Summer 용맹정진 2006

Yeah I'm just showing off putting Korean in the title. It transliterates to "Yongmaeng Chōngjin" (pronounced kinda like "youngman junction" — I used to think that was how it was spelled when people talked about it), and it means "Ferocious Effort." In Korean monasteries, for the 7 or 9 days before Buddha's Enlightenment Day (usually in January), they will hold a Yongmaeng Chōngjin. This means they meditate all day, and then all night, and then repeat, until Buddha's birthday arrive (they don't go to sleep). Some monasteries hold Yongmaeng Chōngjins at other times of year as well, but that is the time that all of them do it.

I did not do that. In the west, we have a much less hardcore version. Here is our schedule:

5:00 - Wake up / cold rub-down and stretching
6:00 - 108 prostrations, then the first meditation period
8:30 - Breakfast
9:00 - Cleaning practise
10:00 - Rest
10:30 - Second meditation period
1:00 - Lunch
1:30 - Rest
2:30 - Work practise
6:00 - Optional snack
7:00 - Third meditation period
10:00 - "Bed time"
11:00 - Candles off on the alter

Okay, uh. Cold rub-downs are pretty-much what they sound like. You stand there naked in a small bathroom with about 15 other naked people and buckets full of cold water. You put a towel in a bucket, and rub yourself vigourously. You do your whole body 2 or 3 times (takes 15-20 minutes). It is definitely a way to wake up.

Meditation periods consist of a half-hour sitting meditation, a 10-minute break, a half-hour sitting meditation (with interviews), a half-hour walking meditation, and a half-hour sitting meditation (continuing interviews). The third meditation period has a fourth half-hour sitting.

Work Practise: I will now reveal the story behind yesterday's post. Yesterday's post is a lie. I did not come across any stinging nettles. I was upgraded to harvesting this weird tree that had it's trunk and all its branches covered in thorns that were bigger than my thumb. I'm like, "daaaaang!" My mom said she thinks it was called buckthorn. To me that sounds too innocent. I think it was called Murderthorn: The thorn plant that murders.

It was definitely an experience. I'd go into more detail about things that happened, but they're all meditation-related, and so I won't bore you.

Oh wait. There was one thing that happened. See, when we did walking meditation, we would go outside and jog in a line. Then we'd walk, eventually walk inside, and then walk really really really slow. While we were jogging on Saturday and Sunday, we were all shouting. The retreat is silent, so I guess that is to get all the built-up noise out of our systems. It's quite a spectacle—35 or so Buddhists running in a line shouting and screaming (not words, just sounds). Sometimes crowds would gather to watch, take pictures, or heckle us. But one guy liked it so much that he decided to join us. And then he went inside with us. And sat with us. And went up for an interview. It was during the interview that Sunim discovered that he was not from some other temple, and in fact just wandered it. Apparently he even signed a release form (retreaters sign a form that releases the temple's liability for things like being stabbed repeatedly by ridiculous thorns).

Well, this guy was actually in line next to me for interviews. Not behind me, or in front of me, like he was supposed to be. And he kept nudging me and trying to ask which of us should go first. It was pretty irritating, and I just ignored him until he said "okay you go first." I assumed he had just arrived from Chicago or Mexico. After my interview, I never saw him again. I was getting really worried that I had hallucinated him, and was all "what is this retreat doing to my head!" But then Sunim mentioned the guy when the retreat was over, and I was like "oh good I'm not crazy."

Otherwise, I have some ideas for my web site, and in the next month, they should happen.