• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.39
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• pp.249-274
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• 2021

The aim of this article is to investigate the religious medical treatments performed by Kang Jeungsan as recorded in The Canonical Scripture, the main scripture of the Korean new religion, Daesoon Jinrihoe. The unity of mind and body is the core principle underlying Kang Jeungsan's religious medical treatments. He believed treating the mind of his patients was more important and necessary than treating their diseases. As such, he believed the only way to treat critical illness was to keep preserve the mind-body unity of his patients. Massage was a physical therapy often used by Kang Jeungsan. The medicinal materials that he commonly used were the Four-substance Decoction (四物湯 samultang), Minor Bupleurum Decoction (小柴胡湯 soshihotang), quince (木瓜 mokgwa *Pseudocydonia sinensis; not papaya), and rehmannia (生地黃 saengjihwang). Kang Jeungsan's religious medical treatments were characteristic of Daoist healing methods. His Daoist style healing methods included multiple techniques such as treating diseases through correcting Qi, exorcising malevolent entities, transferring diseases to a different host, removing a disease through the changing of clothes, pouring medicine into the ground, combining the usage of talisman and incantations, and treating the common people. Among these techniques, Jeungsan's pouring medicine into the ground was especially innovative.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.34
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• pp.27-48
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• 2020

"Saving lives by curing the world is the way of sages" is one of the key concepts from Daesoon Jinrihoe's The Canonical Scripture. In the Daoist scripture, The Most Excellent and Marvelous Lingbao Scripture of Limitless Salvation (The Salvation Scripture for short), a similar idea of 'saving the world and liberating lives' can be found, and it parallels the idea of religious healing in Daesoon Jinrihoe. Both systems of thought are internally consistent and focus on the individual living being as well as society by taking aim at curing human diseases while solving societal problems. Both sources also took influence from earlier Daoist Thought that responded to The Book of Changes, extended their innovations to traditional medicine, and realized the usefulness of religious healing. Although the two developed in different countries and time periods, their ideological similarities can still be appreciated. This paper delves into the above topic via three aspects: first, analyzing the historical background that produced Daesoon Jinrhoe's concept of "Saving Lives and Curing the World" while covering both individual and societal applications, second, examining the methods of implementing "Saving Lives and Curing the World" as a form of religious healing, and third, comparing the philosophical similarities between Daesoon Jinrihoe's "Saving Lives and Curing the World" and Lingbao Daoism's The Salvation Scripture in terms of their religious thought.