"I Want to Leave Home"... Jamboree German Scouts Hold 'Head Shaving Ceremony' at Beopjusa Temple

German Participants Visiting for Temple Stay Experience
"Moved by the Life of the Monk... Will Shave Heads"

It was recently revealed that some German scouts who participated in the 2023 Saemangeum World Scout Jamboree shaved their heads while doing a templestay at Beopjusa Temple in Songnisan, Boeun, Chungbuk.

Ven. Gakwoon of Beopjusa Temple in Sogrisan, Boeun, Chungbuk, is cutting the hair of a German scout who participated in the temple stay after the closing ceremony of the 2023 World Scout Jamboree.
[Image provided by Beopjusa]

According to Beopjusa Temple on the 14th, about 40 German scouts experienced a templestay from the 12th to the 13th. They stayed in Korea after the jamboree to engage in cultural experiences. The German scouts performed 108 prostrations during the dawn prayer for the victims of the Ukraine war and prayed for world peace while striking the drum (beopgo) and bell (beomjong).

Later, during a tea talk with a monk, one girl scout said, "I was moved by the life of the monk who prays not for himself but for others," and requested to shave her head, saying, "I want to become a monk too."

The monk responded, "Shaving your head is not something to do as a joke," and said she needed to get consent from her parents back home. However, the girl did not change her mind, and with the consent of the leaders who came with her, the head-shaving ceremony was eventually carried out.

Including the girl, eight people participated in the head-shaving before the closing ceremony. The head-shaving ceremony was personally conducted by Monk Gakwoon, the deputy head monk of Beopjusa Temple. Monk Gakwoon also gave them souvenirs along with their hair.

Monk Hyewoo of Beopjusa Temple, who organized the templestay, explained, "Although it was a short time, it seemed to have a great impact on the scouts," and added, "I could not ignore their earnest request to become monks, so I represented it by shaving their heads."

Meanwhile, through this jamboree held on the 1st, about 43,000 scouts from 159 countries around the world gathered in Korea. The official 12-day Saemangeum Jamboree schedule concluded on the 11th with a closing ceremony and a 'K-POP concert.' About 40,000 scouts from over 140 countries attended the closing ceremony. Scouts from the UK, the US, and Singapore, who had left early, also attended.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.