why Bongeunsa temple is suddenly full of 20-somethings

Bongeunsa is a Buddhist temple with over 1,000 years of history, sitting in the middle of Gangnam. Lately it's packed with people in their 20s and 30s, and the main draw isn't enlightenment. It's money.

It picked up a reputation online as the place to pray for wealth, helped along by Instagram videos claiming Samsung's Lee Jae-yong goes there. Visitors have invented their own rituals too: toss a coin at the Buddha statue in the pond, walk clockwise around the giant Maitreya statue three times, line up to wash your hands and prayer beads at the spring. None of it is official. It's basically a fan-made quest guide. Then there's the merch. The gongdeok keyring (공덕, merit, basically good-karma points) is a tiny moktak, the wooden block monks tap while chanting. You press it, it makes the tok sound, and you've farmed some merit.

On Oct 2 a shipment of 2,000 sold out in two and a half hours, with a limit of three per person. One 24-year-old told the reporter she prayed to win the lottery. Respect for saying it out loud. Best part is the temple official admitting that chasing wealth isn't really in line with Buddhist doctrine, but they're glad young people find some comfort there. Most honest PR statement of the year. Back home in Sweden the closest ritual we have is a scratch card at the petrol station, and nobody has made a keyring for that.