Leave the centre door: how to move through a Korean Buddhist temple

At Jogyesa (조계사), in the middle of Seoul's Jongno district, a woman in a padded vest climbs the stone steps of the main hall and slips off her shoes. She walks past the wide central doorway without looking at it. She goes in by a narrower door at the side with her palms pressed together, and kneels on a square cushion near the wall. A few metres behind her, a visitor has stopped on the threshold of the centre door to frame the gilded Buddha straight ahead. Nobody says anything, and the woman does not look back. The rule she followed is not posted anywhere in English. It is one of several unspoken rules about how a Korean temple is meant to be walked.

The gates are a sequence, not a backdrop

You walk up to a Korean mountain temple through a series of gates before you reach it. The first is usually the iljumun (일주문), the One Pillar Gate. It gets its name because its pillars stand in a single line instead of enclosing a space. At Beomeosa (범어사), on the slopes above Busan, the gate stands on tall stone pillars and is one of the most photographed thresholds in the country. Regulars often stop here, turn uphill toward the main hall, and give a banbae (반배): a half bow from the waist with palms together. It takes two seconds, and it marks the point where the road becomes the temple.

Further on is the cheonwangmun (천왕문), the Gate of the Heavenly Kings. Inside, four huge painted guardians stare down from either side, each crushing a small demon underfoot. Children flinch at them, and adults tend to walk through at an even pace without stopping to stare. Some temples add a third gate, the burimun (불이문), the Gate of Non-duality, and beyond it the courtyard opens out. The order matters. By the time you reach the main hall, you are meant to have left the street behind.

Why the centre door stays empty

The main hall is most often the daeungjeon (대웅전), the Hall of the Great Hero, which houses the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni. Its front usually has three sets of doors. The central one, the eogan-mun (어간문), lines up exactly with the main image, and by custom it is kept for the senior monks who lead the services. Lay visitors use the side doors. Inside, they keep to the edges and stay out of the aisle that runs from the centre door to the altar. More than any other gesture, this one shows whether a visitor has been watching.

가운데 문은 스님들께 비워 두고, 옆문으로 들어가세요.

Shoes come off on the stone step outside. Leave them with the toes pointing away from the hall so you can step straight back into them. Inside, a stack of flat cushions called bangseok (방석) sits against the wall. Worshippers take one, make their bows, and put it back on the pile with the edges squared. The full bow brings knees, elbows and forehead to the floor and is usually done three times, a set called sambae (삼배). If you would rather not bow, you can sit quietly at the side for a minute. Plenty of visitors do just that.

Walking the pagoda, lighting a candle

A stone pagoda often stands in the courtyard in front of the main hall. People who walk around it go clockwise, keeping the pagoda on their right. The practice is called tapdori (탑돌이), and on lantern-festival evenings it turns into a slow procession of hundreds. Walking the other way does no harm, but it does get noticed.

Near the hall, a counter or small office sells candles, incense sticks, and sometimes bags of rice to offer. Worshippers write a name or a wish on a paper slip, set their candle in a glass-fronted case, and light their incense from a flame that is already burning. Inside the hall, the offering box is labelled bokjeonham (복전함). How much people give varies, and visitors are not expected to give anything. If you buy a candle, the counter sets the price. In the weeks before Buddha's Birthday, Jogyesa's courtyard disappears under a canopy of paper lotus lanterns, each with a white tag bearing a family's name in careful, handwritten hangeul.

What the drum and the bell are saying

Many larger temples have a bell pavilion, the beomjonggak (범종각), which holds four instruments known together as the samul (사물): a great bronze bell, a barrel drum, a wooden fish, and a cloud-shaped metal gong. At the evening service, called yebul (예불), monks strike them in turn. The drum speaks to creatures that walk, the fish to those that swim, the cloud gong to those that fly, and the bell to beings in the hells. Standing nearby to listen is welcome at most temples. Climbing onto the pavilion platform, or filming up close with a light on, is not.

The halls themselves run on quiet. Phones go silent, conversation drops to a murmur, and many halls have a small sign reading chwaryeong geumji (촬영금지), meaning no photography. Even where there is no sign, the courtesy is not to point a lens at someone who is bowing. The wooden clapper called the moktak (목탁) sets the rhythm of the chanting, and you will hear it before you reach the door. Take it as a cue to slow down.

Seunim, and the bowl you finish

Monks and nuns are addressed as seunim (스님). If one passes you on a narrow path, the usual response is to step aside with a small nod or a hapjang (합장), palms together at the chest. A handshake would be out of place. Clothes that cover the shoulders and knees attract no attention. Clothes cut for the beach attract a lot.

Some temples serve visitors a midday meal in a dining hall, a meal called gongyang (공양). The rules are clear if you watch the line. Take only what you will eat, keep conversation low, finish everything, and return your dishes wherever others are returning theirs. Overnight Templestay programmes teach the formal version, barugongyang (발우공양). The last grains are wiped from the bowl with a slice of pickle, and the rinse water is drunk so that nothing is wasted.

Before you go

Jogyesa is a short walk from Anguk Station (안국역) on Line 3 and Jonggak Station (종각역) on Line 1, at the edge of Insa-dong. Bongeunsa (봉은사), across the road from the COEX complex in Gangnam, has its own stop, Bongeunsa Station on Line 9, and its tall standing Maitreya statue is visible from the gate. Beomeosa is reached from Beomeosa Station on Busan Metro Line 1, then a local bus or a steep walk uphill. City temples are busiest at weekends and on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, when regulars come to pray. Early weekday mornings are the quietest.

Buddha's Birthday falls on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, so its date in the Western calendar moves each year. Check it, along with the lantern parade schedule, with the Korea Tourism Organization or the temple. Candles, lanterns, Templestay programmes and some mountain heritage sites have their own charges. For current rates and service times, ask the temple office, called the jongmuso (종무소), or check the official Templestay website. The one mistake to avoid is walking straight through the centre door of the main hall, or stopping in the aisle in front of it for a photograph. Use the side door and keep to the wall. That is the one thing the regulars will notice.