[KS] The God of Tonghak

[Baker Don]

While I respect Benjamin Weems' study of the Tonghak,which Tim Lee refers 
to,  Weems' book focuses more on the Tonghak as a political movement than 
it does on Tonghak theology. Since Weems published his book in 1964, some 
important work has been done on early Tonghak thought by scholars both in 
Korea and overseas. Probably the best recent work is the 
unfortunately-as-yet-unpublished doctoral dissertation of Paul Beirne, 
accepted by the University of Queensland in 2002. Dr. Beirne  earlier 
completed an MA thesis on Tonghak thought  at Yonsei University in 1993.

One common error in studying Tonghak thought is to push ideas of later 
Tonghak leaders back into Ch'oe Che-u's time. Ch'oe never said "in nae 
ch'eon." That was the third patriarch, Son Pyeonghui, who came up with that 
formula. (By the way, one way to translate that phrase is "there is a 
little bit of the divine in everyone." That is more faithful to its actual 
meaning than the usual "man and God are one.") 

Also, it is easy to be misled by translations of Ch'oe's incantation which 
rely more on the interpretations of later Tonghak leaders and theologians 
than  on what those words actually meant to Ch'oe.  H owever, even the most 
recent translation I have from Ch'eondo-gyo sources doesn't go as far as 
Weems does in trying to make God totally immanent.  A pamplet published 
recently by Ch'eondo-gyo headquarters translates that incantation as  "The 
Ultimate Energy here and now, I pray for its great descent. Serving God, I 
am transformed to follow the divine will. Eternally not forgetting, I 
become aware of all."  This is different from Beirne's translation, which 
replaces "Serving God" with "Bearing the Lord of Heaven." As Beirne 
explains, the difficulty in translating this phrase arises from the fact 
that the Chinese character "Si," as in "Si Ch'eonju," is usually translated 
"to serve" but modern commentators believes it means "bear" in this 
context.  Both translations are quite different from Weems'  "I am 
identified with God."

Don Baker
Associate Professor, 
Department of Asian Studies
Director, Centre for Korean Research
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Z2
dbaker at interchange.ubc.ca


>From: Timsanglee at aol.com
>Reply-To: Korean Studies Discussion List <Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
>To: Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
>Subject: Re: [KS] Again, Haneunim (and the Trinity)
>Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2003 20:08:28 EST
>
>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 Reform, Rebellion, and the Heavenly Way
>(Tucson: University of Arizona, 1964), rather old, but still solid and?”so 
far as I
>know?”the best Western-language work on Tonghak/Ch?dokyo.  Permit me to 
quite a
>few lines from it:
>
>?œThe theoretical and ritualistic basis of Ch?™?ndogyo doctrine is 
embodied in
>the twenty-one character of Sacred Formula which Ch?™oe Che-u created,
>allegedly under divine inspiration.  This Formula reads:
>
>?˜Infinite Energy being now within me, I yearn that it may pour into all
>living beings and created things.  Since this Infinite Energy abides in 
me, I am
>identified with God, and of one nature with all existence.  Should I ever 
forget
>these things, all existing things will know of it. [fn.9]?™
>
>?œFrom the Sacred Formula, Ch?™oe derived the principle of in nae ch?™?n 
(man
>and God are one), which is the foundation of the entire religious dogma 
and
>political philosophy of Ch?™?ndokyo.  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.?
>
>Fn.9: ?œ[Charles Allen] Clark, op. cit., pp. 155-156.  This translation 
has
>been checked against the original, which appears in Tonggy?ng Taej?n, pp. 
4-5,
>and Ch?™ang K?n Sa, Pt. 1, pp. 23-26.?
>
>The Clark that Weems cites is Religions of Old Korea (New York: Revel, 
1932).
>
>Yours,
>
>Timothy S. Lee
>Brite Divinity School (TCU)

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