Lunar New Year's Day at Naksansa

As these pictures show, Naksan did indeed get a shave. If you could ignore the long lines of piled, blackened pine logs, you might admire the improved views from the base of the 23 metre Kwaneum Buddha at the peak of Naksan. Unfortunately, you can't ignore the long lines of piled, blackened pine logs; the view actually is both depressing and very orderly.


I don't know what will be done with the Naksan lumber but some big tree trunks, probably from Russia, maybe Canada, are stacked and ready to begin the rebuilding. They don't look like they were soaked for a year or a few years in salt and then fresh water. I know that was how the 80,000 wood blocks for the Koreana Tripitaka were prepared; wasn't a similar process used to prepare the temple lumber? I seem to remember hearing about the base of many temple logs being white from the salt settling and leaching out.
Notice the rabbit sitting at the base of the wood pile. I also saw many woodpeckers; they are attracted to dead wood and Naksan is a motherload right now.

I'm sorry about the order of the pictures right now. I am sick with a cold and don't care enough to fix the order. Proper blogging will resume shortly.

Anyway, I don't know when new trees will be planted. Ironically, I was looking for a place to plant trees on Arbor Day 2005 when Naksan burned. If plans are made for volunteers to plant on the hills and slope around Naksan for this year's Arbor Day, you'll read about it here.