• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.44
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• pp.97-140
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• 2023

This article is meant to serve as an introduction to the development of digital culture map of Daesoon Jinrihoe. Recently there has been frequent discussion over the need to provide information on the website of Daesoon Jinrihoe's Yeoju Headquarters Temple Complex, and the further need to produce a digital culture map of Daesoon Jinrihoe. The production of digital culture map of Daesoon Jinrihoe has the advantage of being able to publicize and enhance its status worldwide beyond simply building digital archives, collecting data, visualizing Daesoon Jinrihoe materials, and acquiring tools for research on Daesoon Jinrihoe. Therefore, the development of Daesoon Jinrihoe's digital culture map is expected to be a step for Daesoon Jinrihoe to leap forward globally. Next in the process would be the study of data. The current status of Daesoon Jinrihoe's data and analysis of the contents will enable researchers to proceed to the next stage. In the production of digital culture map of Daesoon Jinrihoe, the next step to be studied after data research is to review precedents in the production of digital culture maps related to religion. Researchers will be able to review domestic precedents and overseas precedents, and based on those, it will be possible to suggest a direction for developing Daesoon Jinrihoe's digital culture map.

• Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.33-56
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• 2023

Although English-language academic materials on Kang Jeungsan (강증산/姜甑山 1871-1909) are steadily increasing, the same cannot be said of Jo Jeongsan (조정산/道主 趙鼎山 1895-1958) who remains under-researched as figure of profound significance to the Korean new religion Daesoon Jinrihoe (대순진리회/大巡眞理會). Furthermore, in materials produced by Daesoon Jinrihoe that are later translated into English, the connections that exist between Kang Jeungsan and Jo Jeongsan are often reduced to a few representative examples, when, in fact, many additional examples could be provided for a more comprehensive understanding. Comprehending the basis for the first succession in the three-figure orthodox religious lineage of Daesoon Jinrihoe is crucial to task of properly differentiating Daesoon Jinrihoe from seemingly similar Korean new religions that enshrine Kang Jeungsan as their Supreme God. The research presented in this article, "A Study on the Relationship between Kang Jeungsan and Jo Jeongsan Described in Chapter Two of Progress of the Order," will provide readers with a thorough overview of the basis for Jo Jeongsan's successorship in the orthodox religious lineage of Daesoon Jinrihoe, through an in-depth exploration of Chapter Two of Progress of the Order from Daesoon Jinrihoe's main scripture, The Canonical Scripture. Furthermore, this article will include special explanatory notes to ensure that it can be easily read even by non-specialists.

• Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.61-79
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• 2021

In this study, Daesoon Jinrihoe is compared with five international new religious movements (The Church of Scientology, The Family International, The Hare Krishna Movement, The Family Federation, and the Osho Movement) concerning the development of charisma and institutionalization, as well as organizational changes and relationship to society. The material consists of previous research about Daesoon Jinrihoe and two interviews with representatives for the group. In many respects the development of Daesoon Jinrihoe has similarities to the international groups. Since its inception, it has changed from a group with charismatic authority to a rational-legal authority, through a development of organizational complexity, initiated by the three consecutive charismatic leaders. Today there is no charismatic leader, but a president who has an administrative function. Similar to several of the international groups, there have been charismatic challenges in Daesoon Jinrihoe on several occasions. Differences to the international groups are mainly related to macrosociological factors in the shape of the occupation of Japan. Daesoon Jinrihoe was against the occupation, but in spite of that worked to keep the tensions with society low, even though the organization at times was forbidden. In the international groups, the tensions to society were generally high, and had different reasons. In several of the international groups the final arrival of children influenced organizational changes: this was not the case with Daesoon Jinrihoe as there had always been children in the group. As in the Church of Scientology, the children are not much engaged in the religious life of Daesoon Jinrihoe, but can join as adults. Today, Daesoon Jinrihoe works as a denomination, with a positive relationship to society partly due to many welfare projects.

• Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.81-102
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• 2021

This study attempts to investigate the role of children in the Korean new religious movement, Daesoon Jinrihoe. The research method combined archival studies with qualitative research; interviews with two members involved in educating youth through the establishment of Youth Camps and Donggeurami, the order's youth magazine. Our four research questions were: 1. Do children play a central role in the millennial vision of this NRM? 2. Are children separated from the world? 3. Have Daesoon childrearing methods been challenged by secular authorities or anticult groups? 4. Are there procedures to educate children in the religious beliefs and values of their parents and the community? Our results found that Daesoon Jinrihoe appears to be a religion designed for adults. Children do not usually participate in religious activities. On the other hand, since 2005 there has been a strategic effort to educate the children in the faith of their parents, through the establishment of Youth Camps and the youth magazine, Donggeurami.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.48
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• pp.239-268
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• 2024

Video content is often used as a means of education due to the characteristics of the medium: representation, information delivery, immersion, and experience. In particular, religious films are being used more often in public schools and religious communities to promote understanding and inspiration. The purpose of this study is to examine how Daesoon Jinrihoe utilizes video content via the film, The Road to Peace and Harmony, and the videos that were made for the Museum of Daesoon Jinrihoe Museum. The study will also make suggestions regarding the future use of such contents. In Section 2 of this study, the status of the video contents as currently used by Daesoon Jinrihoe will be examined and analyzed in terms of how the film, The Road to Peace and Harmony, and the videos produced for the Museum of Daesoon Jinrihoe are being utilized. In Section 3, the limitations of Daesoon Jinrihoe's video contents will be considered in that these materials in terms of how these videos are only used within the religious order. There is the potential that such materials could be used in broader society. Lastly, in Section 4, it is proposed that video materials produced by Daesoon Jinrihoe could be used within multicultural religious education in a public setting beyond mere in-group religious education. Through this, it is hoped that Daesoon Jinrihoe will be able to expand as a world religion in a more timely manner than what would otherwise be achieved.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.34
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• pp.323-351
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• 2020

The purpose of this paper is to reveal how Christian ideas are indicative of Theocentricity (God-centeredness) whereas Daesoon Jinrihoe ideas are indicative of anthropocentrism (human-centeredness). This task will be accomplished through comparing incarnation theology from the Bible and The Canonical Scripture. Both Christianity and Daesoon Jinrihoe affirm that there is another world above the human world that cannot be touched by human sense organs. And they both acknowledge a supreme deity who exists in that above world. Furthermore, they share the notion that the supreme deity came into the human world after being born from a woman. Where they depart is that in Christianity, this belief refers to Jesus, the one who was born in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago, whereas in Daesoon Jinrihoe, it is instead believed to be Kang Jeungsan (secular name: Kang Il-Sun) who was born in Gaekmang Village in Korea more than 100 years ago. The Christian God came to the human world as an atonement for humanity and died on the cross; The God of Daesoon Jinrihoe came to the human world to help mankind settle all enmities. To this end, he traveled through the realms of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity, to recalibrate the faulty Degree Numbers. The sin mentioned in Christianity means treachery against the supreme deity. It is implied that sin is not tolerated in the world of God. Due to this, the first man, Adam, was driven out of Eden after betraying God, and afterwards, there came to be an infranchissable boundary between the world of God and the world of man. By way of comparison the faulty Degree Numbers, mentioned in Daesoon Jinrihoe, were produced naturally. In other words, the faulty Degree Number existed not only in the human world, but also in the world of divinities, and those two worlds not only interact but also affect each other. Therefore, it can be said that the two worlds of Christianity are worlds in which order and systems are completely different, and that the two worlds of Daesoon Jinrihoe are worlds that operate under the same order and systems. Both explain via this two-part division to emphasize one part as more important than the other. Christianity regards the world of God as the ultimate source and ultimate concern of the human world and emphasizes the absolute faith and worship of God is the highest value in life. But Daesoon Jinrihoe, on the other hand, argues that the human world determines the value of the divine world, and that the co-prosperity of man and his surroundings are the core values of the human era (The Era of Human Nobility). Therefore, the root cause of Christianity's theocentricity is that among the two worlds that are completely cut off from one another, they believe in God's world as the ultimate source and purpose of the human world. The root cause of Daesoon Jinrihoe's anthropocentrism is that among the two worlds that interact and influence each other, they believe the human world determines the meaning of the divine world.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.34
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• pp.75-105
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• 2020

Previous scholars have studied Daesoon Jinrihoe mainly through its scriptures and doctrines; however, in this essay I have combined data from a questionnaire with interviews I conducted to observe women's religious engagement from their own perspectives. I conducted my fieldwork from October 23 to 26 at Yeoju Headquarters in Korea and received 81 questionnaire replies. This ongoing project will shed light on the niche for women in Korean new religious movements. This essay is divided into three parts. First, I reviewed 5 articles on general attitudes towards women within Daesoon Jinrihoe to serve as a doctrinal introduction. Second, I used the Ladies Club, the Women's Assembly of the Department of Social Welfare, and female students from the Inter- national Volunteers Association to better understand women's participation and education in Daesoon Jinrihoe on an institutional level. Third, I issued a questionnaire in order to learn respondents' sex, age, educational background, and birth place and used those data points determine patterns in how the above influence religious participation and positions in Daesoon Jinrihoe. My investigation showed that both the self-expectation and division of labor among the followers at Yeoju Headquarter were affected by and corresponded to social gender roles. Moreover, the emphasis on missionary work rather than centralized hierarchy contributed to a reduction in the influence of gender-segregation and led to relative coherence in terms of gender relations within Daesoon Jinrihoe.

• Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.155-159
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• 2021

• Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.89-114
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• 2022

Both in Korea and internationally, many know and appreciate Daesoon Jinrihoe for its social work in the three main areas of education, social welfare and health care, and charity aid. The article surveys Daesoon Jinrihoe's activities in these three areas and proposes a comparison with the charitable and ecological work performed by the Taiwanese Buddhist charity (and new religious movement) Tzu Chi, the peace activities of Soka Gakkai, and the projects developed in Bhutan to implement the policy of Gross National Happiness. Tzu Chi is mostly known for its massive recycling activities, but in fact its view of charity and ecology is based on a specific Buddhist theology. Soka Gakkai's vision of peace relates to its interpretation of Nichiren Buddhism. Gross National Happiness in Bhutan is a project promoted by the government, but scholars who have studied it have concluded that it is deeply rooted in Drukpa Kagyu, the dominant school in Bhutanese Buddhism. Similarities are noted, as well as differences with the Western Christian and post-Christian approach to charity, which is largely based on an affirmation of the self. Daesoon Jinrihoe's social work shares with the Buddhist cases studied in the article the idea that the self may deceive (self-deception) but appears to be inspired by the unique principle of Sangsaeng, and by the idea that the root causes of social problems are grievances accumulated through thousands of years and in need of being resolved.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.42
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• pp.1-44
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• 2022

This study aims to determine the significance of the devotional offerings held in Daesoon Jinrihoe Temple Complexes (道場 dojang) and to interpret their identity. Firstly, the existing research insists that the significance of these rituals implies that offerings held by Daesoon Jinrihoe embody the order's religious purpose. However, this paper argues that the purpose of devotional offerings is not limited thereto. The reason is that the primary sources of Daesoon Jinrihoe defines the devotional offerings as practiced for purposes of worship, celebration, commemoration, the expression of gratitude, the dissemination of information, and to humbly beg pardon from divine beings. Additionally, the offerings are meant to express the solid faith of devotees. Considering the various purposes of practicing devotional offerings, rather than mostly being about prayer to divine beings, the meaning of the offerings could be better understood as forms of communication and exchange of unique ideas and intentions. Secondly, in the light of Korea's history of rituals, the devotional offerings of Daesoon Jinrihoe obviously differ from the rituals of Confucianism or the ritual for Heaven and Earth (圜丘祭 hwanguje). Indeed, the rituals of Daesoon Jinrihoe are rather alien to both of the aforementioned rituals. Accordingly, the identity of the devotional offerings in Daesoon Jinrihoe do neither succeed to the religious and cultural tradition of Korea nor transform it. It is rather the case that Daesoon Jinrihoe's devotional offerings should be identified as having been newly invented. In this regard, the devotional offerings of Daesoon Jinrihoe should be understood as an invented tradition that began in modern times. In other words, they are 'invented rituals to Heaven.'