• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.29
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• pp.101-140
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• 2017

Currently, the whole world is being swept away by spiritual movements. Since the Three Kingdoms periods, Korea has been under the influence of "The Three Teachings". But during the modern times, the word "The Three Daos" began to be widely used alongside the expression "The Three Teachings" within various circles of New Korean Religions. Regarding this, Daesoon Thought is particularly noteworthy due to its description of the religious realm spoken of as "Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism" and the figurehead of that realm, the "Gwan-wang (Crowned King)". This study suggests that there should be a distinction noting the differences between "The Three Teachings" and "The Three Daos" in order to understand the status of the "Gwan-wang" in Daesoon Thought and to facilitate the study Buddhism as both a religion and a religious principle within the context of "The Gwan-wang of the Three Daos". Chapter II, details the conceptions of "Dao" and "Teaching" in the Eastern tradition and "Religion" in the Western tradition. This chapter includes a discussion of how the word "The Three Daos" could be approached as a "Theory of the Three Daos" that explains the religions of the East and the West through comprehensive principles. Chapter III goes through descriptions in the Jeon-gyeong of Buddhistic faiths, doctrines, monks, and temples to discover the meaning of the Dao of Buddhism and Buddhist culture as contained in the Jeon-gyeong. In chapter IV, the Buddhistic characteristics of Daesoon Thought is clarified in three ways: the Dao of Buddhism as the "substance of form", oneness as "growth and nurturing", and "Jinmuk" as the leader of the Dao of Buddhism. From this discussion, it is shown that research on the Dao of Buddhism in Daesoon Thought is a crucial avenue for understanding the identity of Daesoon Thought. In other words, the status of Daesoon Thought is not irrelevant to the Dao of Buddhism or to Buddhism proper, but Daesoon Thought should instead be understood as pursuing the state of Gwan-wang (Crowned King), which has the Dao of Buddhism as an axis characterized as "the substance of form" or as "growth and nurturing". Also, it provides a comprehensive view by which the various aspects of Buddhism as a modern day religious phenomenon of can be understood under the principle of the Dao of Buddhism.