Abstract
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.
本論文的探討, 主要集中在韓國大巡真理會的最高神「九天上帝」與臺灣一貫道的萬靈真宰「明明上帝」, 二者皆為當代很具代表性的新興「上帝」信仰, 試著就其信仰的淵源, 特色及關聯性作比較研究。根據的文獻有中國古籍及道教典籍, 大巡真理會的《典經》及一貫道的《一貫道藏》等文獻, 借此以了解大巡及一貫道宇宙觀思想的特色。例如, 九天上帝因不忍看到世間愈來愈混亂, 為了讓世間變好, 走向神人調化的世界, 所以下凡來大巡世間教化世人。最終來到了韓國, 降生在甄山客望里, 展開教化世人, 解冤相生, 陰陽合德, 神人調化, 達於道通真境的理想實現。一貫道則說人的來源是在「理天」, 人是由明明上帝所創造的「原胎佛子」, 來世間為了治理世間, 接受鍛煉, 最終是要回到理天的故家鄉。但由於迷戀紅塵, 忘了回鄉之路, 所以上帝派了彌勒佛, 濟公活佛及月慧菩薩, 降生在世間教化世人, 使能認母歸根, 達本返原, 回到理天老母的家鄉。大巡會與一貫道都將萬靈真宰的最高神簡稱為「上帝」。這又與西方聖經中的上帝, 具有某些聯結性, 但又有其差異性。探究其淵源, 九天上帝與明明上帝, 似乎又與形成於殷商時期, 中國古代的上帝信仰有關。這些都是很有趣的問題, 值得作更深入的比較探究。