort and peace. However, if I cannot find my inner self, that comfort will not last. A wise person seeks the answer inside themselves, while a foolish person seeks outside.”

If I cannot see myself inside myself, true peace will not come. Her advice to find the answer inside myself echoed quietly in my mind.

My steps seemed lighter as I left the temple compound with the simple homework she had assigned us: “spend 10 minutes a day on myself.” The path out of the temple passed through the round open Gate of Liberation under a clear blue sky. The wind chimes hanging from Amitabha Hall rang clearly.