Study On Ch’oe Che-u’s Thought Of Tonghak

In the 1960s, during the last period of Lee dynasty, the whole nation was rife with political corruption, social instability, and people suffered extremely hard lives. In such circumstances, the religion and philosophy which reflect the wishes of the people and save the people emerged at the right times. Ch’oe Che-u witnessed the crisis of the feudal state of Lee dynasty and the difficulty lives that the people s suffering. With a desire for salvation of the people, on the basis of folk believes, he founded the Tonghak sect, a religion amalgamated of Korean native thoughts and foreign thoughts such as Confucianism, Buddhist, Taoist, and Roman Catholicism, etc. and it was developed into a matured religious ceremony-Ch’ondogyo. Ch’ondogyo is significant in March 1st Movement and Korean peoples struggle for independence, and even more in reunification of the North and South.The production of Tonghak sect also had profound causes on geographical environment and humanities and historical background. Through the comparison of geographic factors of major world religions cradles, this paper will analysis the fundamental difference in the mechanism between Korean religion and others, expatiate that Korean nation has "voters" awareness and the world view of "human being is most sacred and mortal world is most beautiful". Based on these, we could understand that the point of the Tonghak sec lies in affirming adequately human values and building the heaven on earth. Therefore, it occurred the thoughts of serve the state and pacify the people as well as more fierce movement-Korean Peasant War in 1894.communications between self and God, his embodied practice could be done only through feeling and comprehension, but not leaded by a saviour. The service of God meant the unity of human and nature, it made a new point for the synaesthesia of heaven which was desired by human from of old. Ch’oe Che-u believed that Ch’ondogyo was not unreachable, it was touchable. One could achieved the communication between self and God through the service of God.The service of God was for oneself, it is the real meaning of "human is God". After determining the thought of "human is God", the people-oriented thought got sublimation. For playing the value of human and building the heaven on earth, Ch’oe Che-u proposed "the thoughts of postnatal nurture", it’s to completely deny the "innateness" and desire the ideal "postnatal nurture". Ch’oe Che-u participated in the social activities in enthusiasm, and the thought of postnatal nurture was a political requirement for changing the world by religion, it reflected the requirements of reforming from time to time, emancipating the productive fores and establishing a new social order.