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HAEIN-SA
reflections on a calm sea
by Pam Kai Tollefson
Haein-sa is one of the three main temples of Korea. Haein-sa houses the Korean Tripitaka, all the Buddhist texts carved on wood blocks. There are 81,340 blocks flawlessly carved with the teachings of the Buddha, many Sutras, some rare, the rules for monks along with the stories that caused the rules to be made and the philosophy and commentaries added down through the ages. The king and the people believed that the presence of these sacred wood blocks would stop invasion and also bring good luck. The collection was done in 1251 and was kept on an island until 1398 when it was moved to Haein-sa for protection from sea robbers. It remains there to this day. War (a time when many monasteries were burned to the ground) and seven accidental fires (perhaps caused by "fire" mountain) did not destroy the two buildings that house the sacred wood blocks.
Founded by two monks [r. 800-809], Haein-sa was enlarged and supported by the king out of gratitude to the two monks for curing the queen of a pernicious illness. The queen was suffering from a terrible tumor. No one could cure her and she was close to death. The king, in desperation, sought out the two masters and begged for their help. The masters lay the queen on a bed in the hermitage and tied one end of a long string around the tumor and the other end around a large tree just outside of the hermitage. Then they chanted all night. In the morning the queen's tumor had disappeared and the tree had withered. From that day to this, Haein-sa has produced many great masters of the Hwaom-jong philosophy. Haein-sa is said to look like a great ship on the ocean of Kaya-san and it is considered to be an auspicious site from the point of view of geomancy.
I went to Haein-sa to study the ideal geomancy, to see a community built according to feng shui principles, to learn the role the mountains played in the lives of the people and their buildings, to feel the mountains' effects, to learn to orient building on land strictly by the geological surrounding, to hear the stories, to be in a sacred place. I have to say, with no apologies to my feng shui Master, what remains utmost in my reflections is the spiritual energy of the wood blocks [and, to my surprise, the energy of the blocks left on the stamped papers I brought home with me], the spiritual energy in the 3 a.m. chanting and the meditations, and the spiritual knowledge and calm gained by BEING there on a calm sea. It was a phenomenal experience!
