May is a month filled with various dates of celebration and Korean national holidays. Children’s Day, Parent’s Day, Teacher’s Day, and many more. Out of the legal holiday of Korea in May, one can pick Buddha’s Birthday as one of the iconic celebration dates of Korea.
The date of Buddha’s Birthday varies each year since it is based on the Lunar Calendar date of April 8th. The celebration is based on the Solar Calendar but the date is based on the Lunar calendar; hence, the date of actual celebration changes around May. In certain years, such as 2020, 2039, 2058, and 2077, Buddha’s birthday is celebrated on April 30th.
To celebrate temples, Korea uses colorful 연등 (Yeon-deung), which is a lantern that is in various shapes, most famous for the Lotus flower shape. The Yeon-deung is intended to make one’s might bright, clear, and upright, to praise Buddhist virtue (불덕, Bul-deok, 佛德), and to take refuge in the great and generous Buddha. The origin of the colors used is the five colors that represent cardinal directions and the center. Blue for Worth, Red for South, Yellow for Center, White for West, and Black for North. Notwithstanding, temples also use various colors from those five, such as green, pink, and orange, to decorate their temples.
Another part of the ceremony is playing particular music that represents the worship of Buddha. It is called 찬불가 (Chan-bul-ga) in Korean and means Buddhist worship songs. The origin of Buddhist worship songs goes back to the Joseon dynasty, particularly to the period of King Sejong.
King Sejong, who created Hangul, or the Korean language, constructed 내불당 (內佛堂) (Nae-bul-dang), a temple, in Gyeongbok palace to strengthen the worship of Buddha in the royal family. Celebrations regarding Buddha were held inside this temple. To make the celebrations majestic, King Sejong composed Buddhist worship songs by himself, composing a total of seven songs and these are the titles and contents of the lyrics:
1. 앙홍자지곡 (仰鴻慈之曲) (Ang-hong-ja-ji-gok)
Song that hopes the mercy of Buddha to spread all over the country.
2. 발대원지곡 (發大願之曲) (Bal-dae-one-ji-gok)
Song that hopes the immense vow and wish of people to come true.
3. 융선도지곡 (隆善道之曲) (Yoong-sun-do-ji-gok)
Song that hopes for the flourishing of good karma in the country.
4. 묘인연지곡 (妙因緣之曲) (Myo-in-yeon-ji-gok)
Song that hopes the relationships and destiny among people bloom beautifully.
5. 포법운지곡 (布法雲之曲) (Po-beob-un-ji-gok)
Song that hopes the law of Buddha spreads like a cloud in the country.
6. 연감로지곡 (演甘露之曲) (Yeon-gam-ro-ji-gok)
Song that hopes this country’s people will recognize reincarnation and forever life.
7. 의정혜지곡 (依定慧之曲) (Ey-jeong-hye-ji-gok)
Song that hopes the Buddhists in the country realize that practice and enlightenment are one thing.
During the Joseon Dynasty, it was extremely rare for a king to compose a song by himself. Sejong, on the other hand, composed about 40 songs, proving his talents in music. Out of those 40 songs, about ¼ of the songs are related to the religion of Buddhism and were composed to celebrate Buddha’s birthday. The mere existence of these 7 songs represents the importance and meaning of Buddha to Korea and its people.
These days celebration of Buddha’s birthday in Korea is changing rapidly. Until a decade ago, the celebrations at the temple were more calm and static. Whereas, the most recent Buddha’s birthday celebration in the Korean temple included songs and performances like festivals. This also shows the correlation to the celebration during the Joseon Dynasty but in a more trendy way, positively impacting Buddhism by increasing the interest of Buddha through the new GenZ generation in Korea.