Feature · Vibe coding

A Korean Job Seeker Vibe-Coded an 'Online Temple' Alone. 600,000 Visited in Three Days, and Copycat Churches, Saunas and Coal Mines Followed

"I didn't have time to go to a temple, so I built one." That is Park Jin-won, 26, an English-literature graduate looking for work, speaking to Korean broadcaster TJB. His website Sansa, built by describing features to an AI, went up on Threads and Instagram in late October and drew 600,000 visitors in three days, by his own count. A prayer hall that started with 20 cushions for personal use now seats 10,000, and within days online cathedrals, saunas and even a coal mine followed. Here is what drew people in, and what a solo developer ran into.

1. What it is: a 3D prayer hall where nobody talks

   Sansa is a 3D web app you open by URL, with no install or sign-up. Its tagline: "an online temple where we sit together without words." As a child-monk avatar you walk a wooden hall in the forest, greet others with palms together, bow on a cushion and roll prayer beads to build a count. The moktak and the Heart Sutra play only for you. There is no chat. Group services run daily at 5 a.m. and 6 p.m. KST. The Buddha statue is cut from a public-domain 3D scan of a gilt-bronze seated Buddha at the National Museum of Korea. It also runs as a Toss mini app.

2. Who and why: a non-Buddhist job seeker, vibe coding

   According to Segye Ilbo, Park is not Buddhist but has fond memories of temples and a temple stay as a child. He wanted to rest at a temple but had neither time nor energy while job hunting, so he built one online, writing the code by describing what he wanted to a generative AI. "I honestly made it thinking I'd use it alone, and never expected this reaction," he said. "I think people needed a place to rest without saying anything."

3. The numbers: 20 cushions to 10,000, 50,000 from Taiwan in a night

   It started with 20 cushions. As traffic surged he went to 100, then 1,200, then 10,000, and now runs 100 halls of 100 people each. On Oct. 29, 12,000 visitors in a day crashed the server; by that night daily visits passed 100,000. Park told Yonhap that 600,000 came in three days and 50,000 arrived from Taiwan overnight, with many from Vietnam and Thailand. Inews24 reported cumulative visits passed about 900,000 on Oct. 31. An Instagram reel hit 3.3 million views.

4. What a solo service ran into: server bills and crashes

   Popularity turned straight into server costs. A donation QR code for "offering rice," added at users' request, was knocked offline within an hour on the night of Oct. 30. The money goes to the developer for servers, not to a real temple. On Oct. 31 Park apologized for lag and disconnects, shrank the walkable area by 74% and said he would focus on the basics over the weekend. The same day he opened a zone outside the hall with four tracks reworking sutra chanting as jazz-funk and neo-soul, and teased an app-store release.

5. The copycats: Myeongdong Cathedral, Gatbawi, the Camino

   According to Etoday, four days after Sansa an online cathedral modeled on Myeongdong Cathedral appeared, with prayer, rosary, candles, a confessional and a veil option. An online church and an online Gatbawi, the famous Buddha rock in Daegu, followed; Samsung Lions fans queued for 10+ minutes there before the Korean Series. There is now a 763.7 km Camino de Santiago walked at real pace, a sauna, fishing spots, a solo bar, a study hall, a coal mine and a fish-bread alley. A pet memorial site hosted 16,921 memorials as of Nov. 4. All share the same idea: being in one space together, with no chat.

6. Why it worked: "108 bows lying in my room"

   Users praise the simplicity and quiet. Reviews include "So calm and nice," "I do 108 bows lying in my room and feel healed," and "I drop in several times a day to practice." Some say they are Protestant or Catholic and come for the peace. Seoul National University religious studies professor Sung Hae-young told Segye Ilbo that Buddhism resonates with young people because it acknowledges suffering and lets each person find a way through, and told Etoday that people who want a sacred atmosphere but find blind faith a burden seek anonymous online spaces.

7. Doubts: a passing fad, and will it stay silent?

   Much is unknown. Hankyung Business said it remains to be seen whether this is a passing craze. Server costs for hundreds of thousands of daily visitors rest on donations to one person, and dozens of look-alikes are splitting attention. According to Cheonji Ilbo, Park plans to add sutra reading and chat based on user feedback, which could change the "sit together without words" character that made it work.