The country's Buddhist community on Wednesday, celebrated the two-thousand-561st birthday of Buddha, which is a national holiday in South Korea. 

Ceremonies were held at some 20-thousand temples nationwide.

The service held at Jogye Temple in downtown Seoul from 10 a.m. was attended by the Venerable Jinje, who is the supreme patriarch of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, as well as the head of the order, Venerable Jaseung, and ten-thousand members of the four-fold assembly.

Leading presidential contenders Moon Jae-in, Hong Joon-pyo, Ahn Cheol-soo and Sim Sang-jung were also at the ceremony, while Yoo Seong-min visited the Donghwa Temple in Daegu.

In a congratulatory speech, the Venerable Jaseung said that all living things inherently own the Buddhist nature of freedom and equality. He said that everyone is noble, complete and precious and that if the quarreling and disputes stop, our original, perfect self-nature can emerge.

He added that once people realize this, they can treat all creatures as the same as they are facing Buddha.