Abstract

Daesoon Jinrihoe, the religious order, originated from Mugeuk-do (Limitless Dao). Although a historical description of Mugeuk-do (Limitless Dao) is significant because it establishes a basis for the history of Daesoon Jinrihoe, it contains the issue of contrasting descriptions about the year of foundation and dissolution of the order. A major reason for these contrasting descriptions is the inaccurate transmission of the history of Mugeuk-do, that is, Jeongsan’s activities, and the materialization of the historical interpretation based on these inaccuracies without meticulous research or verification. In other words, the scriptures of Taegeuk-do (Great-Ultimate Dao) after 1987, have been frequently used as the basis of information about the history of Mugeuk-do. Additionally, some researchers of Daesoon Studies have referred to documents based on the Taegeuk-do scriptures rather than those of Daesoon Jinrihoe, published in 1974 when describing Mugeuk-do, which has led to contrasting descriptions. The order was divided into Daesoon Jinrihoe and Taegeuk-do in 1968 and the scriptures of Taegeuk-do were based on the analects of Jeongsan which had been collected and re-interpreted in the 1970s-80s. Accordingly, to resolve this issue, researchers need to utilize the scriptures of Daesoon Jinrihoe and carefully conduct historical research on other documentary information in conducting research related to Mugeuk-do. In this research, the periods of foundation and disbandment of Mugeuk-do were drawn from the faith system of Daesoon Jinrihoe, but they are not contradictory to the documentary information on the religious policies implemented by the Japanese colonial government: First, the religious order of Mugeuk-do was established on April 28, 1909, from Jeongsan’s serving the heavenly mandate. Second, Mugeuk-do was founded in April 1925 when Jeongsan built the temple in Taein and started his religious activities based on the temple. Third, Mugeuk-do, which was similar to a secret organization, opened the order in 1925. By doing so, it was recognized as a pseudo-religious order. Fourth, as the Japanese colonial government reinforced to crack down on on pseudo-religious orders in 1936, Jeongsan transformed the order into an underground organization when leaving the temple to protect devotees. Religious activities were conducted secretly until 1941. Fifth, Jeongsan is considered to have disbanded Mugeuk-do after May 1941 when the Japanese colonial government strictly imposed the maintenance of public order act to punish all religious organizations and activities that negated the national identity.