Gang Il-Sun
| Gang Il-sun (also known as Kang Il-sun or Kang Jeungsan) | |
|---|---|
| Born |
September 19, 1871 Sinsong Village, Deokcheon Township of Jeongeup City, North Jeolla Province, South Korea |
| Died | June 24, 1909 Cheungdo Village, Geumsan Township of Gimje City, North Jeolla Province, South Korea |
| Known for | Founder of a religious movement that is at the origin of around one hundred different Korean new religions |
| Spouse(s) | Jeong Chi-Sun (1874-1928) |
| Children | Yi-Sun (Sun-Im) (daughter, 1904-1959) |
Gang Il-sun, (강일순, Chinese 姜甑山) (September 19, 1871 – June 24, 1909), also known as Kang Il-sun and known to his followers as Kang Jeungsan, is the founder of a Korean religious movement that generated after his death around one hundred different new religions, including Daesoon Jinrihoe and Jeung San Do. Jeungsanism, as his movement was called, and various Korean new religions (sinheung jonggyo, literally, "newly emerged religions") derived from it, have been seen by scholars as a syncretism of Buddhism (Bul-gyo), Confucianism (Yu-gyo), Taoism (Do-gyo), certain elements borrowed from Christianity (Gidok-gyo) and an underlying Korean shamanism (Musok-Sinang).
Gang Il-sun was born in Gobu County, Jeolla Province (present-day Deokcheon Township of Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, Korea) on September 19, 1871, according to the Lunar calendar mostly used by his followers. There is a hagiographic literature written by his followers, which describes miraculous phenomena surrounding his early years. For instance, hagiographical accounts record that "at the time of his birth (...) two female fairies descended from heaven into the delivery room," filling it with a "sweet-smelling aroma." Later, it is claimed that he "learned Chinese classics at a village school and mastered them to the point of memorizing and reciting all of them by heart," through a complete understanding of their meaning. In 1891, Gang married Jeong Chi-sun (1874-1928), a lady from Gimje County. In 1894, he opened a school in the home of his brother-in-law Jeong Nam-Gi. He acquired a reputation for his knowledge of Buddhism, Confucianism Taoism, and Korean folk religions, and gathered a few disciples Reputedly, he also visited the well-known scholar of the Korean version of the Chinese classic I Ching (Book of Changes), Kim Il-Bu (1826-1898).. Kim is said to have offered a new arrangement of the I Ching Chinese trigrams, together with other diagrams and an explanatory text, including insights he had received in a mysterious vision. His re-balancing of the trigrams had a profound influence on many Korean new religions, including those derived from Gang.
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