Visit To MokJeongGul

It's a Buddhist retreat located in a small cave just below GeumSunSa temple.  As day-treks go, it was not the easiest.  To get there I had to climb part way up a mountainside by a steep narrow path that barely pretended to be "paved" with uneven, rough-hewn stone steps which were at best nerve-wracking, especially as I was bundled up against the cold in thick clumsy clothing that somewhat limited movement, and that at one point were rather dangerously close to a drop-off without a railing;  I'm halfway convinced it was deliberately designed as a symbolic pilgrimage intended to weed out the weak-willed^.  Once I got to the temple though, I have to say I was pretty impressed.  Insulated against the bustling city below by its location, it offered a feeling of quietude, contemplative calm and spiritual refuge, possessed in common by Buddhist temples everywhere but especially palpable there.

However, for me the most interesting part of the visit was not the temple complex but the little sanctum associated with it.  It was memorable for its similitude to the ideal cave/subterranean retreat I've built in my imagination over the years -- a place of isolation both physical and psychological, and free of distraction of any kind.  I remember when I was little I sometimes would climb into the large wardrobe that stood in "the other room" downstairs, shutting out the world and enjoying the quiet darkness.