elusiveworld

At Golgul Temple, in the hills of Gyeongbuk, three miles inland of  the East Sea, the ancient Zen Martial Art of Sunmudo is still practiced by a handful of Buddhist monks. This powerful art form attracts many people to make a temple stay here.

On arrival at the temple, one becomes aware of the nature of discipline and peace through Zen. For guests,  this is a unique opportunity to experience an ancient spiritual style of fighting. It is a great privilege to be taught Sunmudo. This is where the ‘breathe of Zen’ begins.

The roots of the Sunmudo discipline can be traced back through the Chinese Shaolin Temple to Ancient India. It was the sages of India who first introduced Buddhism to Korea some 1600 years ago, at the time of the Silla dynasty. Since then, Sunmudo has been secretly handed down through the centuries by Buddhist families. Testament to the antiquity of Golgul Temple, a four metre high image of Lord Buddha is carved into the rocky outcrop. This hillside is said to be the site of twelve meditation caves, created by Indian mystics in the 9^th Century. This is the heartland of Sunmudo.

Sun (Korean) or Zen (Japanese) is the way to attain an intuitive illumination of mind and spirit through meditation. ‘Mu’ means “martial” and ‘Do’ means “way”. The training method, in the form of esoteric Buddhism, materializes an eight-fold path developed within four noble truths~ into a series of body movements. These consist of calming yoga, chakra breathing, health exercise, and dynamic martial art and weapon techniques. By purifying and harmonizing the three parts of karma: Body, speech and thought, this training enables one to accomplish Samadhi (peace of mind) and ultimately nirvana.

For the temple stay initiate, a taste of this awesome art can be experienced first hand. At four am a monk circulates the sleeping quarters whilst chanting and tapping a hollow pitched rhythm with a mogtak (wooden block). Meditation begins in the temple as the cosmos is waking. Before the birds begin their dawn chorus the Sunmudo practitioners; sanga (Buddhist family) are deep in meditation whilst scriptures are chanted. The two white dogs which belong to Grandmaster Jeog Un, Seol attend morning chanting with clockwork regularity. They wear prayer beads for collars and have not missed a day in seventeen years. (Perhaps this is why the female dog has reached the ripe old age of seventeen, the human equivalent of 120 years old). Chanting takes place three times a day, in which a temple stay initiate is expected to take part. These chants are made to clear karma (the cycle of rebirth attributed to one’s actions in past lives) in respect of Buddha.

Life in the temple is a constant meditative state. Physical training is based deeply in these Zen meditative principles. One hundred and eight bows are made three times daily, which represent the hundred and eight sins of accumulated karma. If a monk fails to attend morning ceremony, he must make three thousand prostrations before the Buddha. This may take seven or eight solid hours. This is the discipline of Sunmudo.

Though deeply rooted in Buddhism, Sunmudo has its affect as a powerful method of combat. Visitors can train alongside monks well adapted to making six foot high flying kicks and other dextrous feats of attack.

Sunmudo training at the templestay takes place twice daily, beginning with exercises based in yoga and advancing to more difficult moves requiring very flexible bodies.  However, allare welcome to join in the training.

“This was the first temple stay in Korea, which began in 1992. Last year two thousand people made a stay here.”  Informs Sunmudo Grandmaster Jeog Un, Seol, Chief Director of the World Sunmudo Association. “Would you like to begin your two year Sunmudo instructor training program?” he asked.  Several foreign residents are currently studying at Golgulsa. The Grandmaster has resided at this temple for twenty one years, he has studied Sunmudo for forty three years.

One should not disturb the monks at Golgulsa. Some lock themselves inside a momongan (temple without gate) for six years of meditation. These monks have no contact with the outside world. It makes one wonder; that to wilfully undergo such extremes, these monks must be on to something extraordinary. It is the desire of visitors to have a taster of these mysteries that is helping Sunmudo to thrive in Korea.

neong-pa (ability-wave) executes 2 metre high flying kick above Golgul temple.