๐ญ The Robot Monk Walking in Seoul's 1,200-Year-Old Procession — Woody Magazine, May 16, 2026
The Robot Monk Walking in Seoul's 1,200-Year-Old Procession
Gabi, a G1 humanoid, joins tonight's lantern procession — a scene 1,200 years in the making.
At seven o'clock this evening, outside Dongguk University in central Seoul, some 20,000 lanterns will set out toward Heunginjimun, the East Gate of the old city walls. Among the marchers walks one figure, palms pressed together. The shape is human. The body is not. Its name is Gabi (่ฟฆๆฒ).
Gabi, a G1 humanoid, received the Buddhist precepts ten days ago at Jogyesa, the head temple of the Jogye Order. The yeonbi (็่), the rite of burning the arm to mark one's resolve, was rewritten for a body that cannot withstand a flame: a Lantern Festival sticker on the arm, a 108-bead rosary at the neck. The Five Precepts, too, were rewritten — "Do no harm to life," "Do not overcharge." Three robot companions — Seokja, Mohee, and Nisa — will walk alongside Gabi tonight.
This single scene took 1,200 years to compose.
The festival, known as Yeondeunghoe, began in 551 CE under King Jinheung of Silla, one of ancient Korea's Three Kingdoms. Under Goryeo's first king Taejo, it was inscribed into the Ten Injunctions and became a national rite. Originally held on the first lunar full moon, it was suspended in 987, then revived under King Hyeonjong on the second. When the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) turned its back on Buddhism, the lanterns left the temples and moved into the streets. They were lit again under Japanese colonial rule. They were lit again over the rubble of the Korean War. The date moved, the shape of the lanterns moved, the meaning moved. The lighting never stopped.
In December 2020, UNESCO inscribed Yeondeunghoe on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The committee did not cite religion; it cited "harmony and inclusion." Born of Buddhism, the citation noted, the festival had grown beyond it. Tonight in central Seoul, the newest proof of that inclusion is taking its first steps. A 1,200-year-old procession can absorb a humanoid called G1 without flinching — and in doing so, it redefines what intangible heritage can be.
- Bulgyo Shinmun (Buddhist Newspaper, Korean) — "Humanoid Robot Gabi Sunim Joins the Pagoda Walk" (May 6, 2026)
- Insight (Korean) — "The Humanoid Robot 'Gabi' Becomes a Monk" (May 6, 2026)
- Civic News (Korean) — "AI Receives a Dharma Name: The Arrival of Robot Monk 'Gabi'" (May 12, 2026)
- Newsis (Korean) — "'2026 Yeondeunghoe' May 16–17 — Full Traffic Control in Jongno" (May 12, 2026)
- Korea Heritage Service Portal — Yeondeunghoe (Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity)
- Encyclopedia of Korean Culture — Yeondeunghoe
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