Amid 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.
They placed a string of 108 prayer beads around the robot’s 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.
The robot was then presented with a formal certificate listing its manufacture date, 3 March 2026, where a human initiate’s birth date would normally appear.
They placed a string of 108 prayer beads around the robot’s 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.
The robot was then presented with a formal certificate listing its manufacture date, 3 March 2026, where a human initiate’s birth date would normally appear.
