When you think of autumn, you think of all the leaves turning red, yellow, and brown.

Climbing up mountains for the scenery is great in autumn, but taking it slow and enjoying autumn at a temple on a mountainside is also majestic.

If you’re wondering where to go on an autumn day when you’d like to take a break from your exhausting everyday life,

‘Templestay’ in Gyeonggi Province is here to offer you a relaxing experience in the arms of nature. 

Typically, Templestays are overnight trips. Although they’re mostly attended by Buddhists, the number of people who are simply trying to look back on their own lives and take a break regardless of religion is on the rise. As a result, Templestays try to eliminate religious elements as much as possible.

Most people tend to think of a daily schedule of rising early in the morning for meditation, ‘balwoogongyang’ (Buddhist-style eating), and ‘108 bae’ (bowing 108 times) when they hear the term Templestay. Certainly, you can choose a scheduled activity-type Templestay, but you can also choose a rest-type program where you can enjoy a nice and relaxing break.

Basic supplies you need include toiletries, towels, sneakers, and some comfortable clothes (long sleeves, long pants, etc.). Visit each Templestay website to check fees and for more detailed information.  

Photo – Gapyeong Baengnyeonsa Temple website

Surrounded by one of Gapyeong’s eight beauties, the nut pine forest of Chungryeongsan Mountain, as well as Myeongjisan Mountain and Unaksan Mountain, Baengnyeonsa Temple is a modest monastery encircled by a dense nut pine forest.

Here, you can spend time conversing with monks and participating in Buddhist services while doing the ‘108 bae’, or you can also take some time to come face to face with nature. 

Photo – Goyang Heungguksa Temple website

Sitting near the foot of Nogosan Mountain in Goyang-si, Heungguksa Temple is an ancient temple that is over a thousand years old. It is said that a monk called Wonhyodaesa of the Shilla Kingdom sensed an auspicious form of energy coming from a northwesterly direction when he was meditating on Bukhansan Mountain. He promptly came down from the mountain and built Heungguksa Temple in that particular location.

Since the temple is located at the foot of a mountain, it offers you a chance to relax and gain inner peace while looking towards Bukhansan Mountain lying faraway. A program that enables you to experience the life of monks practicing asceticism is also available at Heungguksa Temple. 

Photo – Yangpyeong Yongmunsa Temple website

Home to a gingko tree designated as a natural monument, Yongmunsa Temple boasts some very special scenery.

Apart from the gingko tree, you can see National Treasure No. 1790, the ‘Geumdong gwaneumbosal jwasang’ (Gilt-bronze seated statue of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva), National Treasure No. 531 ‘Jeongjiguksa budo’ (pagoda for the remains of monk Jeongjiguksa) and its headstone at Yongmunsa Temple. 

Photo – Yongin Beomnyunsa Temple website

By the foot of Munsusan Mountain, Beomnyunsa Temple is the source of the sacred Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. Because it is not an old monastery, the Templestay programs at Beomnyunsa Temple are organized with a youthful touch.

@Gyeonggi Net-keeper

http://www.gg.go.kr/archives/3366333?ggd_term_id=7699