• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.47
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• pp.203-239
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• 2023

Jo Jeongsan's religious activity undertaken to benefit society can be organized into two categories. First, attention can be paid to Jo Jeongsan's religious activity of establishing religious order by enshrining Kang Jeungsan as the God of Ninth Heaven and making the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth the basic idea inspiring the social activity of his order. This was completed through the 50 years of propagation work carried out by Jo Joengsan in accordance with Kang Jeungsa's purpose of saving the world and its inhabitants. Second, his practice of social work in the field of people's lives based on the idea of the Dao can also be observed. This religious activity of Jo Jeongsan which began in 1909 was the sacred manifestation of his will to realize Kang Jeungsan's purpose of saving the world and people, and it was also a practice of spreading virtue throughout the world. In addition, Park Wudang carried out Sihak and Sibeop Gongbu (two varieties of holy work) for the cultivation of Dao trainees, and those methods came from the systematic cultivation practice established by Jo Jeongsan. Regarding this, we can refer to Kang Jeungsan's saying, "As the Dao shall dwell in the 12,000 peaks of Geumgang Mountain, the same number of sages who were enlightened to the Dao will be born into the world." The perfected state of human maturity or the emergence of people who are enlightened to the Dao would be the completion of the idea of saving the world and its inhabitants. Therefore, the holy works of Sihak and Sibeop that are now being carried out can be seen as the continuance of the pursuit of saving the world and humankind, as it was continually upheld by Park Wudang's predecessors, Jo Jeongsan and Kang Jeungsan.