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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Professor Baker's claim that Ch'oe Cheu originally "encountered a God who was separate and distinct from (‘transcended’) human beings" is contradicted by claims made in Benjamin Weem's <I>Reform, Rebellion, and the Heavenly Way</I> (Tucson: University of Arizona, 1964), rather old, but still solid and—so far as I know—the best Western-language work on Tonghak/Chŏdokyo.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Permit me to quite a few lines from it:<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">“The theoretical and ritualistic basis of Ch’ŏndogyo doctrine is embodied in the twenty-one character of Sacred Formula which Ch’oe Che-u created, allegedly under divine inspiration.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This Formula reads:<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">‘Infinite Energy being now within me, I yearn that it may pour into all living beings and created things.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Since this Infinite Energy abides in me, I am identified with God, and of one nature with all existence.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Should I ever forget these things, all existing things will know of it. [fn.9]’<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">“From the Sacred Formula, Ch’oe derived the principle of <I>in nae ch’ŏn</I> (man and God are one), which is the foundation of the entire religious dogma and political philosophy of Ch’ŏndokyo.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This principle means, in brief, that, potentially, man is God, but that this oneness is actually realized only as the individual exercises sincere faith in the oneness of his own spirit and body and in the universality of God.”<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Fn.9: “[Charles Allen] Clark, <I>op. cit., </I>pp. 155-156.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This translation has been checked against the original, which appears in <I>Tonggyŏng Taejŏn</I>, pp. 4-5, and <I>Ch’ang Kŏn Sa, </I>Pt. 1, pp. 23-26.”<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">The Clark that Weems cites is <I>Religions of Old Korea</I> (New York: Revel, 1932).<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Yours, <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Timothy S. Lee<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Brite Divinity School (TCU)</FONT></SPAN></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>