강증산의 효사상에 관한 연구

Abstract

In a time of rapid social change, conflicts between generations, resulting in family discord, rising suicide rates, and worsening problems of the elderly living alone, ethics that can serve as a cure for people in the 21st century are urgently needed. Among them, this study focuses on the idea of filial piety and aims to provide ideas necessary for reestablishing filial piety ethics. Kang, Jeung-san, a Korean religious thinker, diagnosed that the world was sick with no filial piety in the extreme transition period between tradition and modernity, and critically inherited and reinterpreted filial piety ethics from a unique perspective called the ‘Dao of Sangsaeng(mutual beneficence).’ The ‘Dao of Sangsaeng’ refers to the principles of ‘Haewon sangsaeng’, where grudges are resolved and each other is better off, and ‘Boeun sangsaeng’, where favors are repaid and each other is better off. Jeung-san’s concept of filial piety is characterized by six characteristics. First, in filial piety as Boeun sangsaeng, the scope is expanded to include not only parents but also ancestral spirits and the Supreme God, and a new method of filial piety is introduced. Boeun sangsaeng function as an important principle that allows us to escape separation and alienation and connect with the original being. Second, in filial piety as Haewon sangsaeng, the method of practicing filial piety is shown to repay evil with good in order to avoid conflicts between parents and children and achieve family harmony. Third, in filial piety as self-realization, filial piety allows one to regain one’s true nature and achieve spiritual perfection of individuals regardless of gender, as well as spiritual perfection of direct and matrilineal ancestral spirits. Fourth, in filial piety as an ethics of receiving blessings, it voluntarily motivates even selfish people to practice filial piety by revealing the laws of the universe that blessings lead to. Fifth, in filial piety as an ethics of salvation, repaying ancestral spirits and the Supreme God is the path to salvation of individuals and ancestral spirits at the time of the Great Opening of the Later World, and it functions as an important practical ethics that saves humanity. Sixth, in filial piety as a Mutually beneficial relationship, it shows that the relationship between the Supreme God and human, and ancestral spirits and descendant is a mutually beneficial relationship, and fundamentally reestablishes the vertical and one-sided relationship structure of parents and children as a Mutually beneficial relationship based on Human Nobility. This study can provide a starting point for understanding the context of filial piety practiced by believers of various new religions that follow the teachings of Jeung-san. Jeung-san’s filial piety ideology encompasses the tradition and modernity of modern Korean society, and can be a new alternative to the undemocratic, unequal, and non-autonomous characteristics known as the characteristics of traditional filial piety. In this respect, his filial piety ideology has the significance of being able to resonate with modern people and providing voluntary motivation for practicing filial piety.