• Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.61-87
• /
• 2022

This article compares the concepts of divine incarnation as expounded in Daesoon Thought and in Christianity and questions the essence of the divinity in both traditions. In Daesoon Thought, The Supreme God, Sangje, saw major disorganization leading to extreme violence and doom and decided to incarnate on earth under the human form of Kang Jeungsan (1871-1909). Then the living God taught the solution to human suffering through the revelations he sent in 1917 to Jo Cheol-Je, or Jo Jeongsan (1895-1958) and the revelations were passed on to Dojeon Park Wudang who in 1969 founded Daesoon Thought. In Christianity, God incarnated in his son, Jesus Christ, who allowed for the radical transformation of the condition of man through his physical sacrifice. Daesoon differs in that Sangje did not offer himself as sacrifice when he came on earth but reorganized the world and taught how to apply benevolence to establish the Earthly Paradise. The affirmation that Daesoon Jinrihoe is both monotheistic and polytheistic is then analyzed. If the concept of monotheism seems to differ vastly between the two traditions, it appears that biblical monotheism is itself relatively young in the history of world religions so that Christianity has ancient roots germane to those of Daesoon Jinrihoe. The article concludes on the originality of this religion: though it is built on Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism, it has transformed their vision of the deity and of its message in a most convincing manner.

• Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.41-59
• /
• 2022

Caodaism is a new religion from Vietnam which began in late 1925 and spread rapidly across the French colony of Indochina. With a broad syncretic aim, the new faith sought to revivify Vietnamese religious traditions whilst also incorporating religious, literary, and spiritist influences from France. Like Catholicism, Caodaism kept a strong focus on its monotheistic nature and today Caodaists are eager to label their religion a monotheism. It will be argued here, however, that the syncretic nature of this new faith complicates this claim to a significant degree. To make this argument, we will consider here the nature of God in Caodaism through two central texts from two important stages in the life of the religion. The first is the canonized Compilation of Divine Messages which collects a range of spirit messages from God and some other divine voices. These were received in the early years of the faith. The second is a collection of sermons from 1948/9 that takes Caodaist believers on a tour of heaven, and which is entitled The Divine Path to Eternal Life. It will be shown that in the first text, God speaks in the mode of a fully omnipotent and omniscient supreme being. In the second text, however, we are given a view of paradise that is much more akin to the court of a Jade Emperor within an East Asian milieu. In these realms, the personalities of other beings and redemptive mechanisms claim much of our attention, and seem to be a competing center of power to that of God. Furthermore, God's consort, the Divine Mother, takes on a range of sacred creative prerogatives that do something similar. Additionally, cadres of celestial administrators; buddhas, immortals, and saints help with the operation of a cosmos which spins on with guidance from its own laws. These laws form sacred mechanisms, such as cycles of reincarnation and judgement. These operate not in the purview of God, but as part of the very nature of the cosmos itself. In this context, the dualistic, polytheistic, and even automatic nature of Caodaism's cosmos will be considered in terms of the way in which they complicate this religion's monotheistic claims. To conclude, this article seeks to demonstrate the precise relevance of the term 'monotheism' for this religion.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
• /
• v.34
• /
• pp.107-139
• /
• 2020

This paper primarily focuses on the highest deity, the Upper Thearch of the Nine Heavens (officially translated as 'The Supreme God of the Ninth Heaven'), in the Korean new religious movement (NRM) Daesoon Jinrihoe and the true minister of the myriad spirits in the Taiwanese NRM, Yiguan Dao, the Upper Thearch of Manifest Luminosity. As the two both serve as highly representative "Upper Thearch" beliefs in emerging NRMs, I attempt a comparative analysis of the source of these beliefs, their characteristics, and the links that exist between them. On the basis of ancient Chinese classics and Daoist texts, along with Daesoon Jinrihoe's scriptures and works from Yiguan Dao's Canon, I try to understand the distinguishing features of cosmological ideas from both religious movements. For example, because the Upper Thearch of the Nine Heavens could not bear to see the human realm growing ever more disordered and in order to improve worldly conditions, he traveled to the harmonized realm of deities, and therefore descended into the world to make a great itineration and enlighten the people through his teachings. In the end, he came to Korea and was reborn as Kang Jeungsan (secular name: Kang Il-Sun) in Gaekmang Village. In the Human Realm, he spread his transformative teachings to the people which were later became the doctrines of the Virtuous Concordance of Yin and Yang, Harmonious Union between Divine Beings and Human Beings, the Resolution of Grievances for Mutual Beneficence, and Perfected Unification (jingyeong 真境) with the Dao. Yiguan Dao; however, explains that the source of humanity is the "Heaven of Principle" (Litian 理天), and people are "Buddha's Children of the Original Embryo" (Yuantai Fozi 原胎佛子), created by the Upper Thearch of Manifest Luminosity, who came to world to govern and impart spiritual refinement, before returning to his native place in the Heaven of Principle. Yet, because he became infatuated with the world of mortals, he forgot the path of his return. Therefore, the Eternal Mother sent Maitreya Buddha, the Living Buddha Jigong 濟公, and the Bodhisattva of Moon Wisdom (Yuehui pusa 月慧菩薩) to descend to the human world and teach the people, so that they may acknowledge the Eternal Mother as the root of return, achieve their return to the origin, and go back to the home of the Eternal Mother in the Heaven of Principle. Both Daesoon Jinrihoe and Yiguan Dao refer to their highest deity, the true ministers of the myriad spirits, with the simple title "Upper Thearch." This phenomenon also has some ties to God in the western Biblical tradition but also has some key differences. In investigating the sources of these two deities, we find that they likely took shape during the Yinshang (殷商) period and have some relationship to the Upper Thearch of Chinese antiquity. The questions raised in this research are quite interesting and deserving of deeper comparative study.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
• /
• v.35
• /
• pp.255-293
• /
• 2020

This study examines the God, Jiutian Yingyuan Leisheng Puhua Tianzun (九天應元雷聲普化天尊, 'The Supreme God of the Ninth Heaven, Celestial Worthy of Universal Creation through His Thunderbolt, the Originator with Whom All Beings Resonate' in Daesoon Jinrihoe), in terms of narrative imagination, by investigating the narrative of Wen Zhong (聞仲) in Investiture of the Gods (Fengshenyanyi 封神演義) and the narrative of Kang Jeungsan (姜甑山) in The Canonical Scripture (Jeongyeong 典經). This examination occurs along three dimensions: Firstly, I look into the cultural contexts of the image of the Thunder God (雷神) in Gojoseon (古朝鮮) mythology and the Korean seondo (仙道) tradition both of which are reflected in the narrative of Wen Zhong. At the same time, I also argue that the cultural contexts examined above are able to be found in the narrative of Kang Jeungsan. Secondly, I consider the essential meaning of the concept of "deifying" (封神) in the narrative of Wen Zhong and its connection to "the resolution of grievances" (haewon 解冤) in the narrative of Kang Jeungsan. Thirdly, I consider the traits of embracing heterogeneous things (異類) in the religious group "Jiejiao" (截敎) that Wen Zhong belonged to in relation to the values of "mutual beneficence" (sangsaeng 相生) that Kang Jeungsan pursued. In this study's conclusion, I posit that the "mentalité" of Dong-yi (東夷) culture and tales including Yin (殷) is identifiable in narrative imagination applied to the God, Jiutian Yingyuan Leisheng Puhua Tianzun. This means that the nature of Jiutian Yingyuan Leisheng Puhua Tianzun is closely related to the tradition of Korean seondo and Korean Daoism.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
• /
• v.37
• /
• pp.191-227
• /
• 2021

In this study, values of truth and good are expressed in the form of beauty, and truth and good are analyzed from an aesthetic point of view. This enables an assessment of how truth is expressed and presented as an "aesthetic" in Daesoon Thought. Therefore, an approach to faith in Daesoon Jinrihoe (大巡眞理會) can be presented via traditional aesthetics or theological aesthetics that reflect on sense experience, feelings, and beauty. The concept of beauty in Daesoon Thought which focuses on The Canonical Scripture appears in keywords used in Daesoon Thought such as divine nature (神性), the pattern of Dao (道理), the singularly-focused mind (一心), and relationships (關係). Therein, one can find sublimation, symmetry, moderation, and harmony. The aesthetic features of Daesoon Thought, when considered as an aesthetic system can formulate thinking regarding the aesthetics of 'Reordering Works of Heaven and Earth' (天地公事), the aesthetics of Mutual Beneficence (相生), and the aesthetics of healing. The Reordering Works of Heaven and Earth contain a record of the Supreme God visiting the world as a human being. The realization that the human figure, Kang Jeungsan (1871-1909), is the Supreme God, Sangje (上帝), is the shocking aesthetic motif and theological starting point of the Reordering Works of Heaven and Earth. Mutual Beneficence can be seen aesthetically as indicating the sociality of mutual relations, and there is an aesthetic structure of Mutual Beneficence in the harmony and unification of those relations. Healing can be said to contain the sacred sublimation of Sangje, and moderation is a form of beauty that makes humans move toward Quieting the mind and Quieting the body (安心·安身), the Dharma of Presiding over Cures (醫統), and the ultimate value of healing, which is the end point of the Cultivation (修道) wherein one realizes that the ideals of humankind and the aesthetics of healing bestow the spiritual pleasures of a beautiful and valuable life. The aesthetic characteristics of Daesoon Thought demonstrate an aesthetic attitude that leads to healing through Sangje's Holy Works and the practice of Mutual Beneficence (相生) which were performed when He stayed with us to vastly save all beings throughout the Three Realms that teetered on the brink of extinction. It is not uncommon to see a beautiful woman and remark she is like a goddess (女神) or female immortal (仙女). Likewise, beautiful music is often praised as "the sound of heaven." That which fills us with joy is spoken of as "divine beings (神明)" of God. God is a symbol of beauty, and the world of God can be said to be the archetype of beauty. Experience of beauty guides our souls to God. The aesthetic experience of Daesoon Thought is a religious experience that culminates in emotional, intellectual, and spiritual joy, and it is an aesthetic experience that recognizes transcendent beauty.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
• /
• v.63
• /
• pp.221-253
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this study is to define the key competency as Christian(in another word: Christian key competency) and to interpret the six key competencies of the 2015 revised curriculum in a Christian educational way. Also as an alternative to the key competencies model of the 2015 revised curriculum, this study aims to materialize the formation of a Christian key competencies model based on Christian faith. This study derived 'faith' from the key competencies as Christian throughout preceding research analysis. The 'faith' of the key competencies as Christian means the ability to know oneself, and to know the world and God within the knowledge of the Bible (knowledge of God) in the personal relationship with God, and also it is the ability to think, judge, and act with biblical values, Christian world view, and Christian self-identity. The key competency 'faith' could be the basis (standard) of motivation, attitude and the value of all competencies in cultivation and exercise. The model of Christian key competencies has the structure in which each six key competencies become to be cultivated based on the Christian key competency called "faith." Based on the structure, the six key competencies of the 2015 revised curriculum were interpreted and explained from the perspective of Christian education. In the self-management competency, self-identity can be correctly formed in relations with transcendent God. In aesthetic emotional competency, the empathic understanding of human beings comes from the understanding of the image of God, the supreme beauty, the source of beauty. About the community competency, human community is the source of God who created the universe, human and all of things. It is because a Christian community is a community within the relationship of Trinity God, Nature and others. Therefore regions, countries, and the world become one community. Communication competency first stem from good attitudes toward yourself and others with respectful mind. It comes from an understanding of Christian human beings. Also, there is a need of having a common language for communications. The common language is the Bible that given to us for our communicative companionship. Through the language of the Bible, God made us to know about God, human being and the creative world, and also made us to continue to communicate with God, others and the world. For having the knowledge-information processing competency, a standard of value for the processing and utilization of knowledge and information is required. The standard should be the basis of moral and ethical values for human respect. About creative thinking competency, the source of creativity is God who created the world. Human beings who have the image of God own creative potential. As well as, creativity has different expression forms depending on individual preferences and interests, and different approaches will be made depending on each individual's importance and achievement. Individual creativity can be found through education, and it can be embodied by converging knowledge, skills and experience.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.151-157
• /
• 2019

This study tries to evaluate the similarities and differences between Paradise Lost and the Journey to the West through the characteristics of Satan and Monkey King. In Paradise Lost, the spirit of Satan revolts God is just like the spirit of Bourgeois revolts the Feudal Aristocracy; however, Monkey King's figure in the Journey to the West is a character with rebellious spirits. In the western world, they often advocate punishments afterward, while the eastern world notes social orders and rules. Although eastern epics have distinct differences toward western epics due to the different cultural and historical backgrounds, the results that the winners at the end always get supreme powers are the same.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
• /
• v.22
• /
• pp.33-83
• /
• 2014

The most fundamental topic of the Daesoonjinrihoe faith is how the human Kang Jeongsan can be supreme god(GucheonSangje). This statement is based on the Great Work of Sangje that is called Chunji-Gongsa. The documents on Chunji-Gongsa is founded in Jeongyung, the scripture of Daesoonjinrihoe. But it's not easy for us to understand it because of its holistic and symbolic expression. There are duplicate phrase of Chunji-Gonsa in one scripture or included it in another chapter that is not Chunji-Gongsa as well. So we need to analyze it more systematically and understand it reasonably. Especially in order to write this article I would like to use the view of Guchun-Sangje theory. This article is composed with three chapters except preface and conclusion. The first one is the relation between Chunji-Gongsa and Guchun-Sangje. The second one is to analyze Chunji-Gonsa. The third one is the doctrinal significances of Chunji-Gongsa.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
• /
• v.32
• /
• pp.175-199
• /
• 2019

This paper aims to define Kang Jeungsan's Reordering Works of Heaven and Earth through the Hegelian concept of 'labor (arbeit),' which is the fundamental medium in which humans substantialize their own absoluteness in an existentialist context. The Reordering Works of Heaven and Earth performed by Jeungsan enabled Heaven, Earth, and Humanity to communicate with each other through the harmony of Sangsaeng (Mutual Beneficence). As Hegel found the possibility of freedom and emancipation of human subjects through labor and Jeungsan exercised His will to free and emancipate human beings, comparative thinkers are led to recognize a relationship between His Reordering Works of Heaven and Earth and the Hegelian concept of labor. The key point of this paper centers around articulating the meaning of the precise situation wherein labor occurs for the Supreme Being. Labor is a concept that occurs for real-live humans. Human beings can be said to exist between the ideological world and the natural world, or between Heaven and Earth, and this dichotomy creates a specific product given the interplay of infinitude and finitude that it entails. In other words, labor is not a passive deployment but is instead a subjective development. From the point wherein this labor occurs for the Supreme Being, a paradigm shift towards unity begins throughout the universe. The occurrence of God's labor happens at a time of great transformation. These occurrences of God's labor form the communication among Heaven, Earth and Humanity and form a qualitative equality. In other words, the fact that God is far from the world of ideology and has come into the world of finitude means that God conveys His absoluteness to the world of finitude. Therefore, the work of God on Earth builds the world of Heaven on Earth. This can also be seen as the Sangsaeng of Heaven, Earth and Humanity.

• Journal of architectural history
• /
• v.10 no.3 s.27
• /
• pp.7-23
• /
• 2001

We Koreans are very proud of this nation's cultural history over some five millenniums. But most of the relics found in the nation date back up to two thousand years. Under this circumstance, we are wondering the gap and missing of three thousand years. In our traditional literature of history, [Chiwoo] was a military god of supreme dignity and virtue. He was a symbol of brave and strong warriors and since the antiquity, he has been kept alive deeply in the mind of the Korean race. Considering findings through this study, the researcher could provide a conclusion as described below. 1) The name of Paekje's designed tiles was initially made by a Japanese scholar who had first found the antique relic. According to studies by a few of Korean researchers, the name is usually called despite its relation with a historical background of the excavated objects has not been fully studied. 2) After the patterned objects of the Korean antique Kingdom, Japanese researchers reported that [Chiwoo] was a military god as exorcist and probably represented something in the form of a ghost, although there were arguments that the military god was the very being to influence the image of the ghost. This report suggests that the Japanese community didn't downgrade the military god onto the level of a ghost. 3) One of our antique nations, Paekje at that time sought to determine the origin and culture of the Koreans by making multiple exchange relations with China, and probably accepting cultures of the Chinese Han nation and those of the Chinese South and North Dynasty period. Based on findings from a relevant literature, [Sulyigi], people of Paekje attempted to show express the image of Chiwoo in their own unique ways and then deliver the strong bravery of [Chiwoo] to us, or their descendents. This can explain that those findings as above mentioned are consistent with the designed tiles of Paekje, and that the tiles should not be named as the design of ghost. 4) The designed tiles involved elements of Taoism and Buddhism and substantially considered the spirit of four gods which was mobilized for the tomb construction and selection at that time. But this should never be a reason why all of the horned figures seen in tomb wall paintings are collectively treated as ghosts. 5) From the view of historic literature, we can no doubt say that the Heavenly Emperor [Chiwoo] was our ancestor. It is not better to say that the relic stuffs as excavated should be referred to the design of ghost image only in that they have yet to be associated historically with other relics. This claim would be newly changed as it becomes clear with historical remains that our antique ancestors kept doing positive activities along the coast of the antique kingdom, Balhae.