Lee, Jae-hun.  “Kumkangdaedo and its Bibles.”  Journal of New Religions 16 (April 2007): 94-125.

Abstract

As a new religion that has 133 years of history since its establishment in 1874, Kumkangdaedo has faith in Dae-Do-Deok-Seong-Sa-Geon-Gon-Bu-Mo as the Heavenly Father and Earthly Mother of the Trinity.

What is the most importantly believed in among Kumkangdaedo’s bibles is Dae Seong Gyeong, which was written by Toam Lee Seung-yeo (1874-1934), the founder of the religion. This bible, transcribed by Teacher Toam’s attending pupils following his oral statements, is a Sino bible that had been done for about 18 years from 1914, when he started his missionary work in Mount Gyeryong at the age of 41, to 1932 (at the age of 59). Its volume is so tremendous as to amount to 11 Gyeong and 28 books. Considering the that the first thing Toam devoted himself to while beginning a new religious movement is the writing of bibles, Kumkangdaedo’s bibles have a different form from other religions’ in that chronicles of the founders’ saying and doing mainly compose the latter. Thus, Dae Seong Gyeong is very unique in the history of Korean religions or further in the history of the world’s religions.

Dae Seong Gyeong is not equated with any other bible in its tremendous volume. As for its contents, it seems to freely penetrate the Tao of Sam Jae, ‘the Three Elements,’ i.e., the sky, the earth, and the man, which can be regarded as the gist of the Oriental Philosophy, the instructions of the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and the viewpoint of the Training in the Three Qualities (the heart, the mentality, and the body). Teacher Toam is respected as a great saint who has known everything at birth, since he verbally directed such a bible despite the fact that he has not been properly educated in Sino classics. And, it is very fortunate for Kumkangdaedoto to show itself to the world after overcoming the severe oppression by Imperialist Japan with the second head’s insights and pupils’ sincerity, which are devoted to keeping the great bible. Dae Seong Gyeong well represents the moral enlightenment philosophy that excludes every trick and licentiousness to elucidate the human justice, and the internal transcendence and the method of human completion through self-training of the heart and mentality.

Besides Dae Seong Gyeong, there is also a book of saying and doing that collects Teacher Toam’s life achievements, saying and doing, questioning answering with pupils, inspiration, and miracles; it is the book, Seong Hun Tong Go. This book, consisting of 6 volumes, is edited with the picture of each pupil at that time as a main character. This book also is by no means inferior to bibles of any other religion in all ages and countries both in quantity and in quality. There are no new religions that have a book of saying and doing at such a level.

Though there are people in Kumkangdaedo who do not take Seong Hun Tong Go to be a bible due to the overwhelming importance of Dae Seong Gyeong, the former clearly has a value of great giggle as it is edited with the founder’s saying and doing after his death as is the case with most of the religions in all ages and countries. Also, it should be noted that Seong Hun Tong Go has many values as a reference book for understanding Dae Seong Gyeong, which contains profound contents, and as research object that can help us to understand various religious people in active scenes. Though it is regrettable that Seougn Hun Tong Go is written in Sino writings, it seems necessary to translate its whole texts, study it on various sides, and re-edit it.