Daesoon Jinrihoe traces its origin back to when the Lord of the Dao (Doju) Jo Jeongsan received a Heavenly command in 1909 through a divine revelation from the Supreme God (Sangje) Kang Jeungsan. And then, he was enlightend to Daesoon Truth and gained the Dao in 1917.
Additionally, the Lord of the Dao received a sealed letter from the Supreme God through His younger sister in 1919. She transferred it to the Lord of the Dao 10 years after Sangje’s passing into Heaven following His direction. This serves as another piece of evidence verifying the heavenly transmission of the lineage and authority from the Supreme God to the Lord of the Dao.
The ‘Orthodox Religious Authority’ manifests when the Lord of the Dao established the religious body of Mugeukdo in 1925 and enshrined Sangje as ‘Gucheon Eungwon Noeseong Bohwa Cheonjon Kangseong Sangje.’
The Religious Authority was then inherited by the Leader of Principle (Dojeon) Park Wudang as the Lord of the Dao spoke his last words.
The Orthodox Religious Authority of Daesoon Jinrihoe is not a mere conventional giving and taking; rather, it is a profound source of holiness bestowed directly by Heaven.
In general, the Orthodox Religious Authority refers to the genealogy or inheritance of a legal tradition in a given religious denomination. In Daesoon Jinrihoe, it is a continuous heavenly endowment originating from the Supreme God, later established by the Lord of the Dao, and subsequently inherited by the Leader of Principle.
These three holy figures had their own unique roles in realizing the Earthly Paradise of the Later World. The Supreme God made designs to realize the Earthly Paradise through His Reordering Works of Heaven and Earth; the Lord of the Dao founded the religious body, creating specific methods of spiritual cultivation, ceremonial procedures, and other regulations based upon the Reordering Works.
Lastly, the Leader of Principle built many temples, local fellowship buildings, and other institutions (such as a university and hospitals) for our spiritual practices.Additionaly, he has guided all the Dao cultivators along the right path to achieve the aims of Daesoon Jinrihoe based upon the teachings of the two previous holy figures: the Supreme God and Lord of the Dao.
Therefore, there is no further succession in the Orthodox Religious Authority beyond these three holy figures (the Supreme God, the Lord of the Dao, and the Leader of Principle). Furthermore, nobody beyond these three figures could be eligible for Religious Orthodoxy, as it was directly endowed from Heaven according to the Degree Numbers of Heaven and Earth (Cheonji-dosu) that could only have been calibrated by the Supreme God.
These three holy figures are otherwise known as the ‘Fountainhead’ because they are the source of all beings and all things in the universe. Therefore, the proper guidance for all current Dao cultivators, striving to achieve the aims of Daesoon Jinrihoe, must be restricted exclusively to the teachings, disciplinary regulations, and principles inherited from the Leader of Principle.
The Lineage of Orthodox Religious Authority is the life and truth of the Dao as a profound source of holiness bestowed directly by Heaven. Without the proper Lineage of Orthodox Religious Authority, there can be no universial or ubiqitous law. In addition, everything in longitude and latitude can not be rightly placed without it. Therefore all lives cannot unfold within it, and the myriad things and phenomena cannot be realized.
