"Buddha Dharma came to Korea from China in the fourth century CE. It flourished after the Silla unification in the seventh century. By the tenth century there were Korean versions of most Chinese schools. Paramount were Ch'an, Hua-yen, and a Vajrayana form related to the Chinese Mi-tsung. The heyday of Korean Dharma was the Koryo period (932-1392), during which the comprehensive Tripitaka Koreana was published. Under the Yi dynasty (1392-1910), Confucianism became the state religion and the Buddha Dharma was forced into the background. A revival came after the end of Japanese rule in 1945, when the Won movement, a popular Buddhism much influenced by Ch'an, came to the fore. Nowadays, a kind of syncretic Buddhism is widespread in Korea" (From Radiant Mind: Essential Buddhist Teachings and Texts).
I am always comforted by Buddhism. I don't know how to explain it, but wherever I have come across it, I have found a certain warmth in the chants and an intoxication from the incense. Perhaps it is that I never understand what is being chanted, although I am well familiar with the tenets, that allows me entrée into a world that I would not be curious about were it in the realm of the understood. But I really think it is the sincere and earnest nature of the practitioners and their welcoming demeanor that has always drawn me to Buddhism whether it be in Japan, Thailand, Nepal, India or Korea.
In an age where one has to check travel alerts when traveling abroad so as not to run afoul of those practicing a "religion of peace" that somehow justifies the beheading of non-believers by, "really a small minority, really", one has never had to do that when traveling to Buddhist countries, with the exception of when one travels through Muslim areas such as in Southern Thailand.
And so it is no different in Korea at Jogyesa Temple in Seoul. Jogyesa is the central Buddhist hub in Seoul where the monks practice the teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha whose tenets, "are pointing directly at one's mind to realize it, seeing one's Buddha nature to become a Buddha, and succeeding Dharma to spread Buddhism to lead all beings to attain enlightenment."
And should the uninitiated want to dig a little deeper into the tenets of this form of Buddhism or just dabble for a day, Jogyesa has educational programs that range from attending a lecture series to an overnight temple stay. Those wanting more information should go to the temple web-site at Jogyesa Temple.
