Eight Great Textbooks | Daily Inspiration

Traditional Confucian Values Make Sense

Urban Life Training Newsletter-April-2021

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Cheon Seong Gyeong 1023

If you love the members who have just joined, then they can quickly set the condition for indemnity. The reason the church is not able to make progress is because this is not being done. This is the reason why God said to love each other and live in harmony. (18-40, 1967.5.15)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1241

God’s Blessing is absolutely public in nature. It is not just for an individual, family, nation, or even the world. God’s Blessing is for the whole universe. (15-67, 1965. 2.13

Confucianism

1. Confucian Ethics

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Many of Confucius’ teachings are close to the laws of Heaven. (31:292, June 4, 1970)

Confucianism teaches the principled way of human life. What is its central theme? “As all things proceed according to the way of Heaven through the stages of sprout, growth, harvest and [winter] storage, a person’s character develops by the principles of benevolence (jen), righteousness (i), propriety (li), and wisdom (chih).”23 People should cultivate their character by these principles and so accord with the Way of Heaven. Confucianism thus places character as the standard for the human being, but not necessarily love.

People practice and cultivate benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom in the context of the Three Bonds—[loyalty] between a king and his subjects, [filial piety] between parents and children, and [fidelity] between husband and wife—and the Five Moral Disciplines—closeness between parents and children, righteousness between a king and his subjects, distinction between husband and wife, order between elder an younger brothers, and trust between friends. (296:272, November 10, 1998)

According to Eastern thought, when two people are walking along a road, the older person should go first. Why? Because he came into the world first. There is an attempt to arrange human relationships according to the orderliness of nature. He who comes later walks behind; that which is higher is placed higher; and that which is lower is placed lower… By clearly establishing all relative positions, there is a sense of unchanging order. (168:252, September 27, 1987)

Confucianism teaches the Three Bonds and Five Moral Disciplines.24 The Five Moral Disciplines consist of: closeness between parent and child; righteousness between the king and his subjects; distinction between [husband and wife, order] between elder and younger; trust among friends. The Three Bonds refer to loyalty, filial piety and fidelity. All people should fulfill these essential values.

Providentially, Confucius’ teaching was like the proclamation of the heavenly archangel. Through the elements of Confucian morality, Heaven sought to establish social conditions that would protect against Satan and set up a society resembling the external form of Heaven. (205:179, August 28, 1998)

Who is a son of filial piety? According to Confucianism, he attends his parents with his life out of his deep love for them. What is a loyal subject? He offers himself for the king’s service and even sacrifices his life for his king, who represents Heaven. (143:153, March 17, 1986)

Throughout Korean history, Confucianism taught the duty of filial piety. When the parents passed away, according to custom their children would mourn for three years while living in seclusion on a mountain. They truly had a heart to do so.

What can the Korean people be proud of before the world? Regardless of their position and worldly success, when their parents passed away they abandoned everything to fulfill the duty of filial piety. Confucianism established this good tradition. It was in fact God’s preliminary education for the Korean people to go his way. There can be no objection to it. (181:217, October 3, 1988)

Our relationship with God should be a parent-child relationship. What is the nature of this relationship? It is a vertical relationship. The teachings of Confucianism provide a correct understanding.

Our relationship with God our Father is as undeniable and indisputable as the relationship with our parents. We are our parents’ children: could either physical force or theoretical arguments persuade us otherwise? Likewise, the knowledge that we are born as sons and daughters of God our Heavenly Father cannot be contested by anyone. (198:298, February 5, 1990)

In our individual lives, shouldn’t we relate to Heavenly Father as filial children? As regards the national-level providence, shouldn’t we relate to Him as loyal subjects? The traditional Confucian values—the Three Bonds and the Five Moral Disciplines—make sense. Filial piety and loyalty towards Heavenly Father are based on these traditional values. We cannot be filial children to Heavenly Father if we are not first filial to our parents. We cannot be loyal subjects of Heavenly Father if we do not first demonstrate loyalty to our nation. (7:66, July 12, 1959)

Benevolence, Propriety, Rectitude and Wisdom are the Only Four Principles

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1 Thessolonians 5

¹⁹Don’t turn away God’s Spirit ²⁰or ignore prophecies. ²¹Put everything to the test. Accept what is good ²²and don’t have anything to do with evil.

Matthew 27

⁹So the words of the prophet Jeremiah came true,

“They took
    the thirty silver coins,
the price of a person
    among the people of Israel.
¹⁰They paid it
    for a potter’s field,
as the Lord
    had commanded me.”

Confucianism

Confucian ethics are at the core of the East Asian culture. today With the rapid Westernization of Asia many are discarding Confucian values and codes; nevertheless for thousands of years its moral philosophy has guided family life and molded the conduct of kings with the values of benevolence, righteousness and propriety. Father Moon has high regard for Confucian moral teachings; he calls them “close to the laws of heaven.” the Confucian Five relations of parents and children, ruler and subject, husband and wife, elder and younger siblings, and among friends define what he believes is a superior ethic for all humanity.

Father Moon holds that God inspired Confucianism. He affirms that in its concept of heaven, Confucianism presents a notion of God, however vague. Confucianism’s weakness, he explains, is its vague understanding of God (heaven) and as a consequence its inability to properly link heaven and earth in daily life. Then, with profound insight, he proceeds to offer a solution that utilizes the best of Confucianism: the relationship between God and human beings is a parent-child relationship, and its ethic is one of Confucian filial piety. In other words, we should attend God as we would our own parents, and the Confucian ethic supplies the best description as to what that attendance requires.

1. Confucian Ethics

Oh, how great is the divine moral law of the sage Confucius. Overflowing and illimitable, it gives birth and life to all created things and towers high up to the very heavens. How magnificent it is! How imposing the three hundred principles and three thousand rules of conduct! They await the man who can put the system into practice.
Doctrine of the Mean 27

When one follows unswervingly on the path of virtue it is not to win advancement. When one invariably keeps one’s word it is not to establish the rectitude of one’s actions. A gentleman merely follows the norm and awaits his destiny.

Mencius VII.B.33

From the Son of Heaven [the emperor] down to the common people, all must regard cultivation of the personal life as the root or foundation. There is never a case where the root is in disorder and yet the branches are in order. |
Great Learning

Benevolence (jen), rectitude (i), propriety (li), and wisdom (chih)… There are only these four principles. There is nothing else.

Chu Hsi

What is the foundation of natural benevolence (jen)? The heart that sympathizes with pain. What is the foundation of a commitment to the common good (i)? The heart that is repelled by vice. What is the foundation of respect for social and religious forms (li)? The heart that is willing to defer. And what is the foundation for wisdom (chih)? The heart that can tell true from false.

People have these four foundations like they have four limbs. A man who says he cannot practice them is calling himself a criminal. A man who says the ruler cannot practice them is calling the ruler a criminal.

Everybody has these four foundations in himself. If these four foundations can be filled in on a broad scale, it will be like a fire starting up, it will be like a spring bursting through. If they can be filled in, it will be enough to create and preserve the world order. Leave them unfilled, it will be impossible for a man to take care of his father and mother.

Mencius II.A.6

The gentleman works upon the trunk. When that is firmly set up, the Way grows. And surely proper behavior towards parents and elder brothers is the trunk of Goodness?

Analects 1.2

Now filial piety is the root of all virtue, and the stem out of which grows all moral teaching… Our bodies—to every hair and bit of skin—are received by us from our parents, and we must not presume to injure or wound them: this is the beginning of filial piety. When we have established our character by the practice of the filial course, so as to make our name famous in future ages, and thereby glorify our parents: this is the end of filial piety. It commences with the service of parents; it proceeds to the service of the ruler; it is completed by the establishment of [good] character.

Classic on Filial Piety 1

What are “the things which men consider right”? Kindness on the part of the father, and filial duty on that of the son; gentleness on the part of the elder brother, and obedience on that of the younger; righteousness on the part of the husband, and submission on that of the wife; kindness on the part of elders, and deference on that of juniors; with benevolence on the part of the ruler, and loyalty on that of the minister—these ten are the things which men consider to be right.

Book of Ritual 7.2.19

Have You Reached the State Where You Can Guard the Zero Point

Cheon Seong Gyeong 237

Movement occurs when centrifugal and centripetal forces become one. If you reach the state of perfect self-effacement, things will automatically rotate. When you start rotating, the axis goes up. When it comes down, an automatic reaction occurs. So it moves up and down, like taking a breath. When a person in such a perfected form establishes a family in the heavenly world, such a foundation will keep them from falling off. They can eternally live together with True Parents. Thus, when you create resonance in heart with True Parents, this standard of deep experience in life becomes a foundation for the eternal world of heart. Unification Church members live together with True Parents and God. They are born with the love of True Parents. Since love makes an eternal connection, the connection of love cannot be cut. Until the day you die, you cannot forget about love. Even when parents die, they die with a heart of love for their sons and daughters. It is the same with the husband and wife. There is no one who forgets about love before he dies. Love goes beyond death and becomes connected to eternity. This is why you, a man or woman who have received life through love, cannot forget your parents who are the fundamental root of love. If your parents are the root and you are the trunk, your sons and daughters are the buds. When they grow together, they will extend to the realm of the tribe, people and nation. (218-127, 1991.7.14)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1342

The 36, 72, and 120 Couples are a team; they cannot be separated. The 36 Couples refer to the successive generations of ancestors. The 72 Couples represent their children. The 120 Couples signify the high priests of nations in the world and represent the twelve tribes. They are the branches of these tribes that have spread out into the world. The matter at hand is to unite the ancestors Cain and Abel and the twelve tribes. That is the great work of restoration. (82-237, 1976.1.31)

Buddhism

2. Buddhist Enlightenment

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

When we pray or meditate, as when Buddhists practice Zen, we are seeking a state that is void of self. What is our goal in seeking this state? It is to awaken the elements that can become the nucleus of the mind. If you set that one standard and establish the center of your mind, you will see, hear and cognize everything in accord with the principles of Heaven. Then you can offer a full bow before God and return Him glory. (2:193, May 19, 1957)

Buddhism teaches that one should attain enlightenment and realize one’s self-nature.20 Buddha said, “In heaven and on earth I alone am the honored one.” This means that you reach the state where you know that God exists within you and there is nothing you cannot do. This is the enlightened mind. Your mind is better than a teacher; your mind is your eternal lord. Therefore, you should not have a selfish mind, but a mind to serve the greater good. (133:179, July 10, 1984)

Shakyamuni in his mystical state, when he could declare, “In heaven and on earth, I alone am the honored one,” is far from the normal thinking of ordinary people. When your committed efforts to reach the state of resonance of mind and body awaken your own self, you will attain the state in which you could say: “I am the best under the sun.” (141:235, February 26, 1986)

Where does God dwell? God is the lord of the “zero point.” That is where God wants to dwell—in the “king zero point.” Since God has such a nature, to meet Him you must become even lower than zero. Then you must guard that king zero point. The king zero point is like the mind, and as the flesh surrounds the mind, you should surround and protect the zero point.
Have you reached the state where you can guard the zero point? It is easy to answer “yes,” but in reality it is not easy. Mind you, all religions have been seeking to reach God or a position where we can correspond to God. This is what Buddhist meditation is about—to search the God-like mind for the deepest point. (230:134, May 1, 1992)

3. An Example of Buddhist Wisdom

Subhuti, do not say that the Tathagata conceives the idea: I must set forth a Teaching. For if anyone says that the Tathagata sets forth a Teaching he really slanders Buddha and is unable to explain what I teach. As to any Truth-declaring system, Truth is undeclarable; so “an enunciation of Truth” is just a name given to it.
Diamond Sutra 21

What has been realized by the Tathagatas—that is my own realization, in which there is neither decreasing nor increasing; for the realm of self-realization is free from words and discriminations, having nothing to do with dualistic ways of speaking… For this reason it is stated by me that from the night of the Tathagata’s Enlightenment till the night of his entrance into Nirvana, he has not in the meantime uttered, nor ever will utter, one word. Lankavatara Sutra 61

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
In the Orient there are many statues of Buddha. Does Buddha’s statue ever say a word? It never speaks a word. It neither praises you nor chastises you; it only thinks. That is what makes it worthy of worship. Also, its gaze is always focused at one point, never looking around. When we are focused in the Ultimate, what is the point of looking around at trivial matters? It teaches us that the best way to solve complications of the world is silence. (228:77, March 15, 1992)

In Heaven and On Earth, I Alone Am the Honored One

Luke 23

⁴⁴Around noon the sky turned dark and stayed that way until the middle of the afternoon. ⁴⁵The sun stopped shining, and the curtain in the temple split down the middle. ⁴⁶Jesus shouted, “Father, I put myself in your hands!” Then he died.

Ezekiel 1

²⁴Whenever the creatures flew, their wings roared like an ocean or a large army or even the voice of God All-Powerful. And whenever the creatures stopped, they folded their wings against their bodies.

Buddhism

1. The Values of Buddhism

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

In ancient times, Buddhism and Buddhist culture emerged out of God’s will, in order to reform the society of India. Buddhism presented a new ideal through a new understanding of subject and object relationships.15 (144:182, April 24, 1986)

Buddhism, which emerged from India, is a world-level teaching. Only religions like Buddhism, which transcends the practical domain of life and contains a world-level point of view and a transcendental philosophy, will remain in the Last Days. (9:279, June 12, 1960)

Among the Oriental religions, Buddhism is the closest to God’s providence… However, as Buddhism teaches the logic of Sarvadharma [the oneness of all things], it is ignorant of a personal God—a major weakness. Nevertheless, God set things up this way to prepare the people of Asia to one day be united [with God’s Kingdom] through the Oriental religions when Buddhism would connect with Judaism [had the latter received Christ]. (208:311, November 21, 1990)

Buddhism teaches the existence of God, but it focuses on God’s lawful aspect. It does not explain that God is actively working in the world. (53:297, March 4, 1972)

The Buddha’s entire philosophy is based on law (dharma). However, the object of dharma is the circumstances of human beings as objects, not the human being himself. Actually, the measure of a human being is love, not law. But the Buddha taught a standard based on law; hence his teachings are called Law Sutras.

Buddhism teaches self-realization, but what should happen after attaining self-realization? Is that the end of it? That is why, even though Buddhists live solitary lives deep in the mountains and work hard for self-discipline and self-realization, they still are ambiguous about the ideal world of love. (50:116, November 6, 1971)

2. Buddhist Enlightenment

Strive and cleave the stream. Discard, O Brahmin, sense-desires. Knowing the destruction of conditioned things, be a knower of the Unmade.

Dhammapada 383

Since all Dharmas are immanent in our mind there is no reason why we should not realize intuitively the real nature of Suchness. The Bodhisattva Sila Sutra says, “Our Essence of Mind is intrinsically pure, and if we knew our mind and realized what our nature is, all of us would attain Buddhahood.”

Sutra of Hui Neng 2

Every Buddha Tathagata is one whose body is the Principle of Nature (Dharmadhatu-kaya), so that he may enter into the mind of any being. Consequently, when you have perceived Buddha, it is indeed that mind of yours that possesses those thirty-two signs of perfection and eighty minor marks of excellence [which you see in Buddha]. In fine, it is your mind that becomes Buddha; nay, your mind is indeed Buddha. The ocean of true and universal knowledge of all the Buddhas derives its source from one’s own mind and thought.

Meditation on Buddha Amitayus 17

In heaven and on earth, I alone am the Honored One.

Digha Nikaya 2.15

He Who Has Laid Aside the Cudgel, Him I Call A Brahmin

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1746

After getting married, the place where husband and wife share true love is the origin of the love, life and lineage of God and humankind. This palace is the start-ing point of God’s Ideal, His kingdom on earth and in heaven. The children born of this true love then achieve conjugal oneness by focusing on true love, form a family that attends God, and become the starting point of peace and the ideal. Man and woman, who are only halves by themselves, unite and complete the ideal love of God as His object partners. (259-45, 1994.3.27)

Richard: The Messiah, Lord of the Second Advent, or returning Lord is the very person, and couple, who teach about absolute sexual ethics; the true role of absolute, unchanging husband-wife love.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1254

Do you like flowers that have no fragrance? People are not so inspired by flowers that do not have any fragrance. Would you claim, “If I were ever to become a flower, I would become a green one”? Have you ever seen a green flower? I have visited many botanical gardens, and I have never seen a green flower. A flower the same color as the leaves would be completely useless. From this you can see that the laws of nature go beyond our comprehension. The example of the green flower is enough to convince you that there is a God. All the leaves in the world are green, so would there be a need for green flowers as well? I have seen only one flower that is sort of green-ish. It is the pepper blossom, but when you look at it more closely, it is actually not green. From the contextual point of view, there are many colors, including red. The color of the flower is differ-ent from the color of the leaves so that they stand out, and when they stand out, they become a part of the harmony in the world of creation. They must stand out to comply with the laws of creation in the harmony of the universe. Our understanding of marriage is so much more magnificent. You cannot help but wonder at the greatness of the Unification Church’s views on marriage. (113-33, 1981.4.26)

Buddhism

Father Moon has the highest respect For Buddhism, a religion that has deeply influenced the culture of his native Korea. he regards the Buddhist teaching and practice of self-denial is at the summit of world religious teachings for recovering our true original self from the mire of our fallen condition. to reach that state of emptiness, what Father Moon calls the “zero point,” is true enlightenment.
In Father Moon’s view Buddhism is lacking two essential points: knowledge of a personal God and full comprehension of the ideal of true love. nevertheless, it was God who taught the buddha and set up Buddhism to give light to the orient. people of all faiths can learn much from Buddhism, particularly about the way of self-denial to overcome false ego and uncover the true self.

1. The Values of Buddhism

The best of paths is the Eightfold Path. The best of truths are the Four Noble Truths. Non-attachment is the best of mental states. The best of human beings is the Seeing One.

This is the only Way. There is no other that leads to the purity of insight. You should follow this path, for this is what bewilders Mara.

Embarking upon that path, you will make an end of pain. I have declared this path after having learned the way for the removal of thorns.
Dhammapada 273-75

Not by matted hair, nor by family, nor by birth does one become a Brahmin. But in whom there exist both truth and righteousness, pure is he, a Brahmin is he.

I do not call him a Brahmin merely because he is born of a Brahmin womb or sprung from a Brahmin mother. Being with impediments, he should address others as “sir.” But he who is free from impediments, free from clinging—him I call a Brahmin.

He who realizes here in this world the destruction of his sorrow, who has laid the burden aside and is emancipated—him I call a Brahmin.

He who has laid aside the cudgel in his dealings with beings, whether feeble or strong, who neither harms nor kills—him I call a Brahmin.

He who is friendly among the hostile, who is peaceful among the violent, who is unattached among the attached—him I call a Brahmin.

In whom lust, hatred, pride, and detraction are fallen off like a mustard seed from the point of a needle—him I call a Brahmin.

Dhammapada 393, 396, 402, 405-07

Even ornamented royal chariots wear out. So too the body reaches old age. But the Dhamma of the Good grows not old. Thus do the Good reveal it among the Good.

Dhammapada 151

What, brethren, is causal happening?

“Conditioned by rebirth is decay and death.”

Whether, brethren, there be an arising of Tathagatas or whether there be no such arising, this nature of things just stands, this causal status, this causal orderliness, the relatedness of this to that.

Samyutta Nikaya 2.25

I pay homage to the Perfection of Wisdom! She is worthy of homage. She is unstained; the entire world cannot stain her. She is a source of light, and from everyone in the triple world she removes darkness, and she leads away from the blinding darkness caused by the defilements and by wrong views. In her we can find shelter. Most excellent are her works. She makes us seek the safety of the wings of Enlightenment. She brings light to the blind; she brings light so that all fear and distress may be forsaken… She is the mother of the Bodhisattvas, on account of the emptiness of her own marks. As the donor of the jewel of all the Buddha-dharmas she brings about the ten powers [of a Buddha]. She cannot be crushed. She protects the unprotected, with the help of the four grounds of self-confidence. She is the antidote to birth-and-death. She has a clear knowledge of the own-being of all dharmas, for she does not stray away from it. The Perfection of Wisdom of the Buddhas, the Lords, sets in motion the Wheel of the Law. Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines 7.1