The Structural Paradox of the Shamanic Healing Ritual: Relational Displacement and the Search for Transcendence in Korean Spirituality
Religions June 19, 2026 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.3390/rel17060733 via OpenAlex
Summary
The byeong-gut, a Korean shamanic healing ritual, adheres to the structured format of the jaesu-gut rather than using a clinical approach. This article critiques past scholarship that simplifies shamanic healing to psychological comfort and proposes a relational displacement model. It shows that the ritual functions both materially, by displacing suffering onto external surrogates, and linguistically, by reassembling the patient's fragmented life into a relational cosmology. The byeong-gut is presented as a complex knowledge system that transforms suffering into a comprehensible event within a sacred order.
Study at a glance
| Key finding | The byeong-gut serves as a sophisticated knowledge system that transforms individual suffering into an intelligible event within a shared and sacred cosmic order. |
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Abstract
This article explores the structural paradox of the byeong-gut (Korean shamanic healing ritual): why it adheres to the rigid and canonical format of the jaesu-gut (shamanic blessing ritual) instead of adopting a specialized clinical procedure. Critiquing the instrumental trap of previous scholarship that reduces shamanic healing to psychological comfort or social liberation, this study proposes a relational displacement model by integrating Roy Rappaport’s theory of ritual invariance with the relational ontologies of Bruno Latour and Tim Ingold. The article demonstrates that shamanic healing operates through a dual mechanism. First, at the non-discursive (material) level, the ritual functions as an ontological technology that objectifies and displaces individual suffering onto external surrogates. Second, at the discursive (linguistic) level, a meticulous analysis of the manse-baji (invocation chant) illustrates how the patient’s fragmented life is re-assembled into a meshwork of human and non-human agencies. Ultimately, this article argues that the byeong-gut transcends mere functional curing; it serves as a sophisticated knowledge system that re-maps the isolated ego onto a relational cosmology, transforming the Geertzian bafflement of suffering into an intelligible event within a shared and sacred cosmic order.