The most popular booths at the Buddhism convention in South Korea were the ones selling “Buddhistcore” merch. Attendees, mostly in their 20s and 30s, swarmed and squeezed to grab key chains of the Buddha in neon and with hearts for eyes, and streetwear-style T-shirts with slogans like “Shut up and meditate.”
“I came to buy a shirt, but they were sold out,” said Kim Mijin, 31, as she emerged from the throngs at one stall clutching her purchase. Instead, Ms. Kim, who is not Buddhist, snagged a bright red heart-shaped magnet reading, “Sentient beings I love you.”
Now, she said, “I can show off to my friends that I was at this expo.”
Buddhism promotes the concept of non-attachment: reaching enlightenment by letting go of material possessions, relationships and even emotions. But at the Busan International Buddhist Expo, held in August in South Korea’s second-largest city, the Buddhism on display had been reimagined for young consumers — “Buddhism-core,” as the organizers labeled it.
The convention is one of the many ways that monks around the country are working to demonstrate the modern relevance of a religion that some young people see as old fashioned, esoteric and relegated to secluded mountaintop temples. The Buddhist community also hosted a dating reality television show set in a temple, launched a musical troupe of monks and nuns styled after the K-pop megagroup BTS, and organized surfing lessons as part of a program for temple tourists.
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