Daesun Jinrihoe (or Jillihoe) ()—which in its English-language publications has recently used the transliteration Daesoonjinrihoe and, from 2017, Daesoon JinrihoeSee e.g. Daesoon Institute of Religion and Culture, Daesoonjinrihoe: The Fellowship of Daesoon Truth, Yeoju: Daesoon Institute of Religion and Culture, 2010; Religious Research and Edification Department of Daesoon Jinrihoe, Daesoon Jinrihoe: The Fellowship of Daesoon Truth, 2nd ed., Yeoju: Religious Research and Edification Department of Daesoon Jinrihoe, 2017. The name is also transliterated as Daesunjinrihoe, Daesun Chillihoe, Taesunchillihoe, and Taesŏn Chillihoe.—is a Korean new religious movement, founded in April 1969 by Park Han-gyeong, known to his followers as Park Wudang (; 1917–96, or 1917-95 according to the lunar calendar used by the movement). Daesoon thought is said to be a comprehensive system of truth representing the Great Dao of "resolution of grievances and reciprocation of gratitude into mutual beneficence".Religious Research and Edification Department of Daesoon Jinrihoe, Daesoon Jinrihoe: The Fellowship of Daesoon Truth, 2nd ed., cit., 3.
History
Daesoon Jinrihoe is the largest among more than one hundred different Korean religious movements constituting the group of new religions known as Jeungsanism and originating from the activities of Kang Jeungsan (Gang Il-Sun, 1871–1909), believed by his followers to be the incarnated Supreme God. After Kang’s death in 1909, each of his main disciples, and some of his relatives, went on to establish different new religions, which in turn splintered and fragmented into rival groups, of which today the most active outside Korea is Jeung San Do, which was founded in 1974. The rival group Jeung San Do is better known internationally, but less widely followed within Korea, while Daesoon Jinrihoe has concentrated its activities in Korea.
The largest branch did not originate from a direct disciple of Kang. Jo Cheol-Je, known to his disciples as Jo Jeongsan (1895–1958), never personally met Kang, but claimed to have received a revelation from him in 1917. He was recognized as the successor Kang had announced in his prophecies by Kang’s sister (Seondol, ca. 1881–1942), mother (Kwon, 1850–1926) and daughter (Sun-Im, 1904–1959), although the daughter eventually founded her own separate branch. Jo Jeongsan's followers claim that, in 1909, Kang saw a train passing, which had the young Jo Jeongsan aboard, and stated: "A man can do anything at the age of 15 if he is able to take his identification tag with him". Jo Jeongsan's disciples later claimed that these words amounted to an endorsement by Kang of Jo Jeongsan as his successor.Daesoon Institute of Religion and Culture, "The History and Theology of Daesoonjinrihoe", in The Daesoon Academy of Sciences (ed.), Daesoonjinrihoe: A New Religion Emerging from Traditional East Asian Philosophy, Yeoju: Daesoon Jinrihoe Press, 2016, 199-216 (204).
Jo gathered a sizable number of followers and established land-reclaiming projects in the Anmyeondo and Wonsando Islands, aimed at improving the situation of his disciples. In 1925, he legally incorporated his religious order, Mugeukdo, in Jeongeup. Korea, however, was under Japanese occupation and, due to Japan’s hostility to new religions, Jo decided to disband Mugeukdo in 1941. After World War II, the Japanese left Korea, and in 1948 Jo was able to reconstitute the order, changing its name into Taegeukdo in 1950. New headquarters were established in Busan, initially in the center of the city. Later, due to the new zoning regulations introduced in Busan, the headquarters were relocated to the suburb that came to be called Taegeukdo Village, also known as Gamcheon Culture Village.See Lee Kang-o, "Chungsan-gyo: Its History, Doctrine and Ritual", Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch 43 (1967), 28-66.
Jo died on 6 March 1958. Initially, most of his followers accepted that he had designated as his successor Park Han-Gyeong, later known as Park Wudang (1917–1996, or 1917-95 according to the lunar calendar used by the movement), a schoolteacher who had joined the movement after World War II, after having been forced to join the Japanese army—and Taegeukdo continued as a united movement under Park for ten years, between 1958 and 1968. In 1968, a movement criticizing Park was led by one of Jo Jeongsan’s sons, Jo Yongnae (1934–2004). Eventually, the two factions parted company. Jo Yongnae’s followers kept the name Taegeukdo and the headquarters at the Taegeukdo Village, while Park incorporated in 1969 a new religious order under the name Daesoon Jinrihoe, with headquarters at the Junggok Temple in Junggok-dong in Seoul. Besides the faction of Taegeukdo led by Jo Yongnae and the followers of Park, who eventually became part of Daesoon Jinrihoe, a third group should be mentioned. It included those members of Taegeukdo who tried to promote a reconciliation between the two factions and called for a return of Park to Taegeukdo Village. Those in this third group formed in August 1969 an association called "Taegeukdo-jeongsin-hoe" (Taegeukdo Spirit Association), which changed its name into "Taegeuk Jinrihoe" in March 1971. In (or around) 1972, Taegeuk Jinrihoe was dissolved by its members, who decided to join Daesoon Jinrihoe.
Under Park’s guidance, Daesoon Jinrihoe became a successful movement. According to some accounts, it became the largest new religion in Korea.Don Baker, "Daesoon Sasang: A Quintessential Korean Philosophy", in The Daesoon Academy of Sciences (ed.), Daesoonjinrihoe: A New Religion Emerging from Traditional East Asian Philosophy, cit., 1-16 (2-3). In 1986, a large new temple was inaugurated in Yeoju, followed in 1991 by Daejin University and later by other temples. In 1993, the movement’s headquarters were moved to the Yeoju Temple.See Daesoon Institute of Religion and Culture, An Introduction to Daesoonjinrihoe, 2nd edition, Yeoju: Daesoon Institute of Religion and Culture, 2014, 7-8 and 15.
Schisms
Park had not named a successor and died in 1996 (1995 according to the lunar calendar). Many of his followers had believed that they would achieve the state of dotong, or perfect unification with the Tao, during Park's lifetime. They strongly opposed the idea of appointing a successor of Park, and controversies followed. However, the main reason for the disputes, which had also motivations preceding Park Wudang’s death, so that some divisions had already manifested during his last years, was a controversy about the divinization of Park Wudang (i.e. whether he should now be worshipped as a god or identified with Buddha Maitreya), together with Kang Jeungsan and Jo Jeongsan, who had been in turn divinized. Those favorable to the divinization were led by Yi Yu-jong (1936–2010), the chairperson of the Yeoju Headquarters Temple Complex, who was also accused of administrative wrongdoings by his opponents. On 16 July 1999, a number of leaders of the faction opposed to Yi (estimates vary from 150 to 1,500 or 2,000) gathered at the headquarters in Yeoju and asked Yi to resign. A face-off erupted and the police was called, which finally escorted Yi out of the temple. The police had to intervene again in January 2000, when Yi's faction unsuccessfully tried to retake the Yeoju Headquarters. Yi's followers managed however to take control of Daesoon Jinrihoe's Junggok Temple in Seoul, where Yi proclaimed himself the successor of Park, while the majority group insisted that Park had appointed no successor and organized a collegial direction of the movement.
Eventually, Yi's group experienced in turn further schisms, and Daesoon Jinrihoe split into at least five factions: one, including a large majority of Park’s followers, was opposed to his deification and remained headquartered in Yeoju, while the four main groups that were in favor of considering Park either a god or the Buddha Maitreya were headquartered respectively at the Junggok Temple in Seoul, in Pocheon, Pohang, and Goesan. The latter branch is now known as Daejin Sungjuhoe. In 2013, a council was held in Yeoju to "normalize" the management of the order, attended by the Yeoju Headquarters, Seoul's Junggok Temple, and Pocheon branches. They did not come to an agreement about their doctrinal problems, but agreed to a joint management of Daejin University and of Jesaeng Hospital, one of the main components of Daesoon Jinrihoe’s health system.
These internal problems did not seem to stop the expansion of the movement. In 1997, a giant Maitreya Buddha statue was enshrined in the Geumgangsan Toseong Training Temple, which had been completed in 1996 in the Geumgang Mountain area, where Park Wudang was also buried. The educational and health systems also expanded.See Religious Research and Edification Department of Daesoon Jinrihoe, Daesoon Jinrihoe: The Fellowship of Daesoon Truth, cit.
Beliefs
The doctrine of Daesoon Jinrihoe is based on a sacred history. While the world was in a miserable situation, the Catholic missionary priest Matteo Ricci attempted the solution of the problems through the spreading of Christianity and the construction of an earthly paradise in China. Because of the corrupted situation of Confucianism, Ricci failed, but his mission opened a door through which the Divine Spirits of the East could travel to the West. This was largely responsible for the scientific and cultural progress of the West. Eventually, however, both East and West succumbed to materialism, greed, and wars.Daesoon Institute of Religion and Culture, "The History and Theology of Daesoonjinrihoe", in The Daesoon Academy of Sciences (ed.), Daesoonjinrihoe: A New Religion Emerging from Traditional East Asian Philosophy, cit., 199-216 (212).
As a consequence, all divine spirits petitioned Sangje, the Supreme God, to intervene directly. Sangje undertook a "Great Itineration", where he reordered the three kingdoms of Heaven, Earth, and Human Beings. He descended to the West, from where he moved East and came to Korea, where he stayed for thirty years in the giant Buddha Maitreya statue in the Maitreya Hall of the Geumsansa Temple. During this time, he revealed his divine teachings and plans for a heavenly order to Choe Je-u, the founder of Donghak. Choe’s mission, just as Ricci’s centuries before, failed because of the resistance of the Confucian system. Sangje then withdrew his heavenly mandate from Choe (who was executed in 1864) and, in 1871, incarnated as Kang Jeungsan.Daesoon Institute of Religion and Culture, "The History and Theology of Daesoonjinrihoe", cit., 212-213.
Daesoon Jinrihoe followers thus believe that Kang Jeungsan (Gang Il-Sun) was Sangje, or the Supreme God, in human form. Sangje descended to earth and assumed human form at the end of 19th century in order to renew human beings and build an Earthly Paradise through his Chenji-gongsa (Reordering Works of the Universe).Don Baker, "Daesoon Sasang: A Quintessential Korean philosophy", cit., 11. To achieve this aim, a religious organization was also needed, and Daesoon Jinrihoe believes it was created through the succession in the religious orthodoxy first by Jo Jeongsan and then by Park Wudang.