Dorisa Temple, After the Rain
What can be more refreshing than a rainy spring day in Korea? A trip to one of the oldest Buddhist temples in the country—Dorisa Temple. This was not my first visit. The first time was on a cold December afternoon in 2003, when I made the trip to write a travel piece for the Korea Times. I remember the sharpness of the air that day, the stillness that settles in during winter, when everything feels paused. This time was different. A rainy Saturday afternoon, unplanned. The kind of day where the sky hangs low and the world feels softened at the edges. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, and somehow, it felt exactly right—like the day itself had been leading there. There is something about places like Dorisa Temple ( 도리사 ) that resists time. Not because they remain unchanged—they don’t—but because they seem to absorb the centuries rather than give in to them. Founded, according to tradition, in 417 during the Silla Kingdom by the monk Ado, the temple begins with...
