Furlong Colony 1: Seokbul Temple, Busan: Nazi Outpost?
F U R L O N G C O L O N Y 1
A sporadic update of the important effects unfolding in Furlong Colony 1.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Seokbul Temple, Busan: Nazi Outpost?



It took me 40 minutes in a taxi driven by a clueless Korean cabbie to get there. When I said I want to go to 'Seokbulsa', he gave me that blank expression, fidgeted with his radio, said, "Some foreigner wants to go to "Seokbulsa", but I don't know where it is",and then told me he new where it was. We ended on the opposite side of the mountain range before he was told exactly where it was and that he was on the wrong side, stupid. I chalked up about 20,000 Won worth of fare, but only paid him 15,000 Won because he got me lost. He smiled at me and said, "Okay, okay, okay". He was happy to be rid of me, to stop looking so stupid.

I arrived around 6pm on a Sunday night, which was very, very fortuitous, because not even the monks were at the temple. Everyone was gone. I had the place to myself. Just the surveillance cameras and my camera. I could snap away at the sacred Buddhas without feeling guilty. And I did.

Enjoy Seokbul Temple.

Full-screen slideshow.

14 comments:

AK said...

Rudyard Kipling used that symbol as a signature on all his printed books prior to Nazi Germany. Pretty interesting, check it out on wiki...

Josh said...

Rudyard Kipling was a Nazi?

Douglas Porter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Douglas Porter said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudyard_Kipling#Swastika_in_old_editions

Obviously not. I guess I'll be leaving the swastika up on my blog for quite a long time, Josh, because you seem to be prone to making statements similar to the statements made on Fox News.

Josh said...

It was a joke...I honestly didn't realize the points are in the opposite direction.

Douglas Porter said...

It doesn't matter which way they point. They are of different discourses and hence are different symbols. Them using a different tilt swastika is merely them being polite. Note that they didn't think it important enough to completely stop using a symbol they have been using for a couple of thousand years.

Josh said...

Of course not, they're different symbols.

Douglas Porter said...

No, they are not different symbols. The Buddhist merely tilted it different out of civility. The fact remains, they are same sybol BUT with radically different meanings surrounding them.

Josh said...

It looks to me that it was different prior to the holocaust.

Douglas Porter said...

In Korea, yes, they seem to favor non-tilted swastikas, but the Chinese Buddhists favor the same tilt as the Nazis did.

Josh said...

Right, yours has the points in the opposite direction, untilted, different meaning, therefore, different symbol.

Douglas Porter said...

No, Josh, the Chinese Buddhists have used the exact same symbol to mean something differnet.

Josh said...

If you say so. :)

Chris said...

All you have to do is read Wikipedia to find this out.

 
F U R L O N G C O L O N Y 1
A sporadic update of the important events unfolding in Furlong Colony 1.