P'ikareum

P'ikareum or p'ikareun or pigareum (Korean 피가름 or 피갈음), literally "blood purification" or "blood exchange", is a controversial religious practice in some new religious movements of Korea. As defined by British scholar George Chryssides, the practice consists "of a female neophyte engaging in ritual sexual intercourse with the messianic leader [of the movement], in order to restore - either literally or symbolically - the sexual purity of the woman." Chryssides also notes that there were cases where the messianic leader was female and the neophyte male. The person so initiated will then have intercourse with his or her spouse, and the purity acquired from the messianic leader will be transmitted to both the spouse and the progeny.

The practice is justified by a theology, popularized by the Unification movement but already present in previous Korean new religions, assuming that the original sin was in fact illicit sexual intercourse between Lucifer and Eve. For the proponents of p'ikareum, redemption and cleansing can only be achieved by re-enacting, this time with pure intentions, the same scenario, with the messianic leader assuming the position (but not the evil motivation) of Lucifer, and the adept having intercourse with the leader being in the position of Eve. The initiated adept will thus be cleansed and in turn cleanse his or her spouse by creating a pure Adam-Eve relationship, while the original sexual relation between Adam and Eve was tainted by the sin Eve had committed with Lucifer.

Not surprisingly, the practice is extremely controversial, and few movements if any would open admit it is or was part of their rituals. Scholars differ on whether it was ever practised by Sun Myung Moon and the early Unification movement. One author who believe this was the case is Finnish researcher, and critical ex-member of the Unification Church, Kirsti L. Nevalainen. Chryssides maintains a different position, noting that "none of the sources which attribute this practice to the UC [Unification Church] can claim to be first-hand sources, and the UC's founder-members emphatically deny such allegations." Chryssides also believe that p'ikareum in some accounts was confused with ritual nudity, practised in some ceremonies by Korean new religious movements, including some Moon had contacts with in his early years, to claim that members had achieved perfect purity, while in fact p'ikareum and nudity are two different practices.

Where Chryssides and Nevalainen (who cites other critics of the Unification movement) agree is that p'ikareum was not invented by the anti-cult movement but was indeed practiced within a group of Korean new religious movements derived from Protestantism in the 1930 and known as "Jesus Churches," whose progenitor was the Holy Lord Church, founded by one Mrs Kim Seongdo. One schism of the Holy Lord Church was the "Inside Belly Church" (Bokjunggyo, Korean 복중교), whose name derived from the false pregnancy of her founder and leader, Mrs. Ho Ho-Bin, who claimed she will become the mother of the future messiah. Other churches in this group included the Israel Monastery, founded by Kim Baek Moon, and the Wilderness Church, the latter possibly a name given by outsiders to a loosely organized network of devotees recognizing Ms Pak Wol-yong as the messiah. Which groups and to what extent practised p'ikareum is unclear, although several clues point to Kim Baek Moon and Ms Pak.

Others mention the preachers Hwang Gukju (황국주) and Jeong Deukeun (female, 정득은) as originators of the practice. Hwang, who claimed to be the second coming of Jesus, led a schism from Wonsan Sinhaksan (원산신학산), a movement created by Baek Nam-Ju (백남주) and influenced by the ideas of Emanuel Swedenborg. Most of the Jesus Churches were located in what became North Korea and disappeared after the Korean War.

However, the discussions about p'ikareum did not disappear. Apart from the continuing controversy about its alleged practice in the Unification Church, in 1957 Korean journalist Kim Gyeongrae published several articles and a book tracing the roots of p'ikareum to Kim Baek Moon and the Israel Monastery and claiming, offering some evidence, that it was practised by what was at that time the largest Christian new religious movement in Korea, the Olive Tree, founded by Park Tae-Seon (1915–1990). The Victory Altar, an offshoot of the Olive Tree, was also accused of having practised p'ikareum in its early days.

See also

• Serpent seed