MY SEOUL (SOUTH KOREA) LOCAL BUDDHIST TEMPLES PHOTOGRAPH MEMOIR

About the Book

Seoul has been the capital of Korea since 1392, and today is one of the world's largest metropolitan centers. Amid its modern skyscrapers and ultra-futuristic infrastructure are echos of its ancient past. For centuries, Seoul's three best known Buddhist temple complexes have been in so many ways a separate world from the rest of the city. Buddhist monks and nuns have lived in, slept and recited Buddhist mantras in some of the most beautiful temples ever built. Despite centuries and war on the Korean peninsula, these Buddhist temples have withstood the test of time and can be seen both by the Buddhist faithful as well as visitors. Mr. Nardini's book explores these three of Seoul's best known Buddhist temple complexes; Bongwonsa, Jogyesa and Bongeunsa. His book depicts these great centers of Buddhist learning in South Korea that seem aloof from one of the world's greatest cities and yet all three are very much a part of it.

About the Author

Daniel Nardini was born in Bloomington, Illinois, and raised in Elmhurst, Illinois. He graduated from Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin, in 1983, with a bachelors degree in anthropology and history, and from Western Illinois University in Macomb, in 1986, with a masters degree in European and Asian history. Mr. Nardini taught English as a foreign language in Taiwan from 1990 to 1994, and in South Korea from 1996 to 1997. He worked as an editor for Lawndale News in Cicero, Illinois, from 1994 to 2014, and as a newspaper correspondent for The Fulton Journal in Fulton, Illinois, from 2018 to 2020. Mr. Nardini has written eight other books. They are: South Korea; Our Story; The Day China Cried; My Taiwan, Seoul, and Guadalajara (Mexico) Memoirs; My Italian American Family, Rural Taiwan, and Lawndale News Memoirs; My South Korea Photograph Memoir; My Taiwan Photograph Memoir; A Taoist in Rural Illinois; and More Lawndale News Memoirs. Mr. Nardini is retired, and lives with his wife Jade in Chadwick, Illinois.