Jeung San Do (증산도)
In 2003 when I was living in Busan I stumbled upon a religious movement called Jeung San Do (The Way of Jeung San). I decided to investigate because I thought this would make an interesting theme for a newspaper article back in The Netherlands. I enrolled in the beginner’s course. Two young women, who spoke English, taught me the doctrine, which consisted of theory and practice, the latter mainly consisting of singing the Tae Eul Ju (mantra).
I made them clear I was a journalist so there would be no misunderstanding. My family-in-law became convinced I wanted to become a cult member, which was completely untrue. I don’t subscribe to anthropocentrism. I made it to the end of the beginners course. The photo below shows my “graduation”.
The doctrine of Jeung San Do is very interesting though. The Way of Jeung-San is a syncretic religion, mixing Christianity, Taoism, Buddhism, modern geopolitics, millenarianism and Korean shamanism.
I took my beginner’s course in a local Dojang in Busan. In the shrine were paintings of Kang Jeungsan as Sangjenim and Goh Pan-Lye as Taemonim.
The photo was taken by one of my two teachers. The other teacher is trying to appear taller than she actually is.
The current leader of Jeung San Do. Ahn Gyeong-jeon (b. 1954)
Inside the large International centre of Jeung San Do in Daegu.
Haneullim (하늘님 "Heavenly King"). In Jeung San Do the ancient sky god is also known as Sangjenim.
My original notes are archived in my basement, somewhere. The following information is mainly taken from Wikipedia. Jeung San Do was founded by Ahn Un-san (born in 1922) in 1974 together with his son, Ahn Gyeong-jeon (b. 1954). Gyeong-jeon is the current leader. I met him once at the international center of Jeung San Do in Deagu. Jeung San Do owns a huge building complete with a large theatre room for musical performances and Ahn’s speeches, which last for many hours. Only at 3 pm we were allowed to catch some sleep.
Jeung San Do is a branch of an older movement called Jeungsanism (증산교 Jeungsangyo) founded by Gang Il-sun (1871 - 1909) who was also known as Kang Jeungsan. Jeung San Do recognises Kang as the incarnation and personification of Sangjenim (上帝任, the "governing spirit of the universe").
Goh Pan-Lye ("Head Lady," 1880-1935) was a female disciple of Kang Jeungsan. In Jeung San Do she is revered as Tae-mo-nim, an incarnation of God the mother, thus balancing the male aspect with a female aspect.
Central to the believe is the idea of a four-fold cycle called “cosmic year” containing four cosmic seasons: spring/birth, summer/growth, autumn/harvest, and winter/rest. A cosmic year corespondents to 129.600 of our calendar years. The shift between two seasons is called Gaebyeok. Gae (開) and byuk (闢) both mean "to open." According to Jeungism, humanity is now living near the end of the cosmic summer.
I was taught that Gaebyeok was imminent although only the leader knew of the exact date. In time he would reveal the moment. Having learned the Tae Eul Ju mantra during my beginner’s course I would be able to survive Gaebyeok. The cosmic shift would be very violent and a large proportion of the world population would die. When a global epidemic disease starts ravaging the world together with earthquakes and volcano eruptions I had to sit down and sing the mantra I had been practising for months. I could save other people by stamping them on their forehead with a special red ink and a wooden stamp made from a branch of a cherry tree, which had grown in a northern direction, or southern direction, I cannot remember exactly, which direction.
The current global epidemic is seen as further proof of the shift to the cosmic autumn. Below a screenshot of a YouTube video of the 2021 New Year’s Message by Ahn Gyeong-jeon.
Kang Jeungsan as Sangjenim.
Goh Pan-Lye as Taemonim
