• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.14
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• pp.381-405
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• 2002

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.7
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• pp.255-290
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• 1999

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.6
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• pp.317-360
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• 1998

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.6
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• pp.113-167
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• 1998

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.6
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• pp.427-469
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• 1998

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.31
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• pp.199-235
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• 2018

Most of the new religions derived from Jeungsan have claimed that Jeungsan's religious thought reproduced Dangun [檀君] Thought in its original form. However, Daesoon Jinrihoe is the only religious order out of the many new religions within the Jeungsan lineage, which has constantly kept its distance from Dangun Thought since 1909 during the earliest period of proto-Daesoon Jinrihoe. Even a mere trace of Dangun cannot be found in the subject of faith or the doctrinal system of Daesoon Jinrihoe. In this context, this study aims to examine possible connections between Daesoon Thought and Dangun Thought in order to determine why other Jeungsanist religions frequently exhibit Dangunist features. Specifically, a major part of this study will be devoted to comparing and analyzing the narrative structure of Daesoon Thought and Dangun Thought as well as their respective motifs. In fact, Jeungsan does not seem to have ever mentioned Dangun in his recorded teachings, therefore, after his passing into the Heaven, most of the religious orders including Daesoon Jinrihoe derived from him did not pay any attention to Dangun Thought for almost for 40 years. These orders did not originally perceive Dangun as an object of belief. After Korea's liberation, Dangun became widely accepted as a pivotal role among the Korean people. As Dangun-nationalism claimed to unify Koreans as one great Korean ethnic society, the religious orders of Jeungsan lineage also climbed aboard this creed and their faiths or doctrines were acculturated to reflect this change. The reason for this has been attributed to following modern trends to increase success in propagation. In the meantime, Daesoon Jinrihoe was the only order that did not accept Dangun-nationalism because it was not a teaching given by the order's founder. And the two systems of thought have more dissimilarity than parallelism in terms of philosophical ideology. These seem to be the main reasons why Daesoon Jinrihoe did not adopt Dangun into its doctrine or belief system.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.27
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• pp.79-132
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• 2016

The view of life and death in Daesoonjinrihoe includes all the gods of Heaven and Earth, and the human heart is taken as the foundational key. Practitioners can realize their value according to how much they have cultivated themselves. This is regarded as the mythical use of a singularly focused mind (full dedication of one's heart). In other words, it focuses on the potentiality of humans who are able to enter a transcendental area of divinity through their self-cultivation. This view of life and death in Daesoonjinrihoe was established by the religious mission known as "Samgye Gongsa (the Reordering of Three Realms of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity)." Samgye Gongsa indicated a new opening of the Three Realms of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity. This new opening is a return to the original principle of Heavenly operation and also a new order for the universe. Heaven and Earth have their own underlying principle by which they operate. This act was directly initiated and manifested from Dao. Daesoonjinrihoe diagnoses that the underlying principle by which Heaven operates was damaged by human misconduct, and as a result, the human observance of that principle fell out of common usage. Therefore, Daesoonjinrihoe gives priority to the reestablishment of Dao as it existed originally and tries to bring about reconciliation between Heaven and Earth and Humanity. In short, it resolves the grievances accrued since time immemorial by correcting the order of Sindo (Divine Law). Furthermore, it shows that the Dao of Sangsaeng (mutual beneficence) was created by reordering the arrangement of Heaven and Earth so that human beings and divine beings could reach a state of perfection through self-realization. Humans not only communicate with Heaven and Earth, but also communicate with divine beings. Divine beings are transcendent living beings capable of communicating with humans through their heart-minds. In Daesoon thought, human beings are not swayed by the power of divine beings, but instead are able to control divine beings through the transcendent power of their heart-minds. Given this view, the aim of Daesoonjinrihoe lies in participating in the harmony of Heaven and Earth through the cultivation of the human heart. Also, it sees that the human heart-mind can be united with the universal Dao, and thus it is able to be united with the deities of Heaven and Earth. In order to actualize this, one does not rely on exterior rituals or magic but has to focus instead on cultivating the moral ethics of the heart-mind to reach perfection. In other words, one can reach a transcendent level in one's heart-mind through the cultivation of a singularly focused mind and be free from the contradiction of life and death and other such torments. Life and death is an inevitable process for humans. So they do not have to be happy for life and sad for death. They can rather be free from the fear of death by fulfilling the energetic zenith of the human heart-mind via training themselves to transcend their physical bodies. No aging and no death is not a pursuit of radical longevity or immortality for the physical body, but rather a pursuit of the essence of life and the realization of eternity on a spiritual level. Daesoonjinrihoe pursues the state of being unified with Dao by developing "Jeong·Gi·Sin (精·氣·神 the internal energies of essence, pneuma, and spirit)" and trying to reach the transcendent state of non-aging and radical longevity by spurring the practice of self-realization and the discovery one's own innate nature. Through the practice of human ethics, they can access the creative functions of Heaven and Earth and become one with Heavenly Dao thereby achieving harmony between temporal existence and eternity. In this way, humans transcend the life and death of their physical bodies. When "Doins (trainees of Dao)" reach the true state of unification with Dao through singularly focused cultivation, they not only realize self perfection as human beings, but also enable themselves the means to do away with all disasters and forms of suffering. They thereby attain ultimate happiness in their lives.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.42
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• pp.167-199
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• 2022

A majority of religious orders in Jeungsanism believe in Jeungsan as a spiritual entity or incarnation of Maitreya. However, Daesoon Jinrihoe insists that the destiny of Maitreya lasts for fifty-thousand years and the 'gold (金)' associated with the Maitreya icon (Geumsan-sa Temple) symbolizes the 'Later World.' A different Maitreya icon was produced for Daesoon Jinrihoe's Toseong Training Temple Complex. That icon of Maitreya looks similar to the one at Gwanchok-sa Temple. That is because the icon in Daesoon Jinrihoe has been formed in order to emphasize Maitreya as a symbol different from the one in Geumsan-sa Temple. If the Maitreya icon of Geumsan-sa Temple is a core that symbolizes two figures, Jeungsan and his successor, Jeongsan, who inherited his religious orthodoxy, then the Maitreya icon at Toseong Training Temple Complex is a symbol that suggests faith and religious practice from a more conventional perspective. The Maitreya icon in Geumsan-sa Temple deals with issues of religious orthodoxy whereas the icon at Toseong is related to the prophecies on the redemption of people and the advent of Dao-empowered sages. According to Daesoon Thought, Maitreya is not just the future Buddha. He has already descended on the earth in modern times. Due to Jeungsan's descending on the earth, the incarnation of Maitreya has been accomplished as far as the Daesoon faith is concerned. Henceforth, the true practice of Maitreya reverence in the context of Daesoon Jinrihoe should be focused around a group of devotees who specifically practice Jeungsan's Reordering Works of Heaven and Earth. An attempt to do so will enable the formation of the ideal world aimed upon by Maitreya.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.29
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• pp.171-207
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• 2017

The research regarding religious concepts used in Daesoon Jinrihoe are still incomplete. This study is a suggestion to critically review the existing research on 'seeking out the original root (原始返本)', one of the religious terms of Daesoon Jinrihoe. In addition, this concept will be seen from a new perspective. 'Seeking out the original root' plays a major role in Daesoon theology due to the cosmology established by Daesoon Jinrihoe. However, the existing research on this topic are prone to the perspective of 'returning' and assuming a 'cyclical view on the order of history'. Therefore, the cosmology that has been built by the religious language misleads readers to assume a retrospective process or that the process itself is realized on its own in accordance with the cosmic order. These kinds of studies do not specifically manifest the world view of Daesoon Jinrihoe. They fail to do so because Sangje's reordering works and its fruit, the earthly paradise of the Later World, have never existed before. The concept of 'seeking out the original root' should break away from the frame of a cyclical view of history and exert the uniqueness of Daesoon Jinrihoe. In this regard, this study can be summarized as follows: 'Seeking out the original root', one of the principles needed to achieve the re-creation of the Later World, endeavors to find a way to account for the origin of all things such as civilizations, cultures, and dharmas. If such a way is found, the facts between the root and the beginning should be acknowledged, as the root itself is what has been sustained, succeeded, used, resolved, revised, and rectified. The origin is usually dealt with from the position of rewarding. This was all achieved in Sangje's decisions and his reordering works. Its outcome will be utilized as a basis to establish an earthly paradise in the Later World. This concept, as defined above, excludes a cyclical view of history and implies that the concept of 'seeking out the original root' is a flexible frame within the context of dynamic structuralism. Given the style of this approach, this study provides a view which can be easily differentiated from existing research.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.35
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• pp.393-426
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• 2020

In the past, holy sites were mainly designated on a basis of archaeological norms and endowed with a specific fixed identity according to historical, religious, and contextual interpretations. However, approaches to these sites are more flexible in recent times. These locations transcend the boundaries of space and time to enable the experience of diverse transformation and reveal multiple religious identities which are embedded in the complex interaction between power and authority. In this regard, the dynamic meanings of the religious symbology of Daesoon Jinrihoe's temple complexes, imagery, and the spatial structures enable us to grant them a new identity by re-establishing these structures as World Heritage sites. Temple complexes (dojang) correspond to the outstanding universal values identified by UNESCO in that the spiritual activities conducted at these holy sites draw the same attention as would be drawn by historical value. In this context, this study aims to explore the potential for Daesoon Jinrihoe's temple complexes to be designated UNESCO world heritage sites. To carry out this study, existing religious heritage sites such as Mount Athos Monasteries in Greece and Lumbini in Nepal are examined as case studies, and the operational plan, conservation, protection of relics, and interaction with its neighboring community and tourists are likewise closely examined in this study.