• 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.