Jogye Order Events

One of the biggest events out of these four is the celebration of the Buddha’s birthday. On that day, followers go to a temple, participate in the ceremony of bathing the baby Buddha, and hang (&/or create) a lantern. Below their lantern, they can write the name of a person or their wishes. 

The biggest celebration, in connection to the Buddha’s birthday, is known as Yeongdeunghoe. This celebration started in the Shilla and Unified Shilla Dynasties (57 B.C.E – 935 C.E.), and in modern day, is now more of a cultural celebration, than only a Buddhist one. A specific Buddhist event that happens, however, during this celebration is the Yeonngsanjae, which will be discussed later. 

Yeongdeunghoe is particularly focused on the lantern parade. The lotus lanterns represent the Buddha, Dharma, and a person’s wish for enlightenment. 

A story told of this event is that a poor old woman, Nanda, wanted to offer a lamp to the Buddha when she heard the Buddha was going to visit her town. Since she was poor, she sold her hair to get enough money to buy a small oil lamp. After the festival, every lantern went out, except for hers, showing that this lamp represented her sincerity.² The old woman’s lamp also glowed so bright, it helped bring light to the world, metaphorically and physically. This story, which came from a Buddhist sutra, highlights what the lotus lantern represents in Buddhism. During this celebration, specifically when hanging their lanterns, people often pray to wish their country, communities, family, and themselves good luck. This can be connected to how the woman’s lamp brought light to not just herself, but to others. This celebration highlights the awakening of a person’s true nature, and that through the Buddha’s wisdom, anyone, no matter their status, can achieve enlightenment. 

In modern day, while this belief of well-wishing and sincerity still holds strong, the celebration has also expanded to go beyond these Buddhist values. There are other lanterns, which celebrate historic figures in Korean history, such as King Sejong, who created the hangul system.³ There are also lanterns of drums, tigers, cranes, fishes, and flowers.⁴ Some representing Buddhist values, while others more aligned with the general cultural remembrance and celebration. 

Yeongsanjae is within the Yeongdeunghoe festival, but is more focused on Buddhist belief and rituals compared to the overall festival, which is more general and the theme is celebrating the community and the nation. Yeongsanjae is an event where Buddhist monks re-enact Siddhartha Gautama’s sermon, known as the Lotus Sutra. This ritual is performed to wish the deceased to rest in peace and be free from any suffering. This ritual consists of ritual chants (hwacheong), musical elements (beompae), and dance and theatrical elements like a butterfly and a cymbals dance. 

Yeongsanjae because of the Lotus Sutra has a symbolic meaning. It is a reenactment of the Buddha presided over the dharma assembly, or a gathering of monks to study together to achieve enlightenment, on Vulture Peak, which was one of the Buddha’s favorite retreats from the world and where he gave many talks to his followers. 

Historically, this ritual lasted three days, but now only lasts a single day. This ritual is made of four parts. The first stage, the introduction, consists of six steps where the enlightened sages and deceased spirits are invited and welcomed into the ritual space. The second and third stage, the development and climax, are made of five steps. These steps consist of offerings to those welcomed in, and the ceremony is performed. The last stage is the conclusion, where the living monks escort and part with the spirits.⁵ 

If you want to learn more about the Lotus Sutra, a key sutra in Buddhism, this link is a great source to learn more about it: https://www.sgi-usa.org/the-humanism-of-the-lotus-sutra/the-lotus-sutra/.

Winter Solstice Event

An event, outside of the typical four major Buddhist events, held often in temple space is a winter solstice event, where there is the rite, dongji gosa (Winter Solstice Rite). During this event, families or monks make red bean porridge, and kimchi, in order to offer it to their relatives or the spirits (in the case of the monks).

Red bean porridge in Korean culture symbolizes good wishes, and red is seen to ward off evil spirits.⁸ People who are part of this event give offerings to household deities and ancestors at their family shrine or in some cases at a temple. People also sprinkle the porridge around the house, so that their home becomes a space full of good wishes. After this, members of the family serve each other the remaining porridge.

While this is not a Buddhist ritual, this ritual does have Buddhist values, such as kindness and generosity. The Jogye Order temples, including Gwaneumsa Temple, have adopted certain population religion’s practices, instead of being strictly Seon Buddhist. At the temple, monks celebrate this through making the porridge and offering it to the spirits as well as the deceased patriarch or masters. The lay people can also bring something of the deceased to give the offering within the temple. The monks also use this space to cleanse the temple, since red will ward off evil spirits and red bean porridge will also bring in good luck to the temple.