Mix martial arts with meditation at a South Korean temple retreat

South China Morning Post

22-06-2025

The hollow donnngg of a bell gently burrows into my sleep. It is a comforting, if unfamiliar, sound, accompanying the strange new dreams of a foreign place, a new bed, an unfamiliar night.
Again and again, with increasing persistence, the bell calls me out of my sleep, sounding like a bullfrog in the woods. Donnngg … donnngg. I am still swimming towards consciousness when the ringing stops and the deep baritone chanting of a monk fills the predawn air.
As I awake, I slowly remember where I am: in a narrow bunk bed in a dormitory at the Golgulsa Templestay, on South Korea's Hamwolsan mountain, about to start a second day learning an ancient meditative martial art. I have signed up to be a Buddhist warrior for a few days. To practise or to pretend, I am not sure.
A painting of a seonmudo master adorns a temple window. Photo: Fiona Ching
As the monk's voice drones over the loudspeakers, I rise, wash and walk through the morning dark to the practice hall for meditation.
When I arrived at Golgulsa, I was issued with a temple uniform – baggy, faded-orange cotton trousers held up with a string, and a matching vest – and then assigned a bed in an undecorated room with six bunks, two toilets and glaring fluorescent lights. I am sharing it with a Korean and an American. New arrivals are repeatedly reminded of the strict rules: be punctual; don't smoke, drink alcohol or eat meat; stay out of the rooms occupied by the opposite sex; and wear modest clothing.
I am here to learn, or at least learn about, seonmudo ('meditative martial art'), which combines spiritual elements
such as meditation , yoga and
qigong with striking and defensive techniques. It is said to have been practised by Korean monks for centuries and perhaps even used against foreign invaders.
Master Hyunwoong and temple volunteers give a seonmudo demonstration. Photo: Fiona Ching
Exponents claim seonmudo improves energy flow and opens the joints, helps with spinal problems and lumbago, improves digestion and alleviates depression, obesity and constipation. My middle-aged body felt eager for the benefits, even if I was not ready for the effort involved in achieving them.