Buddhism has been a central part of life in Korea for centuries, and temples, like the one I visited, allow people to connect with history and spiritual traditions. They also provide a quiet, peaceful place for people to reflect, separate from modern cities. At 금강사 (Geum-gang-sa) temple, I saw a stone statue of Buddha that portrays how Korean Buddhists have honored Buddha for thousands of years.
This weekend, I took a trip about an hour and a half north to the city of 구미 (Gu-mi), where I visited a beautiful Buddhist temple called 금강사 (Geum-gang-sa). At the temple, there is a seated stone Buddha statue that is a very important cultural heritage artifact, made in 1701. This was during the Joseon Dynasty, the longest kingdom of Korea, lasting over 500 years. This dynasty was essential in establishing modern Korean culture, as they moved the capital to Seoul and invented the modern alphabet called 한글 (Han-gul). The buildings, statues and quiet landscape showed me how history, art and spirituality come together both in the past and in the present.
