Lay and Cultural Activites

Korean Buddhism celebrates four major holidays by the lunar calendar, with Buddha’s Birthday on the 8th day of the 4th lunar month being the biggest celebration. On this day each year, followers go to a temple, participate in the Bathing the Buddha ceremony, and hang a lantern. Below the lantern they can write the name of someone or their hopes and wishes.
Pre-Buddha’s Birthday cultural celebrations began as long ago as the Silla and United Silla dynasties (57 B.C.E.- 935 C.E.). Now, usually on the Sunday before Buddha’s Birthday, a huge cultural festival is held in downtown Seoul with a number of events taking place, including a massive lantern parade at night through the city. It has become a highly popular festival with visiting foreigners as well as with locals.
Events include exhibitions, street performances and a massive Dharma meeting. The people at the meeting then form the parade, which winds its way down a main thoroughfare in Seoul. The dazzling display of lanterns and floats, traditional and modern bands, dance and song, and a grand finale at the end of the parade route make for a spectacular event. But why are the lanterns so important?

These lotus lanterns represent the Buddhist Dharma and our sincere wish for attainment. One of the sutras tells the story of a poor old woman, Nanda, who wanted to offer a lamp when she heard that the Buddha was coming to visit, and so she sold her hair for the money to buy a tiny little oil lamp. After the festivities were over, all the lanterns were put out but hers, which refused to go out. A simple lamp from the sincerity of the heart brightens the entire world. In Korea there were many kinds of lanterns when Buddhist culture flourished. Many of these were lost following the repression of Buddhism during the Joseon Dynasty (1395-1910), and only the lotus lanterns remained. Since 1996, however, the Buddha’s Birthday Festival Committee has promoted the revival of traditional lanterns and now each year there are exhibitions, lantern making events, and other cultural activities.