Daesunjinrihoe

Daesun Jinrihoe

Founder
Park Wudang
Regions with significant populations
Korea

Daesun Jinrihoe
Hangul	대순진리회
Hanja	大巡眞理會
Revised Romanization	Daesun Jillahoe
McCune–Reischauer	Taesŏn Chillihoe

Daesun Jinrihoe (Korean: 대순진리회), which in its English-language publications has recently used the transliteration Daesoonjinrihoe and, from 2017, Daesoon Jinrihoe, is a Korean new religious movement, founded in April 1969 by Park Han-gyeong, known to his followers as Park Wudang (박한경) (1917–96). Daesoon thought is said to be a comprehensive system of truth representing the Great Dao of "resolution of grievances and reciprocation of gratitude into mutual beneficence".

Daesoon Jinrihoe is the largest among more than one hundred different Korean religious movements originating from the activities of Kang Jeungsan (Gang Il-Sun, 1871-1909), believed by his followers to be the incarnated Supreme God. After Kang’s death in 1909, each of his main disciples, and some of his relatives, went on to establish different new religions, which in turn splintered and fragmented into rival groups, of which today the most active outside Korea is Jeung San Do, which was founded in 1974. Jeung San Do is better known internationally, but less widely followed within Korea, and is a bitter rival of Daesoon Jinrihoe. Paradoxically, the largest branch did not originate from a direct disciple of Kang. Jo Cheol-Je, known to his disciples as Jo Jeongsan (1895-1958), never personally met Kang, but claimed to have received a revelation from him in 1917. Eventually, he was recognized as the mysterious successor Kang had announced in his prophecies by the deceased master’s sister (Seondol, ca. 1881-1942), mother (Kwon, 1850-1926) and daughter (Sun-Im, 1904-1959), although the daughter eventually founded her own separate branch. Jo Jeongsan's followers claim that, in 1909, Kang saw a train passing, which had the young Jo Jeongsan aboard, and stated: “A man can do anything at the age of 15 if he is able to take his identification tag (hopae) with him.” Jo Jeongsan's disciples later claimed that these words amounted to an endorsement by Kang of Jo Jeongsan as his successor. Jo gathered a sizable number of followers and established land-reclaiming agricultural projects in the Anmyeondo and Wonsando Islands. In 1925, he legally incorporated his religious order, Mugeukdo, in Jeongeup. Korea, however, was under Japanese occupation and, due to Japan’s hostility to new religions Jo decided to disband Mugeukdo in 1941. After World War II, Japanese left Korea, and in 1945 Jo was able to reconstitute the order, changing its name into Taegeukdo in 1948. New headquarters were established in Busan, initially in the center of the city and later in the picturesque area that came to be called Taegeukdo Village. Jo passed away on March 6, 1958. Initially, almost all his followers accepted that he had designated as his successor Park Han-Gyeong, later known as Park Wudang (1917-1996), a schoolteacher who had joined the movement after World War II, and Taegeukdo continued as a united movement under Park for ten years, between 1958 and 1968. In 1968, a movement criticizing Park was led by one of Jo Jeongsan’s sons, Jo Yongnae (1934-2004). Eventually, the two factions parted company. Jo Yongnae’s followers kept the name Taegeukdo and the headquarters at the Taegeukdo Village, while Park incorporated in 1969 a new religious order under the name Daesoon Jinrihoe, with headquarters at the Junggok Temple in Junggok-dong in Seoul. Besides the faction of Taegeukdo led by Jo Yongnae and the followers of Park, who eventually became part of Daesoon Jinrihoe, a third group should be mentioned. It included those members of Taegeukdo who tried to promote a reconciliation between the two factions and called for a return of Park to Taegeukdo Village. Those in this third group formed in August 1969 an association called “Taegeukdo-jeongsin-hoe" (Taegeukdo Spirit Association), which changed its name into “Taegeuk Jinrihoe” in March 1971. In (or around) 1972, Taegeuk Jinrihoe was dissolved by its members, who decided to join Daesoon Jinrihoe. Under Park’s guidance, Daesoon Jinrihoe had a spectacular success. According to some accounts, it became the largest new religion in Korea. In 1986, a large new temple was inaugurated in Yeoju, followed in 1991 by Daejin University and by other temples. In 1993, the movement’s headquarters were moved to the Yeoju Temple.

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