Online Temple 'Sansa' Draws 600,000 Visitors in Three Days

A virtual Buddhist temple called Sansa has gone viral in South Korea, drawing 600,000 visitors in three days. The website lets people listen to chanting, turn prayer beads and perform the traditional 108 bows from home, without travelling anywhere.

Sansa is modelled on a real temple. On opening the site, users find a prayer hall surrounded by dense forest, with a large Buddha statue at its centre. Each visitor controls a character resembling a child monk and can walk around the hall, greet other users with a palm-together bow or sit on a cushion to bow.

Built by a job seeker with AI

According to the creator, a 26-year-old job seeker surnamed Park, the site was made through "vibe coding" with the help of artificial intelligence. Park said they wanted to rest at a temple but lacked the time, so they built one themselves, and added that the response was far beyond expectations.

Demand was so high that queues to enter the hall formed at one point. The number of cushions was raised from 20 to 100, then 1,200 and finally 10,000, yet seats reportedly still run short at peak hours.

Interest abroad and a wider trend

The site also drew overseas traffic. In Taiwan, 50,000 people reportedly logged on in a single night, and visitors came in numbers from Vietnam and Thailand, where Buddhist culture is familiar. Social media users called it fresh and fun, praising the quiet atmosphere, and said it can be enjoyed regardless of religion.

Sansa has also inspired similar projects. Users on X have shared virtual churches, cathedrals, saunas, swimming pools and campsites, along with sites recreating airplanes, rooftop clubs, bonfires, Christmas markets and hot-spring towns. Together they point to a growing habit of using small web spaces for rest and leisure.