Bocheonism (

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

: 보천교 ''Bocheongyo'' or ''Pochonkyo'', "religion of the vault of heaven/firmament") was one among more than 100

new religious movements A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

of the family of religions called

Jeungsanism Jeungsanism (증산교 Jeungsangyo) is an English word with two different uses: as a synonym of Jeung San Do (증산도), a Korean new religious movement, or to designate a family of more than 100 Korean new religious movements that recognize Kang ...

, rooted in

Korean shamanism Korean shamanism or Mu-ism is a religion from Korea. In the Korean language, alternative terms for the tradition are ''musok'' () and ''mugyo'' (무교, 巫敎). Scholars of religion have classified it as a folk religion. There is no central auth ...

and recognizing Gang Il-sun (Kang Jeungsan) as the incarnation of Sangje, the Supreme God. It was founded by Cha Gyeong-seok (1880-1936) on Ibam Mountain in Daeheung-ri, Ibam-myeon,

Jeongeup Jeongeup (), also known as Jeongeup-si, is a city in North Jeolla Province, South Korea. The city limits include Naejang-san National Park, a popular destination particularly in autumn due to its foliage. Jeongeup is on the Honam Expressway an ...

Jeollabuk-do North Jeolla Province (; ''Jeollabuk-do''), also known as Jeonbuk, is a province of South Korea. North Jeolla has a population of 1,869,711 (2015) and has a geographic area of 8,067 km2 (3,115 sq mi) located in the Honam region in the southwest ...

, in the year 1911. Today this site is part of Naejangsan National Park. Cha Gyeong-seok was originally a

Donghak Donghak (formerly spelled Tonghak; ) was an academic movement in Korean Neo-Confucianism founded in 1860 by Choe Je-u. The Donghak movement arose as a reaction to seohak (), and called for a return to the "Way of Heaven". While Donghak origin ...

(

Cheondoist Cheondoism (spelled Chondoism in North Korean sources; ) is a 20th-century Korean pantheistic religion, based on the 19th-century Donghak religious movement founded by Ch'oe Che-u and codified under Son Pyŏng-Hi. Cheondoism has its origins i ...

) priest, who converted to

after meeting Gang Il-Sun. After Gang's death, Goh Pan-Lye (Subu, literally “Head Lady,” 1880–1935, although in Kang's circle there was more than one "Subu"), a female disciple of Kang Jeungsan, around September 1911 gathered around her a number of Kang's followers. Cha Gyeong-seok was Goh's male cousin and became the leader of Goh's branch. Dissatisfied with this situation, Goh separated from Cha in 1919 and established her own new religion. Cha continued under the name Bocheon-gyo, which was adopted in 1921, at a great ritual held in

Hamyang County Hamyang County (''Hamyang-gun'') is a county in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It is home to the Wooden Seated Statue of Buddha in Beopinsa (법인사), the Standing Statue of Buddha in Deokjeonri (덕전리), the Three-Level Stone Pagoda ...

Gyeongsangnam-do South Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상남도, translit=Gyeongsangnam-do, ) is a province in the southeast of South Korea. The provincial capital is at Changwon. It is adjacent to the major metropolitan center and port of Busan. The UNESCO World H ...

. Eventually, Bocheonism became the largest Korean new religious movement and possibly the largest religion in Korea, with some six million followers, Robert Pearson Flaherty, “Korean Millennial Movements,” in ''The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism'', edited by

Catherine Wessinger Catherine Wessinger () is an American religion scholar. She is the Rev. H. James Yamauchi, S.J. Professor of the History of Religions at Loyola University New Orleans where she teaches religious studies with a main research focus on millenniali ...

, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2016,, 326-347 (335). including leading activists in the

Korean independence movements The Korean independence movement was a military and diplomatic campaign to achieve the independence of Korea from Japan. After the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910, Korea's domestic resistance peaked in the March 1st Movement of 1919, which ...

. Bocheonism, however, declined rapidly after Cha's death in 1936, and fragmented into several competing group, as did Goh's organization. The largest among these branches is

Jeung San Do Jeung San Do (), occasionally called Jeungsanism ( ''Jeungsangyo''), meaning "The Dao/Tao of Jeung-san", although this term is better reserved for a larger family of movements, is a new religious movement founded in South Korea in 1974. It is one ...

. Cha prophesied that the unification of the world would take place beginning in Korea. Branches of Bocheonism are also credited with encouraging local culture in the Jeongeup region, including the pungmulgut performance tradition.

Sources

* Kim Jaeyoung. ''Bocheongyo and Religions of Korea''. Shin Achulpansa, 2010. Korean language only. * Lee Chi-ran. Chief Director, Haedong Younghan Academy.
The Emergence of National Religions in Korea
'.

References

External links

증산도 공식 홈페이지
New religious movements North Jeolla Province 1911 establishments in Korea Jeung San Do {{religion-stub

See also

Sources

References

External links