On May 27, 2567 Buddhist Era (2023 CE), a celebratory dharma ceremony was held at temples across the Korean Peninsula to mark the day Buddha came to this secular world.

Held at Jogyesa Temple in Seoul, the dharma ceremony was attended by 100,000 members of the fourfold Buddhist community, including executive monastics of the Jogye Order headed by Ven. President Jinwoo, and political figures, including President Yun Seok Yul. In addition, ambassadors to Korea from all over the world, including representatives from Pakistan, Switzerland, and Nepal, attended to mark the Buddha’s Birthday. In order to revisit the meaning of “six dharma offerings,” the Jogye Order added offerings of fruit and rice to the usual six offerings. The dharma ceremony included offerings of lanterns by Ven. Jinwoo and President Yun, offerings of rice by the Indian ambassador to Korea, and other offerings of incense, fruit, tea, and flowers.

In his celebratory remarks, Ven. President Jinwoo of the Jogye Order said, “The mindset to take care of the community and one’s neighbors is the Buddha’s mindset, and this is why Baby Buddha came to Earth.” He further said, “On this Buddha’s Birthday, I join my palms together and make an earnest vow. I vow that all discrimination, hatred, conflict, violence, poverty, and disease will cease. I vow that a pure land of freedom, peace, harmony, order, wisdom and compassion will be realized soon in this world.”

In his dharma talk, the Jogye Order’s Supreme Patriarch, Most Ven. Jungbong Seongpa said, “The suffering of this world cannot be eliminated without love and compassion, and it cannot be relieved without the earnest desire to embrace and take upon ourselves the suffering of all living beings. The lantern of compassion we light today should comfort those who suffer from despair. It should also be a lantern of humility for those who have become arrogant; it should open their eyes to turn their minds around and humble themselves.”

President Yun Seok Yeol stated the theme of this year’s celebration, “Peace of mind, World of the Buddha,” and said in his congratulatory speech, “I will do my best to preserve and transmit Korea’s traditional cultural heritage. The central government’s political philosophy—based on respect for human rights, protecting the vulnerable, and pursuing world peace—is based on the Buddha’s teachings.”