the encyclopedic entry of Cheondoism

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Origins

Cheondoism is rooted in Korean shamanism and Korean Buddhism, with elements drawn from Christianity. It has become increasingly popular in both South Korea with the revival of Korean nationalism, and particularly in North Korea, where, according to government's statistics, it is the major religion of the country, followed by 12% of the total population.

Concepts

Cheondoist theology preaches that God (Haneullim, a concept taken from ancestral Korean shamanic beliefs) resides in each of us. It strives to convert our earthly society into a paradise on Earth. It attempts to transform the believers into intelligent moral beings with a high social consciousness. In this respect, it could be seen as a humanistic, socialist religion.

Overview

Cheondogyo translated literally means "religion of the Heavenly Way", where cheon means "Heaven", do means "Way", and gyo means "religion", "teaching", "-ism".

Choe Jeu formulated the Donghak ("Eastern Learning") ideology in the 1860s to help ease the lot of the farmers suffering from abject poverty and exploitation, as well as to restore political and social stability. His ideas rapidly gained broad acceptance among the peasantry. Choe set his Donghak themes to music so that illiterate farmers could understand, accept, and remember them more readily. His teachings were systematized and compiled as a message of salvation to farmers in distress.

Periodically drought and floods alternately struck the rich rice-producing areas of Korea and caused great famines. Additionally, the Joseon rulers hiked the taxes on farm crops and forced more free labor on the starving peasants. Consequently, anti-government and anti-landlord sentiment boiled over into violent uprisings.

In December 1811, Hong Gyeong-nae, an impoverished scholar-official, led the peasants in the north in Pyongan Province into an armed rebellion and occupied the region for several months. The Seoul government dispatched an army and, after a savage scorched-earth campaign, the revolt put down. In the south as well, peasants continued to defy the king in Seoul, the provincial nobility, and the wealthy landlords.

In 1862, half a century after the peasant rebellion led by Hong was put down, a group of farmers in Jinju in Gyeongsang province, rose up against oppressive provincial officials and wealthy landowners. This uprising was directly attributable to the exploitation of destitute farmers by Baek Nak-sin, a newly appointed military commander who had jurisdiction over the western half of Gyeongsang province.

Yi Yun-myeong and Yu Gye-chun organized the farmers in Jinju to riot against Baek and other corrupt officials and wealthy landlords. The rebels killed local government functionaries and set fire to government buildings. The startled Seoul government hurriedly sent an investigator to the scene. On the basis of his findings of fraudulent practices by the local officials, the government hastily revised the land, military, and grain lending systems in an effort to eliminate such abuses. From the outset, however, it was unrealistic to expect the ruling class in the central government, which was itself deeply involved in such frauds, to make radical changes. But at least a superficial attempt at reform was made.

The agrarian revolt in Jinju triggered peasant uprisings elsewhere. In Gyeongsang, Jeolla and Chungcheong provinces, on faraway Jeju Island and in Hamgyeong and Pyeongan provinces in the north, groups of farmers rose up, took up arms, and attacked government offices in major cities. Many government officials were executed.

The Cheondoist religion evolved in the early 1900s from the Donghak peasant liberation movements in the southern provinces of Korea.

Relationship with other religions

Donghak called for veneration of god, called "Haneullim" ("Lord of Heaven"), and holding the belief that man is not created by a supernatural God, but man is instead caused by an innate God. Koreans have believed in Haneullim from ancient times, so Donghak could be seen to be a truly Korean religion, unlike Buddhism or Christianity.

Choe was alarmed by the intrusion of Christianity (Cheonjugyo- Catholicism), and the Anglo-French occupation of Beijing. He believed that the best way to counter foreign influence in Korea was to introduce democracy, establish human rights and create a paradise on Earth independent of foreign interference.

Donghak was pure ideology, void of any organizational and tactical expertise. Choe believed in improvising as events occurred. He had no practical plans or visions of how one would go about establishing a paradise on Earth, let alone what paradise meant except that all people were equal. Nevertheless, Choe's advocacy of democracy, human rights and nationalism struck a chord among the peasant guerrillas and Donghak spread across Korea rapidly. Progressive revolutionaries waded in and organized the peasants into a cohesive fighting unit.

Choe's songs were a mixture of traditional elements from Confucianism, Buddhism and Songyo (teachings of Silla's Hwarang), and to these he added modern humanistic ideas. Exclusionism was another characteristic of his religion, which incorporated an early form of nationalism and rejected alien thought.

In 1892 the small groups of the Donghak movement were united into a single Peasant Guerrilla Army (Donghak Peasants Army). The peasants worked in the fields during the day, but during the night, they armed themselves and raided government offices, and killed rich landlords, traders, and foreigners. They confiscated their victims' properties and distributed them to the poor.

Choe Jeu (1824–1894), was executed as a criminal by the government. Then, the leadership of the movement was continued by Choe Si-hyeong.

Donghak Revolution of 1894

The First Revolution

The Donghak Peasant Revolution or the 1894 Peasant War (Nongmin Jeonjaeng) witnessed poor farmers in large numbers rise up against the landlords and the ruling elite. The peasants demanded land distribution, tax reduction, democracy, and human rights. Taxes were so high that most farmers were forced to sell their ancestral homesteads to rich landowners at bargain prices. Landlords sold rice to the Japanese and sent their children to Japan to study. As a result, the peasant class developed intense anti-Japanese and anti-yangban sentiments. The rebellions' immediate cause was Jo Byong-gap (1844-1911), a government official whose rule was viewed by some as tyrannical and corrupt.

Korea began to modernize slowly and many Koreans did not like the foreign influences upon their country. Progressive-mined yangbans, scholars, and nationalists also joined the army, the army was politically indoctrinated in Donghak (Eastern Learning). On January 11, 1894, the rebels led by Jeon Bong-jun (전봉준, 全琫準, 1854-1895) defeated the government forces at the battle of Go-bu, after the battle Jo Byong-gap's properties were handed out to the peasants.

The war went well for the peasants until March 13, 1894. The Peasant Army was eventually crushed by government troops led by Yi Yong-tae who killed and captured peasant guerrillas, burned villages, and confiscated the peasants' properties in Go-bu. However, the peasant army regrouped and started a new rebellion, news of the governments' actions in Go-bu help increase support among the peasants. The central figures were Jeon Bong-jun, Kim Gae-nam and Son Hwa-jung.

With new impetus the Peasant Army defeated one government garrison after another and closed in on Seoul. Their objectives were institutional land reform, social reform, the overthrow of Joseon Dynasty (or at least the removal of corrupt officials) and the expulsion of foreign influence from Korea.

The peasants' marching orders were the following:

"Do not kill or take the peasants' properties"
"Protect the peasants' rights"
"Drive out the Japanese and Western people and purify our sacred land"
"March to Seoul and purge the government"

As the rebels advanced they abolished the feudal system and deposed covetous, corrupt officials. At the beginning of May, the peasant army occupied a Palace in Jeonju.

The Joseon government asked the Chinese government for assistance in ending the revolt. The Qing dynasty, after notifying the Japanese in accordance with the Convention of Tientsin, sent troops into Korea. The Chinese initially did not wish to go to war with Japan, but covertly desired to re-assert their suzerainty over Korea, which they had lost in preceding treaties, and re-establish it as a vassal state.

With the presence of some 3,000 Chinese troops the government authorities proposed a negotiated truce with the rebels. The Tonghak leadership regarded the government's willingness to listen as an opportunity to gain their objectives without continued warfare. The Chinese force no doubt had a demoralizing effect as well.

With the end of the rebellion would come increasing tensions between China and Japan, as neither China nor Japan wanted to evacuate Korea earlier than the other because of the mutual mistrust and hostility. Japan viewed the Chinese action as a threat to its national security and it in turn sent its own troops to Korea. They expressed doubts that the Chinese would be satisfied with suppressing the Rebellion and suspected they would want to stay in Korea and run things. The resulting tensions would lead to conflict, eventually becoming the First Sino-Japanese War.

The Second Revolution

While hostilties between China and Japan were beginning to commence, a second uprising erupted in the Korean country-side against a new pro-Japanese government established in Seoul.

In late June 1894, the pro-Japanese forces hatched a plan to wipe out the Peasant Army in co-operation with the Japanese troops stationed in Incheon and Seoul. On October 16, the Peasant Army moved toward Gongju for the final battle, which was a trap. The Japanese and the pro-Japanese government troops were in fact waiting for them inside.

The Donghak Army was defeated in the Battle of Ugeumchi. The Japanese had cannons and other modern weapons, whereas the Korean peasants were armed only with bow and arrows, spears, swords, and some flintlock muskets.

The vigorous battle started on October 22, 1894 and lasted until November 10, 1894. The poorly armed peasants stormed the well-entrenched enemies about 40 times, but they were beaten back harder and had heavy losses. The remnants fled to various bases. The triumphant Japanese pursued the army and eventually wiped it out. Jeon Bong-jun, the Donghak commander, was captured in March 1895.

Reform after the revolution

In 1898, following the execution of Choe Si-hyeong, the leader of Donghak Son Byeong-hui sought political asylum in Japan. After the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, he returned to Korea and established the Jinbohoe ("Progressive Society"), a new cultural and reformist movement designed to reverse the declining fortunes of the nation and to create a new society. Through Donghak he conducted a nationwide movement that aimed at social improvement through the renovation of old customs and ways of life. Hundreds of thousands of members of Donghak cut their long hair short and initiated the wearing of simple, modest clothing. Non-violent demonstrations for social improvement organised by members of Donghak took place throughout 1904. This coordinated series of activities was known as the Gapjin Reform Movement.

Donghak becomes Cheondoism

In 1905, Korean nationalists founded Cheondoism based on the themes of Donghak teachings popular during the Peasant Wars. The nationalists wanted to stem, by peaceful means, the tide of pro-Japanese sentiments sweeping across Korea. During the waning days of the Joseon Dynasty, King Gojong himself embraced Cheondoism and promoted it nationwide. The King added Buddhist and Christian rituals and codices to the new religion, which was organized into a formal organizational hierarchy similar to that of Roman Catholicism with Pope, Papal Nuncio, formal ceremonies.

Members of Donghak were severely persecuted by the colonial Japanese government, and so, on December 1, 1905, Son Byeong-hui decided to modernise the religion and usher in an era of openness and transparency in order to legitimise it in the eyes of the Japanese. As a result he officially changed the name of Donghak to Cheondoism ("religion of the Heavenly Way").

The Righteous Army

The Righteous Army (Uibyeong) was formed by Yu In-seok and other Confucian scholars during the Peasant Wars. Its ranks swelled after the Queen's murder by the Japanese troops and Korean traitors. Under the leadership of Min Jeong-sik, Choe Ik-hyeon and Sin Dol-seok, the Righteous Army attacked the Japanese army, Japanese merchants and pro-Japanese bureaucrats in the Gangwon, Chungcheong, Jeolla and Gyeongsang provinces.

Choe Ik-hyeon was captured by the Japanese and taken to Tsushima Island where he went on hunger strike and finally died as a martyr. Sin Dol-seok, an uneducated peasant commanded over 3,000 troops. Among the troops were former government soldiers, poor peasants, fishermen, tiger hunters, miners, merchants, and laborers.

In 1907, the Righteous Army under the command of Yi In-yong massed 10,000 troops to liberate Seoul and defeat the Japanese invaders. The Army came within 12 km of Seoul but could not withstand the Japanese counter-offensive. The Righteous Army was no match for two infantry divisions of 20,000 Japanese soldiers backed by warships moored near Inchon.

The Righteous Army retreated from Seoul and the war went on for two more years. Over 17,000 Righteous Army soldiers were killed and more than 37,000 were wounded in combat. Unable to fight the Japanese army head-on, the Righteous Army split into small bands of partisans to carry on the War of Liberation in China, Siberia and the Jangbaik Mountains in Korea. The Japanese troops first quashed the Peasant Army and then disbanded what remained of the government army. Many of the surviving guerrilla and anti-Japanese government troops fled to Manchuria and Siberia and carried on their fight.

Demographics

Cheondoism had about 1.13 million followers and 280 churches in South Korea in 2005, and 2.8 million adherents in North Korea (12.9% of the total population) as of 2000. North Korean Cheondoists are represented in politics by the Cheondoist Chongu Party.