The aim of this article is to investigate the religious medical treatments performed by Kang Jeungsan as recorded in The Canonical Scripture, the main scripture of the Korean new religion, Daesoon Jinrihoe.
The unity of mind and body is the core princ...
The aim of this article is to investigate the religious medical treatments performed by Kang Jeungsan as recorded in The Canonical Scripture, the main scripture of the Korean new religion, Daesoon Jinrihoe.
The unity of mind and body is the core principle underlying Kang Jeungsan’s religious medical treatments. He believed treating the mind of his patients was more important and necessary than treating their diseases. As such, he believed the only way to treat critical illness was to keep preserve the mind-body unity of his patients.
Massage was a physical therapy often used by Kang Jeungsan. The medicinal materials that he commonly used were the Four-substance Decoction (四物湯 samultang), Minor Bupleurum Decoction (小柴胡湯 soshihotang), quince (木瓜 mokgwa *Pseudocydonia sinensis; not papaya), and rehmannia (生地黃 saengjihwang).
Kang Jeungsan’s religious medical treatments were characteristic of Daoist healing methods. His Daoist style healing methods included multiple techniques such as treating diseases through correcting Qi, exorcising malevolent entities, transferring diseases to a different host, removing a disease through the changing of clothes, pouring medicine into the ground, combining the usage of talisman and incantations, and treating the common people. Among these techniques, Jeungsan’s pouring medicine into the ground was especially innovative.