숨은 힘 - 봉우 권태훈의 정신 연마의 기원과 미래

Abstract

This article introduces the biography and ideological characteristics of Bongwoo Kwon Tae-hoon(1900-1994) along with the publication of his complete works. He dominated an era with the novel Dan, published in 1984. Novelist Kim Jeong-bin transcribed Bongwoo's testimony, and this ‘national novel dealing with the history and future of the people and spiritual training methods’, which sold 400,000 copies, brought hope to the unfortunate times under military dictatorship. Although he was a practitioner, he lived a pure and noble life except for a member of the central executive committee of Kim Gu's Korean Independence Party and a member of the education committee of South Chungcheong Province. He was called a ‘vicious person’ during Japanese colonial rule and a ‘communist’ before the Korean War. When Korean War broke out, he had to be imprisoned as a ‘reactionary’. Throughout his life, Bongwoo advocated the path of mental cultivation, or ‘spiritual practice(硏精).’ If he were alive, what would he say to today's youth? What kind of spirit and faith will he tell young people to live by? When Bongwoo met Na Cheol at the age of nine, he decided to serve our ‘great grandfather’(Han Bae Geom; the Great Emperor). He distances himself from religion and feels a great sense of responsibility for the realization of ‘Hong Ik In Gan(弘益人間)’. At this time, ‘In Gan’ do not mean individual human being but whole society. Hwanin, Hwanwoong, and Dangun came to this land from heaven not for personal gain but for the establishment of a communal civilization. Finally, at the age of eighty-three(1982), Bongwoo was inaugurated as the 12th general missionary of Daejonggyo which believed in Dangun. Bongwoo used a fountain pen to reward the good and punish the evil based on the standard of ‘Throw away the small self and think about the large self.’ The person he admired was Myeonwoo Kwak Jong-seok, who gathered Confucianism's will for Korean independence and sent a document to the Paris Peace Conference. He was imprisoned and bailed, but died from aftereffects. Bongwoo's Danjeon breathing method simply calls for taking steady, shallow, long breaths. According to Bongwoo, Hwanin, Hwanwoong, and Dangun are one person. Dangun is also a person. However, through mental training, one has reached a high level. The purpose of mental training is to get to know myself. What Bongwoo gives us is, in a word, the power of breath. It is the elevation of spirit, strengthening of will, and deepening of consciousness achieved through breathing.