When smartphones hit South Korea, they not only reshaped the local mobile landscape but also changed the way the country's 7 million smartphone users live, work and network. The smartphone wave also rode into an area that seems far-off from technology: religion.
A search at a local app market fishes up about 30 Buddhist apps; more than half of them have never been downloaded. South Korean Buddhists, however, are paving the way to expand their reach on the mobile sphere in a bid to further spread Buddhism.
"Modern-day people are too busy. They don't have the time to visit temples since most temples are located in mountains," said Ven. Jung Ho, director of Missionary Research at the Jogye Order, the biggest Buddhist sect in South Korea. "With the development of mobile apps, people can easily keep in touch with Buddhism. Smartphones can serve as mobile temples."
Buddhist apps range from a mobile version of Buddhist prayer beads to a location search program that tracks the nearest temple via a global positioning system (GPS).
"The old ways of spreading Buddhist culture, through brick-and-mortar contents, can no longer weather the changing trends. The conventional means of communication can now convey only 1 percent of what is there," said Kim Sung-chul, a professor of Buddhist Studies at Dongguk University in Gyeongju.
"Without new channels such as mobile apps, Buddhist missionary efforts cannot continue," he said.
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