Category: Eight Great Textbooks

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

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

Ezekiel 1

24 Whenever 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
 
 
 

Shamans Are Possessed by Servant-Level Spirits

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2220

We believe in God who wants to realize one world, a world of one purpose. Since God is Jehovah and Lord of all nations, and the center of all centers, when we face Him from afar, we want to be His loyal subjects. We were born for this duty and responsibility. Understand that as we draw near to Him, He becomes our Father to whom we owe the duty of filial piety as His sons and daughters. That is our priority. Only when you have lived like that can you say to God, “If you want to send me to hell, send me there. If you want to send me to Heaven, send me there. Do as you please.” Nobody went to hell after living like that. (154-314, 1964.10.5)

Cheong Seong Gyeong 1189

Cain represents Satan’s side. It is the position of the elder brother. Abel represents God’s side. This is the battle. Originally, God would have loved the first-born son, and then the younger son. Due to the Fall, the first son, Cain, stands on Satan’s side. He belongs to Satan’s side. In order to save him, God designated Abel. God designates Abel to restore the right of the firstborn son. This cannot be achieved by force; you have to inspire people by love. You have to achieve restoration by melting them with love. If you cannot stand in the position of having loved them, if you cannot win their heart through offering your love, then you will not be in a position to truly love your own son or daughter. As viewed from God’s ideal of creation, the first-born son was originally to be loved first rather than the second child. (140-38, 1986.2.1)

Shamanism, Polytheism and Animism

1. Worship of Nature Deities

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

God instructs all people, from the most primitive to the most advanced, by means appropriate to their level. Thus, in the primitive religions of the past, God taught people to worship the things of creation, such as rocks and trees, as substitutes for God. This was the origin of shamanism. In this way God could teach the people and guide the direction of their lives. (91:271, February 27, 1977)
 
Shamans are possessed by servant-level spirits, confined within the realm of the fall. Yet through their revelations they can sometimes give accurate information from the spirit world to earthly people. There are groups of people on this earth who connect with the spirit world in this way. (76:95, February 1, 1975)
 
The spirit world is the world of angels. Why do the angels of the spirit world want to relate to the human world as gods? You have heard about shamanism, fortunetelling, superstition and such. They are religious forms in which there is not clear discernment of good and evil. As God leads the providence through religions, Satan also prepared religious forms to guard his world.
 
    In general, more than eighty percent of fortunetellers are women. Who do they contact? At the time of the Fall, the archangel led Eve and caused her to bring evil into the world. Likewise, during the course of restoration the same path is repeated: angels in the spirit world come down to the earth to lead and teach women, uniting with them. Hence, a shaman’s or fortuneteller’s work is to follow the direction and teachings of angels—but this time for good. (76:95, February 1, 1975)
 
In the development of history, we see that there was always some sort of faith. The birth of faith lay in ancient beliefs that modern people would call superstition. For example, when people saw a big tree, they revered it. When they saw a magnificent mountain, they revered it. Although most people do not recognize them, guardian deities actually exist in those places. (176:287, May 13, 1988)
 
People in ancient times had a close relationship with nature. Then the natural world and the spirit world were close to human beings—not distant and foreign as they are to people living in modern times. When people entered a grove of giant trees, they looked at them reverently and thought, “For thousands of years these trees have been here; through countless cycles of quickening in spring and dying in autumn they remain unchanged; their shade makes a pleasant environment for all creatures.” Observing them, they recognized that they were deficient in many aspects, and so they worshipped tall trees, great rocks and high mountains.
 
    They saw tall persimmon trees, thick with foliage in the summer and bare in the winter. With the arrival of spring their branches sprouted with new life: first buds, then blossoms, and finally delicious and fragrant fruit. They marveled at this, and sensed that those trees were better than they.
    Where is the fragrance in human existence? Do humans give off a fragrance that beautifies their surroundings, attracting birds and insects to nest in their branches? No. Compared to nature, man is humbled and recognizes his inadequacy. (November 4, 1990)
 
History knows that this is the age when the sun rises in the East. All people are turning in the direction of the light and lighting their own lamps. Some are doing it centering on God, but others are centering on low-level spirits. Even shamans are receiving the light based on their spiritual senses and experiences. Between shamans and non-believers, who is better? Believing in even low-level spirits is better than having no faith at all. (194:315, October 30, 1989)
 
 

You Also Blessed My Grandfather

John 19

38 Joseph from Arimathea was one of Jesus’ disciples. He had kept it secret though, because he was afraid of the Jewish leaders. But now he asked Pilate to let him have Jesus’ body. Pilate gave him permission, and Joseph took it down from the cross.

Richard: This is the time to be bold in our faith, and not cower or be silent.

Isaiah 65

2 All day long I have reached out
to stubborn and sinful people
    going their own way.

Shamanism, Polytheism and Animism

World Scripture takes a universal outlook in emphasizing the common features of all religions; nevertheless religions also have their unique characteristics and emphases. The following six topics treat specific religious traditions, pointing out their unique features and Father Moon’s teachings about them. It cannot be overemphasized that any treatment of a religion’s unique features in no way exhausts its spiritual riches or detracts from its universal qualities that join in common witness to the one God and one reality.
Not all the religions are treated here; just those on which Father Moon has commented upon out of his own experience. Korea is a religiously pluralistic country, with roots in shamanism, Buddhism and Confucianism; it has a large and vibrant Christian community and also a growing Muslim minority.
Father Moon’s views on shamanism are largely the result of his experience with the homegrown Korean variety. Shamanism remains strong in rural Korea, where its practitioners, called mudangs, are largely women. Their ability to communicate with spirits can be impressive. During his years in America, he befriended Eskimo shamans in Alaska and Native Americans in Brazil and Paraguay. Father Moon is very aware of the reality of the  spirit  world  and  the  spiritual  discipline  required  to  be  an  effective  channel  to  that  world.  For this reason, he does not cast dogmatic condemnations on shamanism and animism in the manner of bible-centered Christians. Rather, he regards shamanism as an authentic stage, albeit a low one, on the path of humankind’s spiritual development.
Notable also is Father Moon’s teaching that shamanism and polytheism are “servant of servant” religions, whose original objects of worship were fallen angels. This can be seen rather clearly in Greek and Hindu mythology, where the gods’ amorous activities with earthly women are of a piece with Satan’s seduction of eve at the human Fall. Nevertheless, God still taught through these forms by empowering devoted practitioners to rise above their gods and attain a higher moral plane. In this way, human beings transcended the position of servants’ servants to become their masters, thus opening a higher stage of religious development. Passages from Hinduism and Shinto illustrate how these traditions were thus elevated over time to form higher religions.

1. Worship of Nature Deities

O gods! All your names are to be revered, saluted and adored; all of you who have sprung from heaven and earth, listen here to my invocation.
    Rig Veda 10.63.2 (Hinduism)

Our ancestors the emperors of old governed the realm by first paying worship to the kami with reverence and awe. Widely worshipping the kamiof mountain and river, they thereby had natural concourse with heaven and earth. For this rea-son, summer and winter also turned in their sea-son, and the works of creation were in harmony.
    Nihon Shoki 22 (Shinto)

Sansang suira!
There are eight peaks within the inner mountain,
and thirteen famous places in the outer mountain.
Within these famous mountains and the great heavens of all Buddhas,
the great altar of the nation is protected by the great generals.
Was not General Chae Yong one of them?
The famous general of Korea,
who was favored by his people…
Oh, I am the great mountain god.
If I sit down, I cover three thousand li [the entire land of Korea].
If I stand up, I stretch over ninety thousand li [the whole world].
If I look down with my clear mirror, I can observe ten thousand li.
Oh, I am the great mountain god.
What can you offer to satisfy me?
Is the whole pig covered with a red cloth enough?
Is the bundle of three different colored silks enough?
Offer many rich silks to me.
Oh, you, the husband and wife of this home.
Do you remember who gives you the food that sustains you?
Who gave you a home?
Who gave you wealth?
Who gave you long life?
I, the Sansang, gave you blessings and aid in times of need.
    Invocation of the Mountain Spirit (Korean Shamanism)

War-bundle owners, I greet you. Ye elders, I am about to pour tobacco for the spirits.
 
Hearken Earthmaker, our father, I am about to offer you a handful of tobacco. My ancestor so-and-so concentrated his mind upon you. The fireplaces with which you blessed him, the small amount of life you granted to him, all, four times the blessings that you bestowed upon my ancestor, I ask of you directly. May I have no troubles in life.
 
Chief of the Thunderbirds, who lives in the west, you strengthened my grandfather. I am about to offer you a handful of tobacco. The food, the pair of deer you gave him for his fireplaces, that I ask of you directly. May you accept this tobacco from me and may I not meet with troubles. 
 
Great Black Hawk, you also blessed my grandfather. I am about to offer you tobacco. Whatever food you blessed him with that I ask you directly. May I not meet with troubles…You [night spirits] on the other side, who live in the east, who walk in darkness, I am about to offer you tobacco to smoke. Whatever you blessed my ancestor with, I ask of you. If you smoke this tobacco I will never be a weakling.Disease-giver, you who live in the south; you who look like a man; who art invulnerable; who on one side of your body present death and on the other life, you blessed my ancestor in the daytime, in broad daylight. You blessed him with food and told him that he would never fail in anything. You promised to avoid his home. You placed animals before him that he might easily obtain food. I offer you tobacco that you may smoke it, and that I may not be troubled by anything. To you, Sun, Light-wanderer… To you, Grandmother Moon… Hearken, all ye spirits to whom my ancestor prayed; to all of you I offer tobacco. My ancestor gave a feast to all those who had blessed him. Bestow upon us once again all the blessings you gave our ancestor, that we may not become weaklings. I greet you all.
    Winnebago Invocation at the Sweat Lodge (Native American Religion)
 
Ala, come and drink and eat the kola nut.
Chukwu, come and drink and eat the kola nut.
Ancestors, come and drink and eat the kola nut.
    I was told by a man of Ngbwidi, one named Ehirim, that a man of Agunese had stolen his yams; and so I summoned the priests of Ala and Aro holders and elders in order that we might inquire into the matter. I called them, even as my father, who was priest of Njoku before me, used to do.
    If any of these men, who have come to try the case, deal falsely in the matter, or if the accuser or accused or any person called to give evidence tells falsehood, then do you, Ala, Chukwu, Njoku, Ancestors, and Ofo, deal with that man.
    Igbo Invocation at a Trial (African Traditional Religions)
 
Parvati, on seeing her son Ganesha resuscitated, embraced him joyously and clothed him with new garments and ornaments. After kissing his face, she said, “O Ganesha, you have had great distress since your very birth. You are blessed and contented now. You will receive worship before all the gods…
    “All achievements certainly accrue to him who performs your worship with flowers, sandal paste, scents, auspicious food offerings, waving of lights, betel leaves, charitable gifts, circumambulations, and obeisance. All kinds of obstacles will certainly perish.”
    Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu declared in unison, “O great gods, just as we three are worshipped in all the three worlds, so also Ganesha shall be worshipped by all of you. He is the remover of all obstacles and the bestower of the fruits of all rites.”
    Shiva Purana, Rudrasamhita 18 (Hinduism)