Bongeunsa is a historic Buddhist temple located at the heart of Seoul, in its downtown section.

Baekjung, also known as "All Souls' Day," is a Buddhist holiday of special religious significance, which falls on the Lunar 15th of July.

It is the day when the summer retreat by Buddhist monks draws to an end as well as the day when Uranbunhoe (Uran Festival) takes place.

[Interview] On Uranbunjeol, we celebrate our faith that all sentient beings can be reborn in paradise after death, including our deceased parents.

This is therefore a day when people pray for the rebirth of their deceased parents and ancestors in front of their spirit tablets. They may pray for ancestors up to seven generations back.

In the hope of delivering their deceased parents from the suffering of hell, people hold cheondoje, a ritual to guide dead souls to heaven.

Ahead of cheondoje, believed to lead all souls to heaven, the faithful must prepare offerings.

One of the first items they need to prepare is paper clothes.

By offering paper clothes at the altar, a descendant symbolically provides ancestral spirits with new clothes. Aside from paper clothes, a brass arrowhead is presented at the altar, together with flowers and food offerings.

In a touching display of filial piety, descendants make an earnest entreaty to the Buddha that their dead ancestors be allowed into paradise where no pain or suffering exists.

Ahead of Baekjung, the faithful write up a prayer text in which they express their wish for the rebirth of their deceased parents and ancestors in Amitabha’s paradise.

The prayer text is presented to Buddhist monks on the 15th of Lunar July, the last day of their summer retreat.

Uranbunjeol originates from the legend of Maudgalyayana, one of the Buddha’s ten major disciples.

목련존자는 지옥으로 떨어진 어머니를 구제하기 위해 하안거 해제일에 음식, 의복, 향촉 등을 갖추어 고승대덕들에게 공양하여 어머니를 구원하게 되었다는 이야기가 전해진다.

The legend has it that Maudgalyayan rescued his deceased mother who had fallen into hell by making offerings of food, clothes, incense and candles to venerable old monks on the last day of the summer retreat.

During the cheondoje rite, Buddhist monks perform ritualistic chants.

The Lunar 15th of July is believed to be the best day of the year to lead the souls of sentient beings to heaven, as all 84,000 gates of the Buddhist hell are open on this day.

The bara dance performed by the monks is another form of prayer, as it wards off evil spirits and purifies the sanctuary to thereby ease the path of sentient beings to heaven.

By invoking the souls of their past ancestors and deceased parents to the Buddha’s sanctuary to have them hear scriptures and by making heartfelt offerings, people hope to bring joy to them and transform them, which they believed would help with their rebirth in paradise.

As dusk sets in, prayer lanterns are lit one by one.

The temple is eventually bathed in light by a sea of lanterns.

In Buddhism, lanterns are a symbol of enlightenment. Lighting prayer lanterns is therefore considered one of the most valuable offerings that can be made to the Buddha.

The faithful light each of the lanterns with an ardent hope that their prayers will be heard and granted.

The final segment of the uran rite is homa in which the wooden tablet containing the prayer is placed on the altar and set on fire. As fire symbolizes the Buddha’s wisdom, by burning the paper clothes and the prayer text, the faithful hope to eradicate all karmic hindrances and afflictions that have burdened their existence.

[Interview]: I am really happy at the idea that they will be reborn in paradise.

Uranbunhoe, a festival celebrating filial piety and the Buddhist mission of saving all sentient beings, has, in time, become intimately interwoven with the popular culture of Korea and has grown into a traditional holiday that reaches beyond religious confines.