초기 동학의 천제 : 제천(祭天)과 기천(祈天)

Abstract

In Korean religious culture, the belief and practice of a heavenly god (天神) or a heavenly way (天道) are important research topics. Korean new religions are no exception to this. This paper discovers historical materials pertaining to ritual to heaven of early Eastern Learning and tries to understand the characteristics of the rituals in an attempt to grasp heavenly rituals of Korean new religions. Firstly, this paper focuses on the examples of building altars and holding heavenly rituals (設壇祭天) in the time of Suwoon (水雲), the founder of Eastern Learning. Depending on the writers perspective, the ritual was either described as sacrifice or prayer. Generally, outside critics portrayed these rituals of Eastern Learning as a sacrificial rite that deludes the world and deceives the people. On the other hand, inner believers emphasized it was a form of devout prayer that enabled holy communion with god. Secondly, this paper pays attention to the insurgent leader Lee Pilje (李弼濟)s ritual cases of slaughtering of cows and dedicating them as an offering to heavenly god (殺牛祭天) in Younhae and Youngyang. He secretly carried out this ritual to god in order to legitimize his own political rebellion and inspire his followers will to revolt before taking violent action. With data on the ritual to heaven of early Eastern Learning, we can interpret the characteristics of their prayer and sacrifice, and recognize their effects on religious awakening and political action.