Photo = Yonhap News

Seoul | May 9, 2023

Child monks on May 9 touch each other's heads after getting them shaved and attending Buddhist principle learning ceremonies at Bodhi Tree Sprout School (unofficial translation), a short-term temple stay for such monks, in the front yard of Daeungjeon (Main Dharma) Hall at Jogyesa Temple in Seoul's Jongno-gu District.

Nine child monks ages 6-7 will take part in the event without their parents to perform rituals with adult monks and learn Buddhist manners. They each received a Buddhist name in participating in the program through May 29 without returning home over the 21-day period. Jogyesa resumed the head shaving and Buddhist principle program for children for the first time in four years since the last in 2019, the year before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.