• Title/Summary/Keyword: the dignity of human(人尊)

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A Study on the Religious-Ethical Meaning of 'Reorganizing the order of Heaven and Earth' in the Scripture of Daesoonjinrihoe ('천지공사'의 종교윤리적 의미에 대한 연구)

  • Ryu, Sung-min
    • Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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    • v.23
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    • pp.1-36
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    • 2014
  • The purpose of this study is to research the religious-ethical meaning of the scripture (Jeongyung, 典經) of Daesoonjinrihoe, one of religious orders in Korea. It is 'the reorganizing in the order of heaven and earth' (ROHE, 天地公事)that the believers of Daesoonjinrihoe regard as the essence and basis of their religious belief in Jeongyung, and so I focus on it in this paper. And I have applied the method of religious ethics that recognize the relation religion and morality for understanding religious-ethical meaning of moral principles and norms. In the process of this study I have selected a lot of moral principles, norms and activities in ROHE, and sorted them with their social context of ROHE. In this research I have found some characteristics of ethical norms in the ROHE according to three divisions of ethical category such as personal, social and natural ethics. The understanding of mind is an important point of personal ethic in the ROHE. The mind is understood as the subject and object of personal ethical attitude and volition. So one could have ethical attitude by oneself with mind as subject, and reflect and correct on his ethical faults with the mind as ethical object. The distinctiveness of social ethic in the ROHE is special concerns to the weak at that time such as sick person, illegitimate children, shamans, farmhands and etc. This is a logical consequence of the ethical altruism of the ethic of mutual beneficence(相生) and the dignity of human(人尊) in ROHE. And the ethics of mutual beneficence is applied to natural ethic of ROHE. Since natural world including all sort of plants and animals is intimately related to the human worlds, so it is a desirable attitude for to accommodate to the changes of nature. Even if these characteristics of ethics in ROHE are justified by the religious beliefs, the norms from them are available in our religious pluralistic societies, since they have common ethical values of other religious ethics. It is my concluding remark that religious orders or denominations have to offer a lot of moral norms suitable to religious pluralistic situation. Because it is needed for our society to conquer various sort and kind conflicts among religions, and to act harmoniously together for public peace.

A Transcendental Pragmatic Interpretation on the Notion of 'Injon' in Daesoon Thought (대순사상의 인존(人尊)에 대한 화용론적(話用論的) 해석)

  • Baek, Choon-hyoun
    • Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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    • v.39
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    • pp.33-67
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    • 2021
  • This paper aims at revealing the core concept of Injon (Human Nobility). The concept of Injon is one of the salient fundamental ideas which makes Daesoon Jinrihoe recognizable as Daesoon Jinrihoe. The concept of Injon has the basic meaning of 'human nobility,' but within the context wherein the nobility of humankind is considered to be greater than the nobility of Heaven and Earth. Although the religious and ideological interpretations of Injon (human nobility) that have developed over time have been quite diverse and abundant, these interpretations are all limited in that they generally assume the relationship between 'Heaven and Earth' and 'Humanity' to be antagonistic. However, if human nobility is relativized in that manner, it can reduce the potential broader meanings of mutual beneficence and the earthly paradise of the later world. These interpretations are grounded in the view of semiotic interpretation. Such interpretations have composed their view point via the semiotic meaning of the words. The semiotic point of view suggests that meanings of words consist in the relation of the word and the object to which it denotes. We will introduce a new view point which can be termed the transcendental view point. This view focuses on how the exact interpretation of words and sentences depends on the comprehension of the triad of systematic relations among the word, object, and speaker. In the Daesoon Thought, the Former World is considered to be the world wherein all creations unfolded according to the principle of mutual contention. This led to the accumulation of grievances and grudges which condensed and filled the Three Realms of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity. The Former World was dominated by Western material civilization, selfishness, and exclusivism. It was also a world where humans suffered from various natural disasters such as floods, droughts, plagues, and wildfires. The Former World lost the constant Dao and was overwhelmed with all kinds of disasters and calamities. That world fell into various kinds of wretchedness. The causes which made the Former World so cruel came from humans misunderstanding their relation to nature and life in general; including human life. The anthropocentric modern cosmology insisted that the human race was the only one to have the powers and rights to exercise dominion over nature. On the other hand, there is the Later World, which means the ideal and perfect, immanent eternal world for all humankind in Daesoon Thought. This world consists of life, peace, and equality and is also characterized by three typical attributes: goodness, peace, and all kinds of life. All living beings previously struggled for survival, but in the Later World, those lifeforms will embrace each other; even across different realms. In Daesoon Thought, the world and cosmos contain diverse forms of life, and human have both an earthly life and life in the after world should they die before the Later World. There are also the lives of divine beings and animals, and other such living entities. Daesoon Thought subsumes pan-vitalism, which allows they acknowledgement of myriad possible lifeforms. The concept of the Later World in Daesoon Thought, which mainly revealed in The Canonical Scripture and the words of Sangje (Kang Jeungsan), suggests that all kinds of life, including humans, animals, and even spirits in the afterworld, can live together in a perfect coming earthly paradise which is immanent. The concept of Injon can be interpreted though the view of transcendental pragmatics as an alternative to the typical views discussed in Daesoon Thought. Thinkers should attempt to improve current discourse on Injon in Daesoon Thought by focusing on the point that all kinds the original teachings demonstrate a value of all lifeforms. Therein, Injon would indicate not only the human nobility and dignity but also the nobility and dignity of divine beings, divine humans, and all other forms of life that have existed across time. The dimension of time allows for recognition of lifeforms from the Former World, the afterworld, and the Later World. This revised appraisal of Injon could further accommodate denizens of the afterworld, animals, ghosts and spirits, the earth and cloud souls of humans, and other lifeforms held to exist in the cosmology of Daesoon Thought.