Spirit-Writing Practice and Culture in Late Joseon

9–10:30 AM on Sunday, May 12th, 2024 (Seoul time)
8–9:30 AM on Sunday, May 12th, 2024 (Hong Kong time)
8–9:30 PM on Saturday, May 11th, 2024 (EDT, USA)

To register, click HERE
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Moderators: Xun LIU, Norifumi SAKAI, and Jonathan PETTIT 

Spirit Writing and Healing Practice of the Gwanwang Shrine in the Late Joseon Period

朝鮮後期關王廟之降筆與治癒

 

KIM Jihyun 金志玹 (Seoul National University 首爾大學校)

 

This paper delves into the spirit writing and healing practices surrounding the Gwanwang Shrine 關王廟 in Hanyang 漢陽, present-day Seoul, during the late 19th century, a tumultuous period marked by recurring wars, droughts, floods, and epidemics in Joseon Korea. It explores how the increasing publication and distribution of spirit-written scriptures of the Three Sages (Guandi 關帝, Wendi 文帝, and Lüzu 呂祖) were closely related with jiujie 救劫, ‘salvation from the catastrophe of Kalpa.’ This research traces how the concept of the ‘cycle of Kalpa’ became a commonplace term in late imperial China and in the late Joseon period through god-demon (shenmo 神魔) fight stories in popular novels and through historical documents.

Amid the backdrop of epidemic diseases such as cholera and smallpox, the spirit writing associated with the Three Sages provided specific methods of salvation, ranging from herbal medicine to talismanic healing and exorcism. Notably, King Gojong 高宗, faced with the devastating impact of cholera and smallpox on his family, called upon the administrators of the Gwanwang Shrine to ward off disease and demonic phenomena. Investigation of medical texts makes clear that the remedies prescribed at the Gwanwang Shrine were rooted in the knowledge of everyday life and in common medical-magical practices. The cure for smallpox practiced in the Gwanwang Shrine was prevalent just before the rise of modern clinics. This moment  is significant as a record of the change in attitudes toward smallpox from ‘incurable’ to ‘eradicable’. 

At the end of the Joseon dynasty, when the number of yangban was rapidly increasing and the class system was about to be dismantled, spirit writing and dream revelation increased the number of actors involved in communication with the divine and spurred the creation of sacred texts by those who could read and write Korean and Chinese. However, even those who were illiterate could communicate with the invisible world through their dreams.

 

Korean Wenchang Spirit-Writing Scriptures of the 19th Century

 

KIM Youn Gyeong 김윤경 金允景 (Incheon National University 仁川國立大學)

 

The Korean new religions that emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly Tonghak (東學) and Taejonggyo (大倧敎), were characterized by a strengthening of nationalism based on resistance to Japan. One of the ideological features of these religions was the combination of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism. This study aims to reveal the characteristics of spirit-writing practice, drawing on Korean spirit-writing scriptures related to the Wenchang cult, which was also active in Joseon during the 19th century. To achieve this, the paper examines the interactions between Neo-Confucian cosmology and worldview and Daoist cosmology and neidan 內丹 theory, through investigation into the activities of the spirit-writing organization known as Musangdan (無相壇, Musang Altar), established in Korea in the late 19th century.