Bamboozled by Buddhists – Story from Seoul
Let me lay it on the line. On Monday, June 18th, I was exploring Seoul as I had done over the previous few days, and after looking through some large shopping centers nearby (and buying nothing), The views from my walk that day were beautiful, so here’s some pictures below.
I decided to sit down and play Ocarina for a hot second. I got some compliments and smiles as people walked by, and as I was just about to pack up and leave, these two cute girls approach me. As a single lad, I had no qualms to this, and they asked me if I knew about Korean Thanksgiving. They were attempting to explain a Buddhist ceremony, and they said that at their temple they do that ceremony for foreigners.
They invited me to go to their temple, and since I had no plans, I accepted. We went on the Subway a few stops, a line switch, and then a few more stops before the 5 minute walk to their temple, which was just the 2nd floor of a building they rented out. The long journey made me a bit suspicious. Because there were other foreigners there seeming to be having fun, my suspicions reduced until they handed me a form to fill out. It asked for way too many personal details, so I made sure to lie on some of them. As soon as they seemed less shady, they had to take several steps back.
I filled out the form, and then they find one of their friends at the temple with better English to help explain things to me. They taught me how to do some oddly specific traditional bows, put me in a traditional robe, and then told me briefly how the ceremony worked. And then I went into a separate room to do the ceremony.
The two girls and some sort of priestess woman were in there, and they said to have a dead relative to pray for and a wish for yourself. The ceremony went on, and the priestess performed a lengthy chant while we were in a bow for about 15 minutes, which caused a bit of neck pain by the end. Next, there was some sort of choreographed bowing, where we’d bow, take a few steps left or right, bow again, and so on. We were also told to not look towards the shrine.
The priestess would occasionally tell us to think of our wish, and as it went on, my wish became please don’t kidnap me. Given that it was a Buddhist temple full of foreigners, there for that type of ceremony (or even who came back just to hang out), that was going a bit down the deep end. But given the excessive information they wanted and how long I spent in the shrine room, I got a bit stir crazy. Eventually, the ceremony ended when we were given a paper to burn and poured ceremonial wine (from a convenient store).
Miraculously, when leaving the room, my belongings were still there, the foreigners were still there, and they went on to explain the ceremony further while giving a variety of fruits and snacks to me. They said how the bowing and such is to respect your ancestor, and that the eventual burning of paper helps them if they died young or unnaturally go to heaven. They said how doing so gives you good karma and how doing good gets you good. At that point I realized what was going on.
The ceremony and food were to get me invested in them mentally thanks to the time commitment and that they were doing me a favor, which, as someone who read Cialdini’s Influence, realized that this was by-the-book sales technique. They then asked for a donation to their temple, saying how it’s entirely run by donations. On top of that, they showed pictures of how they help take care of elderly people with Alzheimer’s. As someone with family members who are or were afflicted by it, that really tugged on my heart strings. They said how in karma, if you do good now, you get good later, meaning donate here and you will be blessed. They weakened my defenses through everything (which was probably their plan the whole time), so I made the 50,000 won ($46ish) recommended donation.
The cute Buddhist girls asked me to come again the next day, and after seriously considering it for just a moment, I told them that I… uh… forgot that I had made plans with people from my hostel that day.
Yeah.
I felt the whole experience was worth the 50,000 won, since it was so unique, they gave me food, and it appears to be for a good cause. I have been under-budget every day on this trip, so that gives me even fewer restraints in donating. Would I come back there? No. Would I recommend getting bamboozled by Buddhist girls to have a strange ceremony, fear losing your things, and a smooth ask for a donation? No to that either. My hostel mates who’d been in Korea for months say they’ve faced similar tourist traps man times and that I shouldn’t have given in. And they’re right.
But did I have a memorable experience that I don’t regret spending the time and money on?
Heck yeah.
Andy Cormier 