수운 최제우와 증산 강일순의 괴질론

Abstract

The plagues have had a considerable impact on human history, leading to many human deaths. Human culture including religion has also been influenced by this epidemic. In this article, I would like to examine the influences of cholera, which was popular in Korea at the end of the Joseon Dynasty, on the Korean new religion movement. In the traditional view of the world of Korea, People understood that the main cause of the plague was revengeful spirits who were dead but did not get religious services because of several reasons. Therefore, people hoped that the plague would sink or they would not become infectious through national rituals or by exorcistic acts committed in the private sector. However, the leaders of Korean new religions differently understood the cause of the epidemic and its solution. Suun Choi Je-woo explained the circumstances of the epidemic as a precursor of the ideal world, saying that the disease would be cured when you abandoned your selfishness and sincerely respected the heavenly god. Also, you could heal yourself by talisman and incantation given by the heavenly god. Jeungsan Kang Il-sun called himself God and performed the construction of new heaven and earth called ChunjiGongsa to save the wrong world. He said that he had solved many of the disasters that mankind could suffer by his own power, but that he left the plague. However, Jeungsan said that if he followed his teachings, he would gain the ability to heal illness and save many lives thereafter. Thus, the two new religious leaders described the phenomenon of infectious disease as a transitional suffering for mankind to move to a better world and said that if people followed the teachings they could overcome this crisis.