{"id":242431,"date":"2026-05-08T12:29:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T16:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/i-robe-ot-the-android-monk-working-to-reboot-the-faith-of-south-koreas-buddhists-south-korea\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T13:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T17:00:16","slug":"i-robe-ot-the-android-monk-working-to-reboot-the-faith-of-south-koreas-buddhists-south-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/i-robe-ot-the-android-monk-working-to-reboot-the-faith-of-south-koreas-buddhists-south-korea\/","title":{"rendered":"I, robe-ot: the android monk working to reboot the faith of South Korea\u2019s Buddhists | South Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"

I, robe-ot: the android monk working to reboot the faith of South Korea\u2019s Buddhists | South Korea<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/may\/08\/jogyesa-temple-south-korea-humanoid-ai-robot-gabi<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-05-08 12:29:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.theguardian.com<\/a><\/p>\n

A<\/span>mid rows of colourful lanterns strung across the courtyard of Jogyesa temple in Seoul, an unusual ceremony unfolded this week: monks held a Buddhist initiation for a humanoid robot draped in saffron robe.<\/p>\n

They placed a string of 108 prayer beads around the robot\u2019s neck and affixed a lantern festival sticker to its mechanical arm in place of the traditional yeonbi ritual, in which burning incense is lightly pressed against the skin.<\/p>\n

The robot was then presented with a formal certificate listing its manufacture date, 3 March 2026, where a human initiate\u2019s birth date would normally appear.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first we discussed it casually,\u201d Venerable Sungwon, the order\u2019s cultural affairs director, says about the robot ceremony\u2019s origins. \u201cIt began almost as a joke. But the more we thought about it, the more serious it became.<\/p>\n

\u201cRobots are entering our lives so quickly, and people feel familiar with them \u2026 They\u2019re becoming part of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span>People visit Jogyesa temple in Seoul.<\/span> Photograph: Jeon Heon-Kyun\/EPA<\/span>Gabi and Buddhist monks pass around a pagoda during the ordination ceremony.<\/span> Photograph: Lee Jin-man\/AP<\/p>\n

Venerable Sungwon\u2019s temple is the headquarters of the Jogye order, South Korea\u2019s largest Buddhist denomination, and the initiation of its first robot monk comes at a time of uncertainty for the group, as they grapple with falling participation and interest.<\/p>\n

Just 16% of South Koreans now identify as Buddhist, down from about 23% in 2005. Among people in their twenties, the figure drops to 8%. Last year, the Jogye order ordained just 99 new monks, down from more than 200 a decade earlier.<\/p>\n

Yet by another measure, Buddhism has never been more popular. Under its president, Ven Jinwoo, the Jogye order has aggressively courted younger Koreans through what observers call \u201chip Buddhism\u201d using merchandise, meditation apps and viral marketing.<\/p>\n

The ordination of Gabi \u2013 the 130cm humanoid robot \u2013 forms part of this effort to reach more Koreans.<\/p>\n

During the…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I, robe-ot: the android monk working to reboot the faith of South Korea\u2019s Buddhists |…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":242432,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/5b1143f9003cec994382bac4e400e17c4d6f372a\/596_454_3600_2880\/master\/3600.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=116f7c9c1681e0b6f8924d461c68d5ff","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-android"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242431"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242431"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":242433,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242431\/revisions\/242433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}