SEOUL, South Korea — The deep roots Buddhism has sunk into Korean culture over the past 16 centuries were on display at the annual Lotus Lantern Festival for the Buddha’s birthday.
It was May, and Koreans and foreigners, people of all faiths and no faith, were gathering by one of the main temples in South Korea's capital of Seoul to watch musicians wearing colorful costumes and ecstatic expressions perform and carry lanterns shaped like deities and flowers.
The last performance of the evening, though, came as an illustration of how far Buddhists in South Korea are going to tackle issues affecting their religion, such as demographic decline, secularism and the growth of Christianity.
A DJ takes the stage in Buddhist robes and with headphones on his shaven head. As the electronic dance music builds, he whips the young crowd into a frenzy.
Yoon Seong-ho is a 47-year-old Buddhist, comedian, DJ and rising celebrity.
His Korean stage name, NewJeansNim, suggests some degree of novelty and even progressiveness. It also sounds like NewJeans, a popular K-pop girl group.
He works passages from Buddhist sutras and puns on Buddhist terms into his sets. He sympathizes with the worldly tribulations of his young audience members and tells them to look forward to future rebirths.
“Do you find Buddhism fun?” he asks the bouncing, screaming, cellphone-picture-taking crowd.
"My role is to draw people in"
“Buddhism is a free religion. It doesn't force people to join or to leave,” Yoon explains in an NPR interview in a backstage tent before his show. “I want people to just understand Buddhism. I'm not telling them to become followers.”
A problem he’s trying to address, he says, is that many young South Koreans find Buddhism inaccessible and stuffy.
“My role is to draw people in. The rest is up to the great learned monks, whose role is to relay the teachings of Buddha.”
A Buddhist monk named Namjeon, who is with the Jogye order, Korean Buddhism’s largest sect, says that Yoon has helped “break through these prejudices about Buddhism and improved its image.”
Namjeon, who is in charge of the Jogye order’s efforts to spread Buddhism, adds that “the boldness and fun that break down the idea that religion has to be stern and serious, that's not something we monks can easily bring.”
Not all are feeling his vibe
He admits that not all Buddhists are comfortable with Yoon’s unconventional approach. In Singapore and Malaysia, local Buddhist organizations objected to Yoon’s recent scheduled performances, forcing their cancellation.
But Namjeon argues that Yoon is just one of the latest in a long line of reformers and innovators, stretching back 26 centuries to the Buddha himself.
“In the broad flow of history, there's something Buddhism calls ‘expedient means,’” he explains, “which means adopting measures that are more convenient to the general public in spreading the teachings of Buddha.”
"Expedient means" implies a teaching that may appear unorthodox or even at odds with the principles of Buddhism, but is appropriate to the learner’s ability to comprehend, and leads him or her toward enlightenment.
For that matter, from a Buddhist perspective, any attempt to explain the truth with words and reasoning are only an expedient substitute for direct experience.
At any rate, Namjeon and other Buddhists believe that something needs to be done to stem their faith’s decline.
Buddhism faces a number of challenges in South Korea to keeping the faithful.
South Korea's demographic crisis, as the country with the lowest fertility rate, presents one issue for sustaining devotees.
Census figures show more than half of South Koreans follow no organized religion, and those who do tend to be older.
But another challenge is that many people are turning to Christianity instead.
About a decade ago, Protestantism surpassed Buddhism to become South Korea’s largest religion. A Hankook Research survey last year found 20% of respondents identified themselves as Protestant, compared to 17% for Buddhists.
Yoon Seung-yong, director of the Korea Institute for Religion and Culture in Seoul, says Protestantism appeals more to younger Koreans because it emphasizes individual religious belief.
Buddhism, by contrast, Yoon says, focuses on tradition and monastic communities. Aspects of Buddhism that do focus on individuals, he adds, are popular.
“Buddhism as an organized religion is in decline, but Buddhism in individuals' everyday life is expanding, in the form of meditation or yoga. These two need to be distinguished.”
And just because current trends appear grim, NewJeansNim, the DJ and comedian, tells his audience in his final thoughts at the Lotus Lantern Parade, “nothing’s everlasting in this world. Don’t let your success make you arrogant. And don’t let your failure discourage you.”
He concludes cheerfully: “The world goes round and round. Endure, as I did. Then a good day will come.”
NPR’s Se Eun Gong contributed to this report in Seoul.
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