Holy… Jesus boats!
It’s no surprise that Catholicism has seeped into Filipino culture since the beginning of Spanish colonization, but–I wasn’t quite expecting every mode of transportation– from taxis to tricycles to...
View ArticleRising before dawn in the mountains: a Buddhist templestay at Geumsansa
Geumsansa, one of the largest Buddhist temple complexes in Korea, lies in the quiet, western foothills of Moak Mountain, located in North Jeolla province. “Moaksan, the so-called ‘Mother Mountain’, is...
View ArticleNotes from the covert world of Korean shamanism
CELINE CROSSED HER LEGS and took a long drag of her cigarette. “The shaman told me my grandmother’s hometown. She pointed to it on a map,” she recounted in her thick French accent. “Later, the adoption...
View ArticlePrayers and fortune telling at a Taoist temple
“Before we eat dinner at the night market, we’re going to pray,” Olivia’s mom said as we stopped in front of a Taoist temple in Taichung. My Taiwanese friend Olivia turned to me, “We’re only doing this...
View ArticleA peek inside a Buddhist sculpture studio
Over the past few years, I’ve attended an array of lantern parades and festivals throughout Asia, filled with skillfully-crafted floats and lanterns. I snapped the photo above at the Buddha’s birthday...
View ArticleMonks Hitchhike and Nuns Use WhatsApp
From the middle of the winding dirt road, we heard an engine roar in the distance. Bryan, the Canadian, and Sunnim, the Chinese monk from my Korean class, stopped in their tracks. “Was that the bus?”...
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