Introducing Daesoon Philosophy to the West

Abstract

Daesoon philosophy has been described as a quintessential Korean philosophy. Given the great difference between traditional Western and East Asian ways of thinking, how can such a quintessential Korean philosophy be explained to people who have no background in traditional East Asian thought? After all, the Daeson Jinrihoe way of approaching such core problems as how to make this world a better place is not only very different from the way the West has traditionally approached such problems, Daesoon Jinrihoe uses terminology which most Westerners are not very familiar with. Translation into Western languages such as English helps, but a conceptual gap remains because of the differences in the way key Daesoon Jinrihoe terms are understood in the West. As a first step toward overcoming that gap, I discuss three key teachings of Daesoon philosophy and how their translations into English need to be amplified so that people in the West who are not well versed in East Asian philosophy can gain a more accurate understanding of what those terms and phrases mean in their original language. The three items discussed here are the tenet “virtuous concordance of yin and yang,” the Essential Attitude of sincerity, and the precept “do not deceive yourself.”