Heaven Korea II

By Bernard Rowan

Today I'm writing about one of my favorite hermitages in Seoul. It's a place less traveled but ever-present for the seeker. Korea is heaven on earth; believe and act on that dream. I only just learned the name of this place: Hwangudan. It can mean "Temple of Heaven." What's Heaven Korea? Hwangudan tells us.

Hwangudan came to be during the Goryeo Kingdom (918–1392) as a place for kings to perform religious-political rites. King Seongjong and others after him created and upheld their form of the Temple of Heaven as they found it in Beijing. The rites for heaven called forth a good harvest, honored gods of the earth and heaven, and memorialized royal leadership of people under the gods.

I've never stayed at the Westin Chosun hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, where Hwangudan now stands. It's nearly smack-dab in the middle of the city. I've stayed at Hotel President on the other side. On an early morning walk one day, I found Hwangudan and began to treat it as a place for retreat and contemplation. Even though it's in one of Seoul's busiest places, it's hidden away and surprisingly quiet. Sometimes protesters occupy the location near the street. I keep a picture of the main building, Hwangungu Shrine, in my office. Hwangudan remains an icon of possibility.

Online, I've enjoyed pictures of Hwangudan that show how much the place has changed over time. Old pictures capture the beautiful mountains in its aura. We have a harder time seeing them past the skyscrapers. The overall tendency of time has been to reduce the Temple's space. That's okay I suppose. Hwangudan looks reasonably well-maintained. It has several well-detailed explanation markers.

I enjoyed one website that spoke of a reenactment of the royal ceremony (gocheonje) held there in 2002. An online article by David Mason reminds the reader that these royal ceremonies continue. They're part of Chuseok and Lunar New Year family rites. These rites admit of various forms. This shows Korean syncretism. Know that what's the same moves and assumes different forms and content over time.

Today instead of ancient animal sacrifices, Hwangudan symbolizes how Korea creates and diffuses its many technologies and products for world consumption as an offering. Doing so has redounded to the peace, advancement, security and prosperity of the Korean people and the world. Hwangudan shows Korea as a place where the good of heaven comes to earth. Not kings now but the works of her people have become the rites in their reality.

Hwangudan stands between Namsan and Bukhansan, two beautiful mountains in Seoul. Her geography points to her purpose. Only through cultivating the space that opens between other wider places, greater or smaller, has Korea advanced. Hwangudan represents the root "betweenness" or what I prefer to call the syncretistic position of Korea. It's an alternative idea of "center" that doesn't privilege or premise an "all-or-nothing" ideal state. Politically, this remains true for Korea today. It held true for Korea in the age of China's empires, and later also in the time of the Japanese empire. It arguably remains true now for world powers in Asia and beyond. It points to the best way of continuing power, advancement, civilization, and happiness.

Korea needn't aspire to become a "superpower," though I'm not trying to tell the Koreans what to do. Hwangudan is the best symbol of any such idea as foolish and wrongheaded. King Gojong's effort to claim empire was a fool's errand or act of hubris. He declared Korea an ‘empire' and began to worship at this site. His hubris as a king, envying emperors on par with Chinese and Japanese powers, didn't work. Contrariwise, Korea should continue to recognize that its security and advancement wants a different style of leadership. Hwangudan shows that a culture at the center can cultivate and base progress on harmony among partners, on plural and overlapping relations, not on biased superiority and fundamental hierarchies of power.

Hwangudan symbolizes Korea's greatness and way, as in the way forward for past, present, and future. Korea surpasses superpowers in some ways. Continue to do so. Follow the syncretistic style of cultivating harmony with other world powers on all sides. This also applies to Korea's combination of grand theo-philosophies, Confucianism and Buddhism. The energies of heaven come to earth by respecting the harmonies represented by civilization under the taeguk.

Living a myth or true lie makes it real; dreams come true. Others call true myths dreams. As we see ourselves into the future, we can move to make those hopes happen. Hwangudan is a symbol of Korea as heaven brought down to earth. May it remind all Koreans of their special place in the universe and the qualities of civilization and advancement that Korea holds for all, beginning with Korean society and the Korean people. I have written you in love and peace.

Bernard Rowan is associate provost for contract administration and professor of political science at Chicago State University, where he has served for 22 years. He is a past scholar of the Korea Foundation and former visiting professor at Hanyang University.