Cultural tourism scholar offers lectures on Korea's spiritual heritage
David A. Mason in 2013 / Courtesy of David A. MasonBy Jon DunbarWhen David A. Mason first came to Korea almost 40 years ago, he had two main fascinations, craggy mountains and East Asian philosophies, both of which he found in abundance here.“I was mainly interested in China and had never heard of Korea, but upon visiting Korea I found so much of East Asian spiritual traditions flourishing in the gorges of very beautiful and accessible mountains, like nowhere else,” he told The Korea Times. During that first visit, he went to Mount Samgak, Mount Songni and Gyeongju, and took a deep interest in Sanshin, or mountain spirits in shamanism. “Learning more about it and finding more artworks of it just became my personal quest,” he said. “Things just kept blossoming from there, as I learned about everything that was connected to Sanshin, which is most of Korea's history and traditions, especially the religious parts ― they are an axial factor of Korean culture. Sometime in the 1990s, Mason's deep fascination went from hobby to career, and he is now a cultural t
Aug 9, 2021By Jon Dunbar
