Seoul Journal of Korean Studies

The Tonghak (Eastern Learning) religion founded by Ch’oe Cheu (1824–1864), which later became known as Ch’ŏndogyo (Teaching of the Heavenly Way), can hardly be said to be an unknown quantity. Despite the fact that at present the Ch’ŏndogyo church is almost insignificant in the South Korean religious [End Page 139] landscape, its historic importance is undisputed, and the tradition has therefore been the object of numerous studies. Even in English it has received considerable attention, starting with Benjamin Weems’s 1964 Reform, Rebellion and the Heavenly Way. But, as Ch’oe Chongsŏng has pointed out in his study of Tonghak, it has suffered from a rather unbalanced approach, in that most people have looked either at the beginnings, or at the 1894 Tonghak rebellion, but have largely ignored what happened in between.¹

This study is the first to redress this problem in English-language scholarship. Kallander’s book is basically a balanced and compelling historical overview of the religion from its founding to the beginning of the twentieth century, when it reformed as Ch’ŏndogyo. Conceived as part of a series of translations of Korean sources, in fact the translation portion takes up only about one third of this volume. This is hardly surprising, since the Tonggyŏng taejŏn, the scriptures of Tonghak, are exceedingly small. The writings of Ch’oe Cheu were destroyed following his trial and execution in 1864, and later reconstructed from memory by his successor Ch’oe Sihyŏng (1827–1898). Besides the Tongguk taejŏn, which is basically an account of the revelation Ch’oe Cheu received and is written in classical Chinese, Ch’oe Sihyŏng also reconstructed the Songs of Yongdam, which describe Ch’oe Cheu’s revelation and teaching in verse form in the vernacular. While the scriptures have been translated here in their entirety, only the most important of the Songs have been translated. Altogether these core texts occupy a mere thirty pages in English translation. The translation section is complemented by selections from the works of Ch’oe Sihyŏng and a biography of Ch’oe Cheu.

One of the strengths of the historic overview is that it places Tonghak in the context of worldwide religious revival movements that sprang up in reaction to far-reaching political and social transformations in the nineteenth century (Chapter 1). However, Kallander firmly rejects the tendency to see Tonghak as primarily a social or political protest movement; instead, he emphasizes its largely traditional character and emphasis on traditional family morality; he sees it as intended to restore the traditional order rather than overturn it (xviii–xix). Of course, some of its teachings, notably regarding the “serving of the lord [chu]” and the use of talismans, had a potentially subversive character in that they contravened state orthodoxy, but Ch’oe Cheu always framed these practices in a Confucian discourse of correct social behavior, morality, and duty (p. 67). [End Page 140]

Kallander competently sketches Ch’oe Cheu’s background and religious awakening in Chapter 2, and delves into the formation of his early community, his rising popularity, and his arrest and execution in Chapter 3. These chapters bring together all the available material and critically examine it to extract the most likely development of events. The only disappointment I had here is that the author glosses over the problems in interpreting the key rituals of early Tonghak, namely the 21-character incantation (chumun) and the talisman (yŏngbu) granted by god (Ch’ŏnju). While the former is well-known and still practiced in Ch’ŏndogyo, the latter is merely said to be shaped like “the grand ultimate [t’aegŭk 太極] and the characters kung kung 弓弓” (p. 158; characters added by reviewer). The talisman was to be written on paper and burned, whereupon the ashes had to be mixed in water and drunk by anyone who wanted to be healed. There has been intense speculation as...