If a Person’s Heart Is Healthy, His Body Will Be at Ease


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Cheon Seong Gyeong 619

Once you reach the level of such experiences, your mind will give you directions. You will be struck dumb when you try to talk to someone, or you will scold someone in spite of yourself. You will experience such incomprehensible phenomena from time to time. Therefore you have to be able to control them. If you mishandle the situation, people may treat you like a crazy person.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1581

Looking into Your heart, I know how You endeavored to save Your only son who came after countless generations. This son of Yours perceived more clearly than anyone how much You grieved as You looked upon wretched humanity, dispossessed of any ancestors because they were lost through the Fall.

Sincerity and Authenticity

A person’s inner intention goes far towards determining the extent to which a particular action is good or evil, effective or ineffective. As Buddha so forcefully stated in the Dhammapada, action begins with the mind; it is created by the mind; it goes forth according to the inner state of the mind. In some of the passages gathered here, sincerity means the natural and spontaneous flow of the mind, devoid of all pretense and egoistic grasping. Other passages call for self-examination and self-cultivation in order to manifest true sincerity. Father Moon views the cultivation of sincerity, what he calls jeongseong, as fundamental to the spiritual life.
This section treats sincerity as a virtue in daily life. On the topic of sincerity in approaching God, see chapter 16: Devotion and Purity of Intention.

1. Sincerity Flows Spontaneously out of the Heart’s Affections

Mind is the forerunner of all evil states. Mind is chief; mind-made are they. If one speaks or acts with wicked mind, because of that suffering follows one, even as the wheel [of the cart] follows the hoof of the draught ox.
    Mind is the forerunner of all good states. Mind is chief; mind-made are they. If one speaks or acts with pure mind, because of that happiness follows one, even as one’s shadow that never leaves.
    Dhammapada 1-2 (Buddhism)
 
The heart is like a king with his troops. If the king is a good one, then his troops will be good too, and if the king is wicked, his troops follow suit…
 
If a person’s heart is healthy, his body will be at ease, and if a person’s heart is malicious, the body will be malevolent.
    Hadith (Islam)
 
Abu Huraira reported God’s Messenger as saying, “God does not look at your forms and your possessions, but He looks at your hearts and your deeds.”
    Hadith of Muslim (Islam)
 
To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure; their very minds and consciences are corrupted.
    Titus 1.15
 
If you do not perceive the sincerity within yourself and yet try to move forth, each movement will miss the mark.
    Chuang Tzu 23 (Taoism)
 
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord.
    Romans 12.9-10
 
Sincerity [Absolute Truth] is the Way of Heaven; the attainment of Sincerity is the Way of man. He who possesses Sincerity achieves what is right without effort, understands without thinking, and naturally and easily is centered on the Way. He is a sage.
    Doctrine of the Mean 20.18 (Confucianism)
 
While there are no stirrings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, or joy, the mind may be said to be in a state of equilibrium (chung). When those feelings have been stirred, and they act in their due degree, there ensues what may be called the state of harmony (ho). This equilibrium is the great root from which grow all the human actings in the world, and this harmony is the universal path which they all should pursue. Let the states of equilibrium and harmony exist in perfection, and a happy order will prevail throughout heaven and earth, and all things will be nourished and flourish.
    Doctrine of the Mean 1.4-5 (Confucianism)
 
By the Truth I mean purity and sincerity in their highest degree. He who lacks purity and sincerity cannot move others. Therefore he who forces himself to lament, though he may sound sad, will awaken no grief. He who forces himself to be angry, though he may sound fierce, will arouse no awe. And he who forces himself to be affectionate, though he may smile, will create no air of harmony. True sadness need make no sound to awaken grief; true anger need not show itself to arouse awe; true affection need not smile to create harmony. When a man has the Truth within himself, his spirit may move among external things. That is why the Truth is to be prized!
    Chuang Tzu 31 (Taoism)
 
 
 

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