▲ People gather around the commemorative tower Lit in Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul on April 17, 2024, to celebrate Buddha's Birthday. (Yonhap)

 

SEOUL, April 18 (Yonhap) -- On the afternoon of the 17th, the Buddha's Birthday Celebration Committee and Lantern Preservation Committee, organized by domestic Buddhist groups, held the lighting ceremony for the commemorative tower marking the year 2568 (2024) in the Buddhist calendar at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul.

 

This year's commemorative lantern depicting Buddha's Birthday was designed in the shape of the 9-story wooden pagoda at Hwangryongsa Temple.

 

The committee explained that they modeled the lantern after the 9-story wooden pagoda at Hwangryongsa Temple, which was built during the Silla period under the suggestion of the monk Jajang (慈藏) Yulsa to Queen Seondeok, with the aim of uniting the nation through Buddha's teachings and wishing for peace and happiness to fill the world. The commemorative lantern tower is set to illuminate until May 15th, Buddha's Birthday.

 

Ven. Jinwoo, the Chairman of the Buddha's Birthday Celebration Committee and Executive Director of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, said during the lighting ceremony, "May the 'Hwangryongsa 9-story wooden pagoda lantern' at Gwanghwamun be a beacon of wisdom and light in this chaotic world, guiding all citizens towards the path of peace and enlightenment, and each as protagonists of their own lives."

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