INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS OF KOREA

A comparative analysis

I. FOREWORD
The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines religion as `the service of worship of God and the
supernatural'. While there are a variety of reasons why individuals or even whole collectives
resort to religious activity, the essential motives remain as fundamental today as when the
human race first perceived the supposed existence of the supernatural: answer to the
questions of life on earth, of the world beyond death, and spiritual or divine support in the
face of difficulties one encounters in daily living. The definition I have listed above happens
to be the first one attached to the section of religion, and represents a very broad definition,
inclusive of every worship activity that can be construed as religious faith. However, the
concept of religion of concern to this treatise is much more specific, and refers to that
collective with an institutionalized system of beliefs, attitudes, and practices, in addition to
possession of organization, system of canons; in accordance with the popular perception
associated with the word `religion'. And as a consequence, this treatise chooses to disregard
the broad definition of religious faith, such as shamanism or other forms of worship of the
supernatural, for the sake of maintaining clarity of argument.

However, there is a common denominator that binds primitive animism and organized
religion into the same category: the presence of supernatural entities, and a set of practices
devoted to their worship. Within the ranks of organized religion, such an entity generally
takes the form of an anthropomorphized deity imbued with human personality. Whatever
the attributes of omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience ascribed to deities ranging
from Yahweh, Allah, Brahma, Amitabha, Ahura Mazda, all the way to the Shinto Amaterasu,
no deity of any organized religion is denied sentience and personality. As supernatural and
all-powerful they maybe, all deities are described as thinking and acting much like the
human beings that inhabit the world. Yet despite the similarity of general attributes retained
by these entities, their specific personalities remain extremely divergent, and hence reflected
in the particularities of the theology, cosmology, and the practices of the respective orders.
Taken in the reverse, it is indication that beliefs, and theology and practices associated with
their beliefs, are determined in large part by their different perceptions of the supernatural
divinity. All things said and done, religious orders are collectives centered around a system of
worship specified to fit their interpretation of a particular divinity.

On the other hand, it is not the uniqueness of the divinities that draws most believers into its
membership, for the attraction of all organized religion lies not in its particularities but
instead its universality. The supernatural divinities who are the objects of worship are not
bound by limitations of time and space, and again, and possess similarities that neutralize
the seeming contrariness of the respective religious theories. Universal values such as love
(mercy/benevolence), justice, fairness are melded with more ancient preoccupation with
cures for illnesses, magical powers, and dispensation of good fortune remain common to all
established religious orders. The fact that Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and other major
religions of the world command a following that transcend national borders and ethnic
boundaries, among a number of peoples with diverse historical and cultural traditions,
provides more than sufficient proof. Yet, the emphasis on notions of religious universality
should not lead one to deny their ethnic or regional origins. Christianity was no more than a
regional faith based on an interpretation of Judaic theology, and its rise to religious
preeminence would have been impossible without contact with Greek philosophy that
compelled a more fundamental reinterpretation; followed by the establishment of the Trinity
as its most basic precept at the Nicean council, and a stamp of approval by the Roman
emperor, allowing it to take advantage of Roman political power in its expansion across
Europe. The spread of Islam was a natural extension of the Muslim conquest of Middle East
and North Africa, while Buddhism was forced out of India by Hinduism but was able to make
use of its ability to adapt to native traditions in achieving prominence across the Asian
continent.

In contrast to more universal religions listed above, most other indigenous religions were not
as successful in transcending their national or regional origins, because too much emphasis
was given to its indigenous character, or simply because they did not have the good fortune
of sponsorship from the political leadership in other countries. Though their divinities were
also imbued with the same omnipotence and universality as others, the particular features of
their pantheon was not. Case in point, a non-Greek ethnic group wishing to appropriate
Greek mythology as a religion must acknowledge that the supreme deity of that pantheon
(i.e. Zeus) resides on top of Mt. Olympus, along with the special status of Greece inherent
within those preconditions, which might translate into subjugation, cultural or otherwise.
The Judaic belief in themselves as God's special elect and a sharp demarcation with the
gentiles failed to win Judaism a following outside the immediate vicinity of Israel, as was the
case of Hinduism outside India. No indigenous deity can command a following outside of its
borders unless reinterpretation and transformed into a universal divinity, a divinity who
presides over the entire universe, and not just the population that believes in it.

But the same handicaps and liabilities that inhibit their entry into other regions are the ones
that have ensured their longevity. Their indigenous character might prevent them from
developing a large following in other region, but being the product of unique historical
experiences and environment of a particular human collective, their continued survival is
guaranteed as long as that ethnic group or a nation continues to perpetuate itself. For
example, the system of beliefs that constitute Hinduism has persisted for nearly 3500 years
since the Aryan conquest of India, and so had Japanese Shinto survived in its myriad forms
and maintains its firm grip on the Japanese psyche. An ethnic community with a long history
of settlement within a given area are bound to develop a culture with its own unique and
characteristic features, and development of a world view that places itself at the center
naturally follows (i.e. sinocentrism). All indigenous religions happen to be products of a
fusion of just such a world view and worship of a divinity or a pantheon, and Korea is no
exception to this rule of thumb. While traditional notions concerning Korea's indigenous
religions tended to center around their syncretism, given the historical nature of indigenous
religions explained above, it makes no sense to assume that there was no indigenous system
of beliefs in Korea, or was at best another variant of primitive shamanism.

II. INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS OF KOREA

Taken as a group, Korea's indigenous religions can be divided into two categories. The first is
composed of a group of religions with doctrines and tenets founded upon traditional Korean
thought, and distinguished from the second group consisting of Korean
adaptation/interpretation of existing faiths. Included in the former category. Counted among
the first group are three of Korea's main indigenous religions, namely Taejonggyo,
Chondogyo (Tonghak), and Jeungsan-gyo; Won Buddhism and the Unification Church are
standouts in the latter. The boundaries of the first group could also be expanded to include
shamanism in its ranks, even though its practices may not conform to notions of what most
people recognize as formal religion. But the focus of this treatise being on indigenous
systems of thought that have given rise to the native religious orders necessitates a
concentration of my analysis on the main three, and other religions mentioned here will be
discussed at a later time.

While the religious orders I mention here are rooted in ancient forms of thought that can be
traced back for a few millennia, they were given the institutional shape of a formal religion
only very recently. For example, Taejonggyo came into being in 1909, but its founder Na
Chul denied he was creating a new religion, claiming he was merely resurrecting the
traditional worship of the hanulnim that had been lost after the Mongol invasions of the
thirteenth century, and thus the event came to be known in Taejonggyo as the Second
Illumination. The establishment of Chondogyo, or better-known as Tonghak in its early days,
in North Kyongsang by Choe Su-un antedated Taejonggyo by about four decades. The name
`Tonghak', or Eastern Learning being an expedient in reaction to the incursion of
Catholicism, and was renamed the Chondogyo (The Order of the Heavenly Way)' in 1905.
Jeunsangyo theology centers around the worship of an actual historical figure, namely its
founder Kang Il-soon (1871-1909), better known by the name Jeungsan, regarded as the
omnipotent Great Heavenly Lord (Sangjenim) who presides over the human world and the
universe.

The most common misperception associated in discussion of the religions mentioned above
is their sycretism, and although it may be inevitable given their relatively short histories as
religious orders with a formal structure, these misperceptions can be literally misleading. I
do not deny the influence of foreign religion and the role sycretism played in the formation of
their doctrines, but what I do intend to emphasize is that the role of syncretism has been
overblown and the native factors that have exerted the greatest influence has been
downplayed to the point of being completely ignored. And the exact remedy for such
misperception is, of course, identification of those Korean traditions in the shaping of all
three native religions. The three religions have different names, in addition to differences in
the specifics of their tenets and practices, but I would like to stress that similarities abound
when the three are scrutinized to its fundamentals, that they were borne of a single tradition
and historical background, centering on the worship of the exact same deity, albeit referred
to by a variety of names. Of course, one may still continue to argue for sycretism on the basis
of similarities that exist between their organizations and worship procedures with existing
religions, but such is not proof of sycretism in and of themselves. Simply because an
indigenous religion chooses to hold their weekly worship sessions on Sundays (ike the
Christian church) or have their clerics named after those in other religions (I.e. Buddhism)
has no bearing whatsoever upon their fundamental doctrines. They may have borrowed ideas
for their organizational structure based on existing religions because they could not be
created out of thin air, but their doctrines remain quite traditional, and must be
differentiated from Won Buddhism and the Unification Church, where the doctrine itself is
based on preexisting precepts on other religions.

The question that naturally arises at this juncture is, of course, `what were those indigenous
systems of thought?'. To answer that burning question, a review of historical records
concerning the issue might be in order, and the historical account consulted the most
frequently concerning the topic is none other than the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms,
and more specifically, the Accounts of Choe Chiwon, the famous scholar of the North-South
Dynasties (Unified Shilla) period. Writing the inscriptions for a monument in memory of a
certain Hwarang, Choe describes the nature of this Korean thought quite succinctly:

There is a divine and profound way in the country, by the name of pung-ryu.
Its activities are detailed in the Sonsa (History of the Hwarang), and it includes all precepts of the
three teachings (Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism), to directly contact and transform all mortals. Its
doctrine to be filial to one's parents and loyal to the country is alike the teachings of the Minister of Lu
(Confucius), to do without doing and teach without acting is the same as the decrees of the Records-
keeper of Zhou (Laozi), and to serve all that is good and to shun all that is wicked is the same manner
of words as the Crown Prince of India (Buddha).

I would like to begin by offering interpretation of the passage, `it includes all precepts of the
three teachings', which is usually taken to mean that `pungryu' is itself nothing more than a
syncretic system of thought as a result of combination of Confucianism, Buddhism, and
Taoism. However, careful reading will reveal that the passage should be taken at its face
value, that the three religions are merely INCLUDED WITHIN the pungryu-do, that they are
do not form the basic structure of pungryu-do, and that the pungryu-do contains the three
teachings but extend beyond them. There are no concrete definitions as to the exact nature of
pungryu-do, other than abstract claims of its links with the traditional Korean Sondo, or
`Korean shamanism', as the scholar Yoo Seung-guk has pointed out. But defining pungryu-
do as an ancient form of shamanism carries the inherent danger of its identification with
shamanism in its present-day forms, namely rituals of exorcism accompanied by loud music,
and a system of divination for good fortune. To preclude such misperception requires an
illumination of the differences between the doctrines stressed in the pungryu-do and
shamanism. The most outstanding feature that distinguishes the two is the presence of such
values as piety, loyalty, virtue, and a definition of good and evil; in short, higher values
usually associated with complex systems of thought, itself impossible without reciprocal
social, philosophical, and cultural developments within that given community. It is now up
to the sceptics who still maintain that pungryu-do is syncretic to explain why a scholar as
erudite and well-read as Choe Chiwon, who obviously had contact with precepts all three
religions in Tang China, did not state that pungryu-do was a composite system of thought
comprising of the three, but instead wrote that the precepts of the three were INCLUDED
within pungryu-do. They also have the burden of proving why Choe did not state that
pungryu-do was SIMILAR to the three. Until the sceptics can come up with a plausible
explanation to the above question, my hypothesis basically stands, that pungryu-do was
something that included the teaching of the three religions, but offered something more.

Now we come to the origins of the pungryu-do itself, which must be traced to the Tangun
mythology as it appears in Ilyon's Lost History of the Three Kingdoms (Samguk Yusa). The
myth features Hanin (桓因) and Hanung (桓雄), personal deities who are not satisfied
remaining in their celestial realm, and later decide to intervene in terrestrial events and
create a paradise on earth with Hanung descending to the earth and transforming into a
mortal being (reminiscent of Christian theology). The descent from heaven basically signifies
the union between heaven and earth, as is the marriage between the human Hanung and the
bear-woman (which should be corrected to mean earth-woman, or the Korean counterpart to
the Greek Gaea). The ancestors of present-day Koreans gave due recognition to this role of
heaven in the establishment of their nation with worship of the heaven and its deity from
antiquity. In addition, the very term 'Hanin' is a transliteration of the old Korean hanulnim,
or the ruler of heaven, who took his place as the main object of worship at these historical
rites to the celestial.

There are, of course, detractors to this argument as well, claiming that the term Hwan-in
originated in the Samguk Yusa as the transliteration of the Indian Thunder God, Sakra-
devanam Indra (釋迦堤桓因陀羅), which is nothing more than a fallacy considering that
Hanin was not a term invented by the monk Ilyon, that Ilyon simply chose to describe the
supreme deity with Buddhist terminology familiar to him, which in Sanskrit happened to be
Indra, and no serious thought should be given to that argument. Celestial worship in Korea
apparently survived the introduction of Buddhism, and secured its place in a number of
temples as the Chesok. Thanks to the protean nature of Buddhist doctrine, Korea's native
deities succeeded in penetrating their way into the Buddhist pantheon, if Myochung's
attempt during the Koryo to explain them as manifestations of the various Bodhisattva's are
any indication, and their existence was fully appreciated with the Palkwanhoe ritual during
the Koryo. However, the Mongol invasion and the subsequent introduction of Lamaism
forced the traditional worship of the heavens underground, and were virtually stamped out
of existence as they lost their ideological crutch called Buddhism, when it was met with
systematic oppression during the Neo-Confucian Choson

III. THE THREE INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS

Their foundation in the traditional worship of the heavens notwithstanding, it was the
extremely dire circumstances Korea was placed under at the turn of the nineteenth and
twentieth century that stimulated their rise to the surface and formal organization.
Imperialist expansion coupled with haphazard and half-hearted attempts at reform fully
exposed Korea's vulnerability to foreign encroachment, and Korea soon became a cockpit of
colonial powers bent on expansion. But Neo-Confucianism, by this time a fossilized,
intractable, and inflexible ideological vanguard of the old monarchical order, seemed unable
to respond to both material and spiritual challenges forced upon Koran by western
expansionism. The spiritual challenges posed by western thought systems, and in particular
Christianity, necessitated corresponding ideological reciprocation to meet them, and the
celestial worship that had long remained underground was presented with an opportunity
for revival. However, they also needed reinterpretation to develop the spiritual appeal
necessary for their diffusion, the result being the establishment of Taejonggyo, Chondogyo,
and Jeungsan-gyo.

A. TAEJONGGYO
Though perhaps the most nationalistic in origin and its doctrines, Taejong-gyo is also the
least know of the three indigenous faiths. With some exaggeration, the majority of the
Korean population either does not know that it exists or simply regard it as a sect of Tangun
worshippers. To consider Taejonggyo as a faith devoted to the worship Tangun's is a
misunderstanding, and a serious mistake when one takes the time to review its doctrines.
Contrary to common perceptions, Tangun the historical personality is not worshipped as a
divinity, but is instead revered as the original founder who laid the ideological foundations of
the faith, thus making its resurrection possible in 1909. Tangun the personality must be
separated from the actual object of worship, the Hannim, a heavenly deity with the functions
that represent the Korean version of the trinity. A comparison might be made to the
relationship between Mohammed and Allah of the Islamic faith, whereby Mohammed is
revered as the Great Prophet and founder, but Allah is the supreme deity.

Taejongyo arguably possesses the most systematic and philosophical doctrine of the three
faiths discussed in this treatise, based on the three canons known as the Celestial Marker
(Chonbukyong), the Divine Scripture of the Trinity (Samil Shingo), and the Canon for
General Instruction (Chamjon Kyegyong), respectively, that supposedly have existed before
the foundation. Unlike the other two religions where the founders provided most of the
words that fill their scriptures, Taejonggyo was able to develop a systematic doctrine thanks
to the existence of the three texts. Chonbukyong is a cryptic and mysterious text that is
supposed to represent the laws of the universe, and therefore a cosmology, while the Samil
Shingo delineates the Taejonggyo concept of God and is therefore considered theology, and
last but not least, the Chamjon Kyegyong is a list of moral and ethical precepts for proper
functioning of secular society.

But all things said and done, it is the concept of trinity that forms the crux of Taejonggyo's
religious doctrine. One may draw some analogies from the simultaneity of many and the one
One is many, many is one) as stated by the Shilla monk Uisang, with one representing the
great ultimate and the whole, and many being the parts, the various phenomena that
comprise the whole. The simultaneity of the whole and the parts is an anomaly to western
thought, based upon a duality and a dichotomy that highlights discrimination between the
whole and its parts. In a nutshell, the rationalism that dominated western thought for three
centuries, is basically linear logic that follows sequential cause and effect. Such rationalist
logic will be hard-pressed to explain the essence of Taejonggyo trinity, where the three
composite functions of the whole does not merely ACT as one, but they are one. The `three'
in the samil (the three-one) should be comparable to the concept of `many' in Uisang's logic.
However, the three-one concept should be distinguished from other forms of religious
reasoning for its lack of sequential logic. Simply put, there is no such thing as a cause and
effect relationship between the one and the three, and the three merely symbolize the
FUNCTIONS of the whole (one), and are not `parts' or `elements' in any sense of the word.
Conversely, the `one' is not a composite whole of the three, but exists `as is'.
The relationship between the one and the three being what they are, the most explicit feature
that separate the samil concept from all the rest is complementarity and circular logic.
Aristotle's rule of the excluded middle does not apply, and the one and the three will both
cease to be without the other, and this is very well-represented in the symbol known as the
Samtaeguk (Ch. Santaiji), with the whole divided into three colors that represent its
functions. But as I have mentioned earlier, there is no sequential logic at work between the
three, for one begins where the other ends, and the process continues ad infinitum, without
beginning and end, all three being the alpha and the omega simultaneously. The samil
concept extends and reaches into Taejonggyo theology itself, in the form of a trinity-deity
reminiscent of Anastasius, known as samshinnon (The three-deity hypothesis). The English
translation can be misleading, as the samshin are not individual divinities but, in accordance
with the samil logic, three functions of the hannim at work in the cosmos, and in relation to
the human world: the creator (chohwashin), the teacher/instructor (kyohwashin), and the
ruler (chihwashin). The samshin creates, teaches, and then rules over the world, but again,
they are all FUNCTIONS and not individual divinities with distinct personalities. Therefore
the hannim presides over the world with his omnipotent powers, but is at the same time also
has control of rules and laws that govern it (as instructor), which seems to be in line with
deist logic. There is no direct intervention like those of Christian Jehovah, and he chooses to
govern the world with rules and laws (not in a legal sense), but being the law itself at the
same time, he exercises his rule over every phenomena. In essence, he rules without ruling.

Another resident feature of Taejonggyo is the complete absence of millenarianism and

apocalyptic ideology, as is any reference to magic and divination. It does not sow fear into its
congregation with notions of God's omnipotence and the end of human history (to be
replaced by a divine one), and comparisons of divine holiness and human corruption that
lend it justice. What all this boils down to is that there is NO DOOMSDAY SCENARIO in
Taejonggyo. In addition, the hannim is not a divinity receptive to prayers relating to luck and
good fortune. Taejonggyo's explanation of the relationship between the hannim focuses on
discipline and meditation, as expressed in a line from the second chapter of the Samil
Shingo: discover your nature within your own character, for it (the essence) has descended
into your brain. While Taejonggyo does not deny the existence of a supernatural deity, the
only way to approach the realm of the divine is through discipline and meditation. All in all,
Taejonggyo is the manifestation of all that is philosophical and logical within the pungryu-
do, with its divination and magical elements being taken up by shamanism. The lack of great
concern for the world beyond in combination with life on earth meant emphasis was placed
on human reality, which precipitated its active participation in worldy affairs, namely the
independence movement.

B. CHONDOGYO
Chondogyo is without a doubt the most-oft mentioned among the three, for it has historical
significance as the prime force behind the Tonghak Movement of the late nineteenth century.
But despite its historical notoriety, all that is usually known about the religion is the original
name (Tonghak), the name of its founder (Choe Che-u), and its concept of `man is heaven
(Innaechon)', without amy notice given to its religious side or its doctrines. Without further
adieu, it would suffice to say the same divinity that manifests and hannim in Taejonggyo
appears in Chondogyo theology as well. However, worship of the same divinity (hanulnim)
does not necessarily mean that they will exhibit similar practices. The one defining feature
that separates Chondogyo from Taejonggyo (with doctrine based on much tighter
philosophical logic), is its heavier emphasis on magic and divination. Fantastic tales such as
Su-un's acquisition of the Celestial Text from an itinerant monk or Su-un surviving three
attempts at beheading abound in its history. The enrapture at the moment of his encounter
with God is strangely reminiscent of shaman rituals, which goes to show Chondogyo's
orientation towards miracle and magic.

But its religious doctrine of course, centers around the worship of hanulnim and the concept
of `man is heaven', which I believe has been misinterpreted up to this date. The concept is
usually taken to be the ultimate form of humanism, of placing the human being on a level
equal to heaven. Contrary to common belief, however, the concept did not fully materialize
in anything Choe Che-u wrote or said, as Su-un chose to focus on the worship of a personal
deity he referred to as the `hanulnim', similar in that respect to the Christian Deus. Choe
Che-u believed that the people had lost their connection with the divine with far too much of
emphasis on principles, and identifying heaven as the source of those principles, which the
Neoconfucians identified as li (理). Thus heaven became something impersonal, a nebulous
entity that had no direct relationship with individual human being and the world in general.
This is the spiritual situation Su-un sought to remedy with the revival of human connection
with a personal deity, emphasizing worship in the deity with a faith that must necessarily
surpass the Confucian sincerity (성) and reverence (경), in both strength and scope, and that
such offered the only hope for the world in turmoil. Though the concept of the traditional
hanulnim still existed to some extent in the collective Korean psyche at the time of
Chondokyo's founding, Su-un believed that abstract recognition was simply not enough, and
sought to revive the hanulnim's personal and omnipotent aspects. Its ideology being based
on this traditional divinity, the natural result was the sect's identification with nationalism
and as a force of reaction to counter western influences, which was spearheaded by
Christianity.

In spite of Chondogyo's emphasis on the worship of the personal God, elements of deism
associated with ancient divinities still survive in Chondogyo theology, as it associates God
with nature. According to Chondoist beliefs, there is nothing on the world that is not
permeated with divine nature of the hanulnim, which bears strong resemblance to Buddhist
emphasis on the ubiquity and omnipresence of the Buddha nature (皆有佛性). Choe Shiyong
illustrated the notion most succinctly when he declared that, `the heaven and earth is
positive and negative, and one gigantic spirit', and therefore, human beings are no exception.
Haewol's statements basically sets right what commonly misunderstood as the concept of
`man is heaven', for it does not seek to ascribe a `status' to human beings that is equal to
heaven. It merely states that human have been granted the same celestial nature inherent in
other beings. Since all things that are imbued with celestial nature carry the same value as
heaven itself, so due humans, and such is the reasoning that serves as the foundation for the
innaechon principle. However, attachment of such `value' would have important social
consequences, as it points to basic equality between all living beings, including between
individual humans, and such would blossom into full-blown egalitarianism that would
inflame popular passions, and the rest, is of course, history.

C. JEUNGSAN-GYO
To those who might consider the Taejonggyo hannim and the Chondogyo hanulnim to be
very abstract and nebulous will not find such ambiguity concerning the object of worship in
Jeungsan-gyo, for the Jeungsangyo deity happens to be a historical personality who has
actually existed, in the person of Kang Il-soon (1871-1909), better known by his alias,
Jeungsan. To his followers, Jeungsan was the human manifestation of the Kuchon Sangje
(Lord of the Nine Heavens), the ruler of heaven, on earth. For some strange reason, the
Sangjenim of the Jeungsangyo faith provides a better image of the celestial deity as described
in Taejonggyo's Samil Shingo. The Divine Scripture of the Trinity speaks of a divinity that is
personal and omnipotent, who is both principle and personality simultaneously, presides
over the spiritual realm, and exercises personal power over the world. The Jeungsangyo
doctrine ascribes the same henotheistic qualities to Jeungsan, in his omnipotent power over
the world as the Sangje, exercising direct power over the world with Divine Operations (天地
公事), governing a celestial region filled with sages and spirits subordinate to himself, but at
the same time descending to the world in a direct effort at its transformation (接化群生), etc.
He is the embodiment of concept of both je (帝: 治化神), denoting imperium, and chon (天: 敎
化神), with its traditional association with principles simultaneously, and indication that
Taejonggyo and Jeungsan-gyo may have originated from the same traditions.

On the other hand, because of the weight given to the personal aspect of its divinity, though
it may have been inevitable due to the existence of an actual personality, Jeungsan became
estranged from the divinity of the Samil Shingo, and took on characteristics marked by
absolute imperium of the Christian Jehovah. A personal divinity whose imperium is given
particular articulation naturally leads to absolutism, and the notion of divine punishment for
those who stray from that absolute imperium, which then leads to millenarianism and
apocalyptic ideology resulting from that human divergence from the absolute, as found in
doctrines of Christianity. But of course, apocalypse does not mean end of the world but
merely presages a new era, and a figure who guides them through the apocalypse and rule
the world thereafter. In short, the messiah, and Jeungsangyo found a convenient model in
Korean tradition in the Chonggam-rok, a popular text of prophecy, and the worship of the
Maitreya Buddha, long-established as Korea's own version of messianic theory. It was the
masses, more familiar with messianic theory, rather than the elite who found the most
appeal in Jeungsan's messages, which necessitated performance of miracles and resort to
magic and divination, no doubt playing an important in attracting a following. The level of
Jeungsangyo's reliance on miracles and divination may have been a reflection of the early
organization's proselytization of the masses. That Jeungsan himself did not like music in
general but was fond of traditional harvest music is also indication of the popular orientation
of Jeungsangyo in its early days.

The precepts central to Jeungsangyo doctrine can be summarized as emphasis on Jeungsan's

imperium, on kaebyuk (apocalypse), and humanism as expressed in its statements that it is
the humans who hold the key to success of all things (謀事在天 成事在人). But although its
precepts are universal, and concern the east and the west, and the entire world, in the end,
its doctrines are made to serve nationalism. Case in point, it claims that the epidemic that
wipes out humanity will begin in Kunsan, and states that the fifth immortal who takes the
baduk board back after the four are done with their game represents Korea in relation to the
four major powers surrounding it. In the end, it will be the southern regions of Korea that
will bring the chaos of the apocalypse to a close (萬國活計南朝鮮). Jeungsan-gyo also warns
against unmitigated adherence to things foreign, as it constitutes switching one's ancestors
for another and a direct betrayal of tradition, which will be answered by death (`all those
switch fathers and change grandfathers will die'). Jeungsan also held a symbolic rite
expelling Confucius, Buddha, and Lao Zi from the world, deeming that what they have
preached is no longer applicable in the future. But all things said and done, the fact that it
declares Koreans as masters of a new world to come is alone sufficient to label its doctrines
as nationalistic.

IV. CONCLUSION
The turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century was a turbulent era for Koreans, and
everything they had held as familiar was being brought into question, especially on the
ideological front, and a revival of some sorts was desperately necessary lest the whole society
and the Korean mind fall to foreign encroachment. The three religions of Taejonggyo,
Chondogyo, and Jeungsangyo rose to the challenge, and succeeded in captivating an entire
generation of Koreans, setting them on a path to enlightenment, and occasions, to
revolution. Of course, nothing that the Korean government or the elites did for the country at
that point would have saved the country from an imperialist country as tenacious and
determined as Japan. However, the tradition of celestial worship that formed the base of
Korean religiosity were resurrected by the needs of the era, the need to counter the
ideological challenge of the west, and rooted in tradition, they were successful in doing so.
Although the three religions may not have saved Korea from political domination, it kept the
Korean spirit alive, for they were the embodiments of what the Koreans believed in for a long
time, and even to this day, as vague as it may be. I would like to end by quoting a passage
from our national anthem: may hanunim's providence be with us, long live our nation.