A chance encounter

By Dale Quarrington

It’s truly amazing just how much one can communicate with just a few words. With patience, understanding, and kindness, almost anything can be communicated. Such was the case when I visited Wonhyoam Hermitage in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province.

Wonhyoam Hermitage is named after the famous monk, Wonhyo-daesa, who helped popularize Buddhism in Korea in the late Three Kingdoms Period and early Silla Kingdom.

The hermitage is up an eight-kilometer gravel mountainside road that acts as both a military and monastery route.

When you first arrive at the monastery, breath-taking views of Yangsan await you down in the valleys below. Wonhyoam Hermitage has a beautiful bell pavilion and Samseong-gak shrine hall dedicated to the three most popular Korean Shaman gods: Chilseong (The Seven Stars), San-shin (The Mountain god), and Dokseong (The Recluse).

There is also a rare shrine hall dedicated to Yongwang, the King of the Sea. The hermitage is most famous for a rock called The Heavenly Light Yaksayore-bul rock, named after the Buddha of Medicine. This rock was struck by a lightning strike during a rainless thunderstorm in 1991. As a result, a blackened Buddha figure appeared and is now a venerated part of the hermitage.

After taking in all these sights, and just as I was about to leave, a monk approached me in the courtyard.

``Where are you from,” he asked in broken English and with the brightest of smiles on his face.

``Canada,” I answered, a bit surprised at the unexpected question.

``Do you want a coffee?”

And for the next 30 minutes we continued our conversation in a room adjacent to the main hall at the compact hermitage. I’ve come to realize during my time in Korea just how much can be expressed with a minimal amount of words. With his broken English and my broken Korean, we were able to talk about life, faith, and Korea.

I was able to find out that he had been a Buddhist monk for 14 years, and had only recently moved to Wonhyoam Hermitage, from Tongdosa Temple, just seven days prior to us meeting. Also, he wants to learn English.

The most interesting part of the conversation occurred when he pointed to the light on the ceiling. And he asked, “What is this?”

``It’s a light,” I answered innocently enough.

``Ah, okay. At night, the city lights of Yangsan are beautiful.”

And he was able to find out that I had been living in Korea since 2003. Also, that I was married in Korea, and that I’m presently an elementary school teacher at a neighboring school.

After talking for a while, he decided he wanted to show me how to pray properly. After a few attempts, he was pleased enough with my progress to take a picture of me bowing to Seokgamoni-bul (The Historical Buddha) inside the main hall.

He took the camera that was around my neck, and he proceeded to take a picture of me just as I was starting to bow to the Buddha. And to further memorialize my visit, and our new friendship, he got a hermitage office helper to take a picture of us sitting together outside the main hall on a beautiful Wednesday morning.

It was truly remarkable just how much we could talk about, especially since we have such different cultural, social, and linguistic backgrounds. But with a lot of patience and kindness, we were able to understand each other.

It was just by chance that we met, but it’s one of those meetings that neither of us will ever forget.

The writer has been living in South Korea, on and off, since 2003. He currently resides and teaches in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, and can be reached at his blog: https://daleskoreantempleadventures.blogspot.com.