• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.35
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• pp.165-188
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to examine the historical consciousness and view of the three religions (Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism) of Won Cheon Seok who lived a period of historical transition from the end of the Goryeo Dynasty to the early Joseon Dynasty. Actively speaking for the public in his time and having the same attitude as the Neo-Confucian scholars in the end of Goryeo Dynasty, he kept criticizing the abuse of the power by powerful families who made the people fall into a state of distress and misery. He believed the dispatch of troops to conquer the Yodong region as a great opportunity to boost the valiant spirit of his country; however, the reality was quite opposite to his expectation as Lee Seong Gye had withdrawn the army troops at the Wihwado causing a great risk to his country. He took a very hard line stance against what Lee Seong Gye did. Although he was a Confucian scholar, he did not ignore Buddhism and Taoism and understood that after all the three religions were based on the same principle. His deep understanding of Buddhism and Taoism as well as Confucianism helped him to make sense of Confucianism even further. He was able to sublimate the worldly anguish coming from the Confucian thinking system by indulging himself deeply into the world view of Buddhism and Taoism. In the end, his view on the three religions was based on the idea that they taught the same principle. His view of the three religions with transactional features has a huge implication for the contemporary society in which various values and multiple cultures coexist and have more common grounds.

• Korean Journal of Hospice Care
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.42-49
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• 2005

To determine which are the culturally specific factors of Korean bereavement, this chapter focuses on the view of death and the traditional mourning process which reflect Korean values and norms. The formation of the Korean view and understanding of death has been strongly influenced by three of its major traditional religions: Shamanism, Buddhism, and Confucianism (Park:1994: Hao:1999) and Christianity more recently. Each religion has a different view of death and the appropriate expression of mourning. Korea accommodates funeral customs and rules strictly as a cultural system and has retained these traditions over a long period; hence, some of the traditional funeral rituals still remain in modern Korean life, although some of the rites have been simplified. We have looked at the various ways in which grief and mourning is displayed and shared in a collective manner over a long period of time. This fits in well within the other Eastern cultures that are collectively organized, and contrary to the Eurocentric models do not hastily seek to detach the living from the dead and recognize that grief is a long process, and different individuals may take different amounts of time to recover from the grief. The view of death and bereavement in Korea has sprung from the roots of three Korean religions, together with the recent addition of Christianity, although they mainly result from the three earlier religions. The beliefs of these religions are still closely linked together in the rituals of Korean bereavement on both conscious and unconscious levels. The influence of these religions is evident in practice through the bereaved family's mourning reactions, funeral rites and customs and its views about death. Korea used to have a period of mourning for three years, following traditional mourning rites; then the chief mourner and the bereaved families could return to their normal life. In spite of this long mourning process for the bereaved family, once the funeral ceremony is finished, people expect the bereaved family not to express their grief in public; even the bereaved family does not like to talk about death. The process for bereaved people is related to mourning processes in terms of detachment from the deceased in order to start a new life. Relatives and the community recommend the performance of the kut ceremony for relieving the grief of the bereaved. When one family member dies in an unlucky way, the bereaved family may have some fear or other psychological reactions of grief such as pain, depression, insomnia and nightmares, hallucinations or other physical reactions. Unlucky deaths give the bereaved a very painful time and these types of reactions are often more serious than reactions to natural death. But through the kut ceremony, the bereaved family can start to make a new relationship with the deceased. The taboo of this type of death and death generally remains a crucial aspect of the isolation that bereaved people might face and the collective nature of mourning(even where it is still present) is unable to address this aspect of the privatization of grief.

• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.31
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• pp.53-86
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• 2011

Taoism exercised its influence and has made much progress apparently under the aegis of the Tang dynasty. But since the external alchemy, a traditional way of eternal life that they have pursued, met the limitation, they were placed in a situation where they needed to seek a new discipline. From this period to the early North Song dynasty, three religions have established the unique theoretical systems of their own theory of ascetic practices. They showed their own unique formats as follows. Neo-Confucianism established the theory of moral training, Buddhism did the theory of ascetic practices and Taoism had theory of discipline. By this time, a person who claimed the Intermixture of Three Religions composed the new system of theory of ascetic practice by taking advantage of other religions and putting them into his own view. Chen tuan established the theory of internal alchemy of Taoism and was the most influential figure in the world of thought since North Song dynasty. He clearly declared that he accepted the merits of other religions in his theory. He added I Ching of Confucianism in I Ching of secret of Taoism to stop the logical gaps during the process of disciplines in Taoism and took ascetic practices on mind of Buddhism into his system while he sought a way to integrate the dual structure of body and mind. The theory of Chen tuan's internal alchemy was training schema with stages of 'YeonJeongHwaGi', 'YeonGiHwaSin', and 'YeonSinHwanHeo' based on the concepts of vital, energy and spirit. The internal alchemy practice that Chen tuan was saying started from the practice of Zen to keep the mind calm with the basis of fundamental principles of interpretation of book of change according to Taoism. When a person reached the state to be in concert with all changes at the end of the silence and be full of wisdoms, he finally returned to the state of BokGwiMuGeuk by taking the flow of subtle mind and transforming it into energy. He expressed this process by drawing 'MuGeukDo'. Oriental philosophy categorized human into 'phenomenal existence' and 'original existence'. The logic of theory of ascetic practice has been established from these 'category of existence'. It would be determined whether it will return to 'original existence' or be stepped up from 'phenomenal existence' according to how the concept of 'self' or 'I' was made. Chen tuan who established the theory of internal alchemy in Taoism has established the unique theory of internal alchemy discipline and system of intermixture of three religions in this aspect. Today is called 'era of self-loss' or 'era of incurable diseases' caused by environmental pollution. It's still meaningful to review the theory of discipline of Chen tuan's connecting the body and the soul to heal the self, and keep life healthy and pursue the new way of discipline based on it.

• 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.29
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• pp.101-140
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• 2017

Currently, the whole world is being swept away by spiritual movements. Since the Three Kingdoms periods, Korea has been under the influence of "The Three Teachings". But during the modern times, the word "The Three Daos" began to be widely used alongside the expression "The Three Teachings" within various circles of New Korean Religions. Regarding this, Daesoon Thought is particularly noteworthy due to its description of the religious realm spoken of as "Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism" and the figurehead of that realm, the "Gwan-wang (Crowned King)". This study suggests that there should be a distinction noting the differences between "The Three Teachings" and "The Three Daos" in order to understand the status of the "Gwan-wang" in Daesoon Thought and to facilitate the study Buddhism as both a religion and a religious principle within the context of "The Gwan-wang of the Three Daos". Chapter II, details the conceptions of "Dao" and "Teaching" in the Eastern tradition and "Religion" in the Western tradition. This chapter includes a discussion of how the word "The Three Daos" could be approached as a "Theory of the Three Daos" that explains the religions of the East and the West through comprehensive principles. Chapter III goes through descriptions in the Jeon-gyeong of Buddhistic faiths, doctrines, monks, and temples to discover the meaning of the Dao of Buddhism and Buddhist culture as contained in the Jeon-gyeong. In chapter IV, the Buddhistic characteristics of Daesoon Thought is clarified in three ways: the Dao of Buddhism as the "substance of form", oneness as "growth and nurturing", and "Jinmuk" as the leader of the Dao of Buddhism. From this discussion, it is shown that research on the Dao of Buddhism in Daesoon Thought is a crucial avenue for understanding the identity of Daesoon Thought. In other words, the status of Daesoon Thought is not irrelevant to the Dao of Buddhism or to Buddhism proper, but Daesoon Thought should instead be understood as pursuing the state of Gwan-wang (Crowned King), which has the Dao of Buddhism as an axis characterized as "the substance of form" or as "growth and nurturing". Also, it provides a comprehensive view by which the various aspects of Buddhism as a modern day religious phenomenon of can be understood under the principle of the Dao of Buddhism.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.28
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• pp.1-34
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• 2017

This paper aims to understand the Daesoon Jinrihoe's view of human beings within the context of Korean religious history. Here, the context of Korean religious history refers to the view that every religion, including its doctrine, ritual, and organization is created in a specific historical context. In accordance with the purpose of this research, this paper consists of three main parts: firstly, chapter 2, 'An approach to the preceding research,' focuses on the previous studies on Daesoon Jinrihoe's view of human beings. In this part, I have divided the previous studies into psychological, philosophical, educational, and comparative approaches. These prior studies show that studies on the view of human beings started with approaches based on psychology and scriptural interpretations which were later extended to philosophical, educational, and comparative fields of study. However, these studies suggest that there are more suitable explanatory factors to explain the view of human beings. Secondly, chapter 3 (Daesoon Jinrihoe's view of human beings) explains the view of human beings through the utilization of six factors. This six factors are as follows: the origin of human beings, components of human beings, the final judgment after death, the independence and subjectivity of human beings, the purpose(s) of life, and the practices of life. In comparison with previous studies, these explanatory factors may contribute to a more specific explanation of the view of human beings. Thirdly, chapter 4 ('Remaining problems') focuses on future research tasks based on the six factors mentioned above. In this part, I pointed out various research tasks that have to be considered in future studies of Daesoon Jinrihoe's view of human beings, especially in connection to other religions. Finally, in the conclusion, I present two tasks for active research on the Daesoon Jinrihoe's view of human beings. One is the task of incorporating the terms related to humanity into Daesoon Jinrihoe's dictionary of scriptural terms. The other is the task of establishing a department to discuss doctrine and related issues.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.129-144
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• 1996

The purpose of this study was to illuminate the ways to im-prove the level of life satisfaction of the elderly who chose or happened to live at paid facilities by examining some of factors such as individual family social support and facility related el-ements that would influence their life satisfaction. The interview outcomes came out in three main discussions. First the general characteristics of the participating elderly appeared to be that most of them were ver7y elderly relatively highly educated females and religions and the rate of being ill was high. And a half of them considered themselves as heal- thy people and the other half as unhealthy. Secondly in view of statisticsal results the level of their life satisfaction was influnced by their individual family and facillity related factors. As far as their individual related factor are concerned the level of one party's life satisfaction was relative-ely higher than that of other's when the person is female had religio presumed oneself as in healthy and good physical condition. And when participating member keeps good relation-ship with his or her own children the level of the person's life satisfaction was only slightly higher than other elderly group who did not have good relationship with their children. There were no other significant statistical differences on the level of their life satisfaction related to the social support factors between those two group. Thirdly the level of the elderly's life satisfaction was influe- nced in the order of folldwing factors: (1) the quality of facility living condition 2) the commitment of ownership of the organization (3) the elderly residents' own education level (4) the elderly's own subjectivel health condition and (5) the sex of the individuals.

• English & American cultural studies
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.287-309
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• 2014

The purpose of this paper is to critique British imperialism in Bapsi Sidhwa's Cracking India (1991) by analyzing the partition of India from the perspective of nation, religion, and women. Dubbed "Punjabi-Parsi-Indian-Pakistani," Sidhwa is in a position where she can view the partition from an objective and neutralized stance. Rather than focusing on the lives of nationally well-known political figures such as Gandhi, Nehru, or Jinnah, Sidhwa delves deep into the miserable lives of the lower classes before and after the partition. First, I analyze the process of the partition, as it is performed through the manipulation of British imperialism. By adopting the viewpoint of an 8-year-old Lenny, who is the daughter of a Parsi family, Sidhwa is able to critique both British imperialism as well as the male-dominated Indian society where the treatment of women is unthinkably harsh. Second, I focus on the tragedy of the confrontation of three religions, Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh. Religious people fight each other while they were forced to move from South to North or from North to South. I argue that the religious conflicts have much to do with political issues. Third, I want to argue that women are the major victims of the partition. Ayah, Hamida, and Papoo are victims of male-dominated India during the partition. They symbolize the feminized India, which is exploited and victimized by British Imperialism. Even though Ayah is shattered by Ice-candy-man while working as a prostitute and dancer, she decides to return to her home in India, which shows her challenge against male-dominated India as well as against British colonialism. In conclusion, Sidhwa tries to heal the suffering of the Indian women who fell victim to male-dominated Indian society by criticizing the problems of British imperialism. In addition, by dealing with the lives of silenced people, Sidhwa asks readers not to forget the historical tragedy and not to repeat the tragedy again.

• Journal of Korean Historical Folklife
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• no.33
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• pp.31-72
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• 2010

At first, I extract materials on folk religion from four encyclopedic literatures of late Chosun dynasty-Lee, Ji-Bong-Ryu-Seol(『芝峯類說』) by Soo-Kwang(李晬光), San-Lim-Kyung-Jae(『山林經濟』) by Hong, Man-Sun(洪萬選), Sung-Ho-Sa-Seol(『星湖僿說』) by Lee-Ik(李瀷), O-Ju-Yeon-Moon-Jang-Jun-San-Go(『五洲衍文長箋散稿』) by Lee, Kyu-Kyung(李圭景), and present these materials by tables. Second, I examined the contents and characters of these materials on folk religion. The conclusions from this research are as follows. ① There are common features and points of difference between these four encyclopedic literatures. One of common features are that all these four are encyclopedic works, but San-Lim-Kyung-Jae is more practical than another three. ② These encyclopedic literatures regard folk religion as a negative culture, because these literatures based on Confucianism. But they did not deny miraculous virtues of folk religion. ③ These encyclopedic literatures give us many informations on gods and spirits of Korean folk religion, i.e. city gods(城隍神)·Yup-Sin(업신)·spirits of disease, god Kim-Bu(金傅大王神)·god Jung-Duk-Yang(鄭得揚)·god of King Kuan-u(關王神)·god Bu-keun(付根神) etc. So I review these gods and spirits referenced in encyclopedic literatures. ④ These encyclopedic literatures show much interest in ghost in common. The reason of interest is that authors of these encyclopedic literatures are all scholars of Sung Confucianism and Sung Confucian was concern about ghost. The Sung Confucianism denied the ghost as personal being whom Korean folk religion regards to a kind of spirits. Instead of beliefs in ghost of folk religion, they insist on the ghost as Ki(氣), a kind of cosmic principle. But these encyclopedic literatures acknowledge some parts of folk religion's beliefs in ghost, because they admit the miraculous virtues of these parts. ⑤ There are many items on divination in these encyclopedic literatures. But they show dual attitude on divinations. The one is negative attitude to divinations on individual destiny and the other one is positive attitude to divinations on agriculture. ⑥ There are also many items on witchcrafts in these encyclopedic literatures. Through these items, I assumed pervasiveness of beliefs on witchcraft at that time. ⑦ Shamans, as religious specialist, are stand on a central position of Korean folk religion. So it is a matter of course that these encyclopedic literatures concerned on Korean shaman. As Confucians, authors of these encyclopedic literatures did not regards shamans as positive one. But they did not deny miraculous virtues of shamans. In spite of these encyclopedic literatures have negative view points to, and include false informations Korean folk religion, I would like to emphasis on importance of these encyclopedic literatures to understand Korean folk religions, especially Korean folk religions of late Yi Dynasty.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.39
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• pp.69-97
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• 2021

'Déconstruction' is a system of thought that induces the emergent property that characterizes contemporary philosophy. The tradition of ancient Greek philosophy evolved over and over again, giving rise to the Renaissance and Enlightenment. It seemed to have reached its end under the historical perspective of modernity. However, contemporary philosophy wanted to see more possibilities through the deconstruction of modern philosophy. If modern philosophy dreams of a strange cohabitation between God and man with the humanistic completion of Plato's philosophy, modern philosophy rejects even that through deconstruction. Although Plato's classical metaphysics is a stable system centered around the absolute, it is ultimately based on God and religion. Under that system, human autonomy is only the autonomy bestowed by God. Contemporary philosophy is one of the results of efforts that try to begin philosophy from the original human voice through deconstruction. Instead of epistemology dependent on metaphysics, they wanted to establish epistemology from human existence and realize the best good that would set humans free through deconstruction. As such, it is no mistake to say that deconstruction is also an extension of the modern topic of human freedom. Deconstruction and human freedom act as one body in that the two cannot be separated from each other. Oddly enough, Daesoon Thought, which seems to have religious faith and traditional conservatism as main characteristics, has an emergent property that encompasses modern and contemporary times. The period of Korea, when Kang Jeungsan was active and founded Daesoon Thought, has an important meaning for those who have a keen view of history. Such individuals likely think that they have found a valuable treasure. This is because that period was a time when ideological activities were conducted due to an intense desire to discover the meaning of human freedom and envision a new world without copying the ways of the West. Instead they looked to face internal problems and raise people's awareness through subjectivity. In other words, the subtle ideas created by Korea's self-sustaining liberalism often take the form of what is commonly called new religions in modern times. Among these new religions, Daesoon Thought, as a Chamdonghak (true Eastern Learning), aims to spread a particular modern value beyond modern times through the concept of Haewon (the resolution of grievances) that was proclaimed by Jeungsan. The Haewon espoused in Daesoon Thought is in line with the disbandment of modern philosophy in that it contains modernity beyond modern times. First, Haewon means to resolve the fundamental resentment of human existence, which arose from Danju's grievance. Secondly, Haewon in Daesoon Thought encompasses the Haewon of the Three Realms of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity centers on a Haewon-esque style of existence called Injon (Human Nobility). Haewon in Daesoon Thought can be understood in the same context as Derrida's philosophy of Deconstruction. Modern deconstruction attempts to expose the invisible structures and bonds within human society and attempt to destroy them. In a similar way, Haewon endeavors to resolve the conflicts among the Three Realms by releasing the bonds of fundamental oppression that hinder the Three Realms of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity.