Location Finder

Wongaksa

  1. Home
  2. » Wongaksa
Basic information
Address:
627 W Chelten Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19126, USA
Sectarian affiliation(s):
  • Mahayana
Cultural, linguistic, ethnic representation:
  • Korean
Geographic origins of institution, founder, or network:
  • Korea
Best time to visit:

Sundays 11–1

Date last visited: March 10, 2016
Currently active?: As of the last time it was visited by our research team, this location was open.
Other Basic Information:

Korean Mahayana temple, est. "several decades ago," affiliated with Jogye order. One monk in residence.

Local setting, neighborhood, demographics

Located in a Korean neighborhood in the Cheltenham suburbs of Philadelphia, the temple’s attendees are all of Korean descent. There are, on average, ten people per session, who are mostly elderly.

Connections with medicine, healing, wellness

The interviewee explains that bowing and eating vegetarian meals are "physical" healing, mediation is "mental" healing, and chanting is "social" healing. The weekly ceremony session involves full-body prostrations for the duration of forty-five minutes to an hour. These cleanse the body and mind as people acknowledge their wrongdoings with humility and devotion. Vegetarian meals cleanse the body and prevent illness.