Abstract

The Shrine of Gods and the Naejeong hold high stature among the structures in the Daesoon Jinrihoe Temple Complexes. The Shrine of Gods is the pantheon of Daesoon Jinrihoe, which enshrines many divine beings including the Most High God while the Naejeong is a place where Park Wudang, the founder of Daesoon Jinrihoe, used to live and operate the order by guiding devotees. This study aims to examine the relationship of those two buildings in the two dimensions. First, the Incantation of Perfected Dharma explains the scene wherein the gods that have been worshipped in Daesoon Jinrihoe and the Perfected Being next to them. The Shrine of Gods is a place where the gods are enshrined and the Naejeong, a place where Wudang lives, is located next to the shrine. Accordingly, the Shrine of Gods and the Naejeong are the buildings which visualize the Incantation of Perfected Dharma. Secondly, according to Yeojo-jeonseo (呂祖全書, The Entire Collection of Ancestor Lü), Lü Dong-Bin, the renowned Immortal, illuminated that the turtle-shaped spot was the shrine of gods and the spot where a turtle entwined with a snake corresponded to the naejeong. The turtle is different from Hyeonmu (black tortoise). In other words, the turtle, one of the four spirits (四靈) symbolizes the auspiciousness and Hyeonmu (black tortoise), one of the four gods (四神) protects it. This thought of Lü, which identified the shrine of gods as a symbol of the auspiciousness and the naejeong as a symbol of protecting it, is connected to the Shrine of Gods and the Naejeong of Daesoon Jinrihoe to a certain degree. That is, even though Lü’s explanation of the shrine of gods and the naejeong does not thoroughly match to that of Daesoon Jinrihoe, they agree in significance to an extent. Since the Naejeong of Daesoonjinrihoe seems to have borrowed the expression from ‘the naejeong’ mentioned by Lü, this argument of him can be said to be important in the world of Daesoon Jinrihoe.