Tonight! the last Lecture Meeting of this year, with Dr. Richard D. McBride (Fulbright Senior Researcher, PhD in East Asian Languages and Cultures from UCLA), on “The World of Buddhist Devotional Practice in Silla Korea”. He will describe several of the interesting dimensions of that topic — merit-making and divination practices, repentance rituals, dharani procedures, religious communities, and cults of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and spirits — by drawing from inscriptions on Buddhist images and reliquaries, instructions in sūtra and commentarial literature, and descriptions in the Buddhist hagiography and traditional narratives preserved in the Samguk-yusa and other sources. As usual, at 7:30 pm in the 2nd-floor Resident’s Lounge of the Somerset Palace, central Seoul; free for members and w5000 donation requested from others.
Sat Dec 15th: Magok-sa and Jagwang-sa Temples Tour – Magok-sa is one of South Chungcheong Province’s most impressive temples, founded in the Shilla dynasty, but off the beaten track in an isolated valley leaving it relatively undisturbed. We will also visit Ja-gwang-sa (one of the leaders of Korea’s Temple-Stay program) with its impressive seated bronze Buddha - so large that his fingernails measure 30 cm. and his ears 1 meter!
Sun Dec 16th: Mungyeong-Saejae Pass Park and Suanbo Hot-Springs Tour – We will hike through the beautiful Mun-gyeong Pass with its three historic gates and great views, and on our way back we will stop at the famous Suanbo hot-springs resort for a chance to relax and unwind in the restorative waters.
Wed-Sun Dec 26-30: TOUR to CAMBODIA and/or VIETNAM – contact the RAS Office for more info on itinerary and cost.
More Info (including map to the Somerset): 763-9483 and http://www.raskb.com/
One Comment
Very interesting lecture by Dr. McBride tonight! I got a lot out of it…