Jinkwansa Temple's state-sponsored Suryukjae, a Buddhist rite with a 628-year history, will conclude its 49-day program this weekend with a commemorative ceremony and a closing rite.
Jinkwansa Temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism and the Jinkwansa Suryukjae Preservation Society said on the 20th that the final seventh rite of the state-sponsored Suryukjae, which began on Sept. 6, will be performed as a public event at the temple in Seoul's Eunpyeong District on the 24th and 25th.
Suryukjae is a Buddhist ritual that consoles all souls who died on water and on land, offering the Buddha's teachings and ritual offerings to pray for their rebirth in paradise. The state-sponsored Suryukjae at Jinkwansa Temple has continued for 628 years since a Suryuksa, a hall for the rite, was established at the temple in 1397, the sixth year of King Taejo's reign in the Joseon Dynasty. It was designated a National Intangible Cultural Heritage in December 2013.
This year's rite is held under the theme "The Whole World Is One Family — Harmony and World Peace." Organizers said it is an occasion to pray for a world where all life is respected and coexists peacefully, beyond differences of religion, ideology, ethnicity and national borders.
At the commemorative ceremony on the 24th, Jinwoo, executive director of the Jogye Order, will deliver an address, followed by congratulatory remarks from guests including Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and a reading of a peace declaration by Park In-jun, chairman of the Korean Conference on Religion and Peace. At the daytime rite that follows, Seongpa, the supreme patriarch of the Jogye Order, will give a dharma talk on the theme "Among the Boundless Worlds, the Pure Land Is Foremost." The rite will close on the 25th with the nighttime ceremony, including the sending-off rite and the threefold closing rite.
Jinkwansa Temple is seeking to have the state-sponsored Suryukjae inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. "The spirit of respect for life, compassion, equality and mutual flourishing embodied in Suryukjae represents universal human values that are not confined to any particular religion or country," a temple official said.