Jeung-sahn Sahng-jeh-nim was born in a small village called "Expecting Guest" in 1871 in what is now South Korea. His family name was Gahng, and his given name was Il-soon. He later adopted the name Jeung-sahn. At the age of 7 he attained sudden awakening while watching a performance of traditional music and dance.

When he was 24 he witnessed the tumultuous events of the Dohng-hahk Revolution in which an army of farmers fought the troops of both the Jo-sun's (Korea's) government and the Japanese. This insurrection sparked a war between China ad Japan fought on the Jo-sun peninsula and ended with the crushing defeat of the farmers and Japan's occupation of the country. For the people of Jo-sun, the entire universe had been turned upside down. After observing these disturbing events, Jeung-sahn Sahng-jeh-nim resolved to save the world from all suffering. He traveled for 3 years to observe human behavior and the shape, ch'i, and spirit of the land.

In 1901, after a period of intensive meditation, he attained ultimate enlightenment into heaven, earth, and humanity. In that year, Sahng-jeh-nim began a spiritual work that cannot be easily explained or understood. It was called the work of renewing heaven and earth. For 9 years he conducted works of renewal in the form of rituals, proclamations, and conversations with humans and spirits and utilized the ch'i of various places and people. He established a federation of spirits called "The Creative Government" composed of regional spirits, the founding spirits of family lines, spirits that founded and advanced civilizations, enlightened spirits, spirits with unresolved bitterness and grief, and the spirits of failed revolutionaries.

Through assembling these spirits, he intended to correct all the wrongs of the past and to chart a course for the future of heaven, earth, and humanity. His work of renewing heaven and earth shifted the course of heaven, earth, and humanity and planted the seeds for a new enlightened and harmonious world of humans and spirits. Two major themes of his work were the unfolding of world events leading to a great transition that would transform the entire would and the development and dissemination of his tao. Sahng-jeh-nim spoke of the catastrophes humanity would face at the time of gae-byuk, the great change marking the beginning of a new world; shed ight on the moring of this change; and provided a path leading to the Later Heaven.

In 1909, 9 years after beginning his work of renewing heaven and earth, Sahng-jeh-nim ascended to heaven. This majestic event was witnessed through the spiritual eye of Gim ho-yun, a little girl who Sahng-jeh-nim had chosen to be a witness to his teachings and work.