Locates in Gayasan national park, Haeinsa preserves the oldest and most wholesome wooden print tablets of the Bhuddist scripts, Tripiṭaka Koreana, made from 1236. The temple burnt down in a fire in 1817 but the wooden tablets servived. It has been stored in semi-open-air libray for more than half a millennium, still intact. Either the collection itself is a miracle or the science behind the architechture is a human miracle.
For any temple stay, you stay in the temple, you dine with the monks, and you witness the routine of the monks. Haeinsa temple stay is a free-styled programe which you are allowed to walk around the temple area and join the morning and evening ceremonies with the monks. Tip: in every main building, there's at least one monk chanting. Each of them chants diffrently.
2 things I highly recommend: one is the eveing four instrument playing routine, praying for creatures on earth, spirits underneath, creatures in the water, and creatures in the sky, so called the four realms. The other is to wake up early and climb on the scholar hill to see morning mist in the moutains.
I'll leave the rest for you to explore during the all-day temple stay. Meditation in a real temple alone was what I did, unbothered. FYI, the 4 km valley from entrance of Gayasan national park to Haeinsa is an exquisite hike, especially in authumn.
* Seoul Express Bus Terminal (강남고속버스터미널) East Daegu (동대구) (3:30 hours) East Daegu(동대구) Subway line 1 toward to Seolhwa-Myeonggok (설화명곡방향) Seobu Intercity Bus Terminal (서부버스정류장) (20 minutes) Haeinsa (1 hour 30 minutes). * Seoul Nambu Bus Terminal (서울남부버스터미널) Goryeong Bus Terminal (고령버스터미널) 07:50, 10:00, 12:40, 15:00, 16:50, 18:40 * Goryeong Bus Terminal (고령버스터미널) Haeinsa Temple (해인사) The bus runs every 40 minutes. * KTX Express Train: Seoul station(서울역) Dongdaegu Station (동대구역). Subway line 1 toward to Seolhwa-Myeonggok (설화명곡방향) Seobu Intercity Bus Terminal (서부버스정류장) (20 minutes) Haeinsa (해인사) (1 hour 30 minutes). The bus runs every 40~60min. from 06:40 till 20:00. around 20 times a day. * Get off the bus at the Sungbo Museum (성보 박물관). It takes 20 minutes by walk.
*Follow the yellow road once you pass the temple gate. * By taxi: Haeinsa Bus Terminal (해인사 버스터미널) Templestay *Taxi fare 7,000 won.
Busan to Haeinsa Temple
*Seobu Sasang Terminal (서부사상터미널) Goryung Bus Terminal (고령버스터미널) 7:05,8:20, 9:25,10:30, 11:40, 12:50, 14:00, 15:10, 16:10, 17:00, 17:50, 18:40, *Goryung Bus Terminal (고령버스터미널) Haeinsa Temple ( 해인사) - The buses run every 40 minutes.
*Follow the yellow road once you pass the temple gate. * By taxi: Haeinsa Bus Terminal (해인사 버스터미널) Templestay - Taxi fare 7,000 won.
