K172 Mid Term
S1monD
Lecture5-3.pptx
= Korean Original Monotheism
“Tan’gun Worshipped Hananim.”
1. Gale: “One Great One”
--epistemological monotheism
하늘 (heaven) = 하나 (one)
2. Hulbert: Trinitarian Understanding of Tan’gun Myth
-- Trinitarian monotheism
3. Underwood: Primitive monotheism from the myths
-- Comparative religious monotheism
4. The Term Question in Korea (II):
Inventing a Monotheistic God
Constructing Hanănim as the “One Great Lord,” 1900-1906
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Original Korean Monotheism? Tan’gun Wanggŏm
The legendary founder of Old Chosŏn, the first Korean kingdom, around present-day Liaoning, Manchuria, and the Korean Peninsula. He is said to be the "grandson of heaven," and to have founded the kingdom in 2333 BCE. The earliest recorded version of the Tan’gun myth appears in Samguk Yusa (三國遺史 Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms, 1281-83), by the Buddhist monk Iryŏn (一然 1206-89) of Koryŏ, which cites China's Book of Wei and Korea's lost historical record Kogi (古記).
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Once upon a time, Heavenly God, Hwan’in 桓因, noticed that one of his sons, Hwan’wung, always had his heart set on the world of mortals below. Hwan’in looked down upon it and found the Samwi-T’aebaek mountain the most befitting place for human beings to live. He gave his son three Ch’ŏnbu-in (God-given seals of king) and let him go down to the earth to rule over the human beings.
Hwan’wung 桓雄, with three thousand subordinates, took leave of his father and came down to the human world and held his ground under the Shindan-su (sandalwood) on top of the T’aebaek mountain. He named the place Shin-si (神市 divine city) and he had himself called Divine King Hwan’wung. He gave people their first lessons in right living and ruled over them, taking care of human affairs of as many as three hundred sixty kinds, such as farming, death, disease, punishment and good and evil, with the three spirits of P’ung-baek (wind), Wu-sa (rain) and Wun-sa (cloud) under his command.
Tan’gun Myth
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At this time it so happened that a bear and a tiger were living together in a cave. They always prayed to the Divine king Hwan’wung that they be made human beings. Taking notice of their admirable wish, the divine king gave them a bundle of sacred mugworts and twenty cloves of garlic and said, "If you eat these and do not see sunlight for one hundred days you will become human beings.“ The bear and the tiger immediately began to practice abstinence, living on the mugworts and garlics in cave. After twenty one days the bear became a woman, but the tiger, unable to endure the abstinence, violated the injunction of the divine king, and failed to become a human being.
Now the woman could not find any man to marry her, so she always prayed under the sandalwood to be given a child of her own. Hwan’wung took notice of her prayer, transformed himself into a man temporarily and married her. She gave birth to a son, who was to be Tan’gun-Wanggŭm 檀君 王儉.
Wanggŭm succeeded Hwan’wung as king. He selected Pyongyang as his capital and named the country to Asadal at the Paek-ak mountain and reigned over the country for 1,500 years. Thus he became the founding father of Korea.
Tan’gun Myth
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Hulbert’s Understanding of the Structure of the myth
Tan-gun
神人 王
Hwan-in
(One Heavenly Lord)
Hwan-ung Bear-Woman
(Spirit) (Human)
migrating tribe indigenous tribe
advanced civilization
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Hanănim
Current situation: Two camps
Hananim 하나님 camp (Protestants)
Revised V (1954-97), RRV (98-), SV (2002-)
Hanŭnim 하느님 camp (RC, Anglican, Orthodox, & N. K.)
Union V (1977-), Pyongyang V (1988), RCV (2005-)
Traditional name Hanănim = hanăl (heaven) + nim (honorific & personality)
→ = Hanănim (One Great Heavenly Lord)
Transformation a new term of Oneness + Greatness + Heavenliness
Issues 1
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Taejong-gyo’s argument
Christians have no right to call their god “Hananim”?
Jewish Jehovah ≠ Korean Hananim
God = generic = uniquely Korean
Protestant missionaries appropriated the term for their god to make him appear no different from the God Korean ancestors worshipped. (stolen & borrowed god = kills Korean god, religion, culture, & identity)
Taejong-gyo (established by Na Ch’ŏl in 1911) borrowed the monotheistic
Hananim from Protestantism, for monotheism was regarded as an important elements of modern religion.
Protestantism invented a new term for God Hananim from an indigenous god
= Two methods (invention + indigenization) were combined uniquely in Korea.
Issues 2
conclusion
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CONCLUSION
Advantages
Weaknesses
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