A 15 foot Buddha relief carved in rock at the Chilsong-am (hermitage). Lanterns with the "stayin' alive" Buddhas are hung to mark the celebration.
Last Saturday, a friend and I went on a Royal Asiatic Society (yes, that's really what it is called!) tour of three Buddhist temples in Seoul: Bomunsa (a temple for female monks), Kaeunsa, and Bongwonsa. The occasion: Buddha's birthday, who according to Korean Buddhist calendars is approximately 2552 years old. Woot! Each temple chose a different way to celebrate the day; from ritual dances and chanting to a very festive version of Korea's Buddhist Laypeople got Talent (yes, a karaoke song contest). Video of that is available upon request.^^
Here is a short video clip of two Buddhist dances (the cymbal and butterfly dances) that were performed by the monks at Bongwonsa.
(Annoyingly, at the moment this seems to require a Facebook login. For those of you non-Facebook users, I'm trying to figure out how best to show the clip. Sorry!)
Female monks at Bomunsa performing the cymbal dance (para mu - 바라무)
A formation of back-up dancers emerges during the karaoke contest at Kaeunsa.
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