There is a Buddhist
temple in Korea that has an incredible collection of Buddha's teachings.
I had the chance to visit the temple with my family in 2000. Engraved on 80,000 woodblocks, it is considered the most complete collection of
Buddhist texts, laws, and treaties. My parents bought the paperback version. I
don't know why because I don't think they ever read it, but it
was cool to have.
I could read the
text, but I struggled to understand it. Even if I read the sentences out loud I
would retain close to nothing. I understood some of the basic sentences like
"do not kill" or "do not drink" but I couldn't get a sense
of the overall meaning of the text. It didn't help that there was a fair amount
of Chinese calligraphy in the text as well.
I'm certain that one
of the reasons why I wasn't able to understand much of the text was historical
aspect of the text; it was written in the mid 13th century. Additionally, it
isn't a traditional historical text. The text focuses on the teachings of Buddha.
I'm familiar with information dense texts, but all I can do here is pick out
some generic sentences. I feel as if I am missing too much cultural and
historical context to be able to read and retain the information. I would have
to take the reading a couple pages at a time. That would give me the time I
need to make sense of the material and ask my parents for help. I would likely
need a database and a dictionary. My Korean is getting rusty and I can't read Chinese calligraphy.
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