Celebration Ceremony for Buddha's Birthday in the Year 2569: Nationwide Observance at Temples
The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism will hold its Buddha's Birthday celebration ceremony on May 5, 2025, starting at 10 a.m. at Jogyesa Temple in Seoul as well as across the nation.
The ceremony at Jogyesa Temple is expected to be attended by around 10,000 participants, including the head of the order, Monk Jinwoo.
On this day, an award ceremony titled 'Buddhist Layperson Award' will also be held to encourage those who have contributed to the development of Buddhism. Recipients of the award include singer and actor Lee Seung-gi, archer Lim Si-hyeon, who won three gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Jeong Byeong-guk, deputy director of the Jeong Good Policy Institute, and Kim Yoon-bong, director of a law office.
Especially this year, social minorities will partake in the flower offering ceremony, adding significance to the event.
The families of victims of the Jeju Air disaster, the head of the Korean Optical High-Tech branch, co-representatives of the Coalition for the Enactment of Anti-Discrimination Laws, co-chairs of the victims' committee for rental fraud, and families from the National Parents' Federation for Persons with Disabilities will participate.
Meaningful Celebration Ceremony Combining Traditional Practices with Social Minorities
The ceremony will be conducted under the guidance of Monk Namjeon, the head of the propagation department. It will begin with the ceremonies of the purification of the temple, followed by the Six Offerings, and then the rituals of the sound offering of the bell and the gong (28 strikes).
The purification ceremony involves the youth of purity sprinkling incense to cleanse the temple, while the maiden of red spreads flowers to also make the temple clean, in accordance with traditional practice.
Following this, there will be ceremonies for the resonating bell and the purification rites, offering of lamps, offerings of perfume, rice, fruits, and flowers, prayers by Jogyesa Temple's abbot Wonmyeong, conferring of the Buddhist Layperson Award, remarks by the head of the order, Monk Jinwoo, congratulatory remarks from Minister of Culture Yoo In-chon, teachings from the patriarch, and the reading of vows.
The Six Offerings refer to the offering of incense, lamps, flowers, fruits, tea, and rice to the Buddha.
The purpose of using the resonance bell is to awaken the ignorance of all sentient beings, while the gong symbolizes the wish for all beings to hear its sound, escape suffering, and attain enlightenment.
A spokesperson from the Jogye Order stated, "To share the significance of Buddha's Birthday, we invited the families of Jeju Air disaster victims, dismissed workers from Korean Optical High-Tech, the victims' committee for rental fraud, the Coalition for the Enactment of Anti-Discrimination Laws, and families of individuals with developmental disabilities."
Image Source: On May 1, it rained in Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area, as Buddhists took shelter from the rain, gazing at lanterns under the Ilju Gate of Jogyesa Temple in Jongno-gu, Seoul. 2025.5.1/News1. Preparation for the Buddha's Birthday Lantern Festival is underway at Jogyesa Temple in Jongno-gu, Seoul, a day before the festival on May 5. The Lantern Festival, a national intangible heritage and UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, is set to take place at various locations in downtown Seoul from May 26 to 27, representing the traditional cultural festival of the Republic of Korea. 2025.4.25/News1.
