Cham Bumo Gyeong: Episode 104

Cham Bumo Gyeong
Book 5: Expansion of the Providential Foundation and the Annual Mottoes
Chapter 1: Registration of the Holy Spirit Association and Expansion of the Internal Foundation
Section 6: The Cheongpyeong Holy Ground, Site selection
Section 6: The Cheongpyeong Holy Ground, Paragraph 10

Section 6. The Cheongpyeong Holy Ground

Site selection

Beginning in the 1960s, True Parents offered countless conditions focusing on the whole region of Cheongpyeong Lake in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province. They did so in order to establish a model Cheon Il Guk community in which people from all over the world can live together, transcending barriers of race, culture, religion and nationality. They offered conditions particularly through fishing and camping, and finally they were able to purchase land in the Cheongpyeong area that could be used as the providence progressed.

Later, on July 10, 1972, True Parents stood on the summit of Mt. Wooleop in front of the Cheongpyeong training center and renamed 21 sites in the area. The guardian hill, originally called Mt. Jangnak and named Mt. Cheonseong by True Father, is in the shape of a folding screen. The flatland just under the summit was chosen as the holy ground for the main temple. This is the very site where the present Cheon Jeong Gung Palace stands. The neighboring hills and fields surrounding the training center are shaped like a peony flower and symbolize the restored Garden of Eden.

1  I have traveled all over Korea. In the 1960s I sent you out to places throughout the country and I explored the noteworthy mountains of the whole nation. As I explored, I asked myself, “Where should I place the anchor of the Unification Church? Where should I lay this foundation?” A good place certainly must run along a lake. The shores of the Eastern Sea are too far from Seoul. The western seashore is also not good, because several cities are concentrated along it. Also, because the tidal variation is extreme, mudflats appear at ebb tide, and at high tide everything is covered with muddy water. Since I was looking to choose a place that was more than 30 minutes away from Seoul, I came to choose Songsan in the village of Seorak. That region is wonderful. I chose a spot in the very best area of the Cheongpyeong region.

2  When I came here to Cheongpyeong, I saw that it was a good location. Accordingly, I sat down right here and offered prayers. I thus began my lifelong habit of praying here as a way to offer devotion. No matter who the people are, what makes one group superior to others is their foundation of conditions and spiritual devotion. For that reason, I climbed to the peak of Mt. Wooleop to pray alone. It seems like only yesterday. I am a person who may have nothing but the palms of my hands, but I always accomplish what I determine to do. Once I say that I will accomplish something, I will accomplish it without fail.

3  Money must be used for the sake of national purposes, global purposes and heavenly purposes. I purchased land in Cheongpyeong from this point of view. I bought this property for the sake of the world. I acquired the Cheongpyeong land to be a foundation of my work for the sake of the world. Because we are passing the age of the tribe to stand at the start of the world age, I have to create an international educational institute. Because of this, I can stand tall and proud. I am spending money, yes, but since it is to make this come to pass, my conscience does not scold me.

4  Our land in Cheongpyeong must become the worldwide fatherland, the hometown of heart for all people. I prayed that it would become a land that could connect heaven and earth, completing the victorious ideal of creation, and be revered by the cosmos, liberating the heart of God. I prayed also that it would become the sacred ground that would be the homeland of the world.

We now have reached a point in time when the work to bring this about can begin in earnest. This is why I bought over 6,500 acres in this area. The mountain and the land around it form the grounds for our future hometown. It will become the hometown of all people of faith. We already exist in 185 countries worldwide. It is my hope that Cheongpyeong will become the place where all the historical traditions of each of these countries can be displayed.

Moreover, on this foundation we will build a training center and educational institution that will teach people how to renew the traditions of various national cultures, and show how to connect them with heaven. I prayed for this land, and my prayer actually came true; this is historical fact. The fact that the Unification Church has this global territory is an amazing and victorious achievement.

5  I often go to Cheongpyeong. I do not go there because people are there waiting for me. Nobody is there. I go because I miss the place where I suffered in the past while preparing for my course. I miss the fields and mountains. And I miss the sound of the wind, and the songs of birds that drifted toward me. I go there because I miss that feeling of coming into contact with the inspiring world of heaven through the flowing providence of nature. Until I die, nobody can remove that yearning from me. I miss the time when I made that connection to heaven while enduring and meditating from a position of hardship and hunger. When I feel the wind caressing me, it causes the feelings I had in the past to intrude into my current reality. When these feelings from the past stimulate me in this way, I am moved to live well in my present daily life, so I like it.

6  Knowing that the arrangement of the natural features at Cheongpyeong was good, I began buying land there. Centering on Cheongpyeong Lake, I prepared a place where we could build our training center. Originally there was not even one plot of land where we could build a house. There was only a grave and a dozen or so mulberry trees. As I crossed the fields and mountains of Cheongpyeong and studied them, I realized that this very place was crucial. Accordingly, I had no choice but to pitch my tent, acquire the land and build a training center. The reason we bought such a large piece of land is so that in the future, we can turn this place into an international training center, a headquarters where young people of the world can come and attend workshops. I am thinking that one valley can serve as an American village, one as an English village, one as a German village, and so forth. Once we have done that, I believe it can become a tourist attraction that people of the world will cherish and revere.

7  Cheongpyeong is the place where everything can reach a resolution and we can make a completely new beginning. The name itself symbolizes that. In Cheongpyeong, Cheong (清) means “clear” and Pyeong (平) means “level.” In other words, Cheongpyeong means “that which is clear and level.” Since the ground already has been completely leveled, all we need to do is create a design and raise the pillars. We are ready to begin at any time.

8  If you cross to the right side in front of the Cheongpyeong training center, you will see our country cottage built on a gently curved plot of land. That country cottage is named Cheon Yu Jang, and if you go behind it and look around, you will see that it is a truly curious place. This whole region looks like a peony blossom. There is even a Peony Hill in Pyongyang, isn’t there? Why is that Peony Hill famous? If you look at a peony blossom, the petals grow in a circle, and in the middle there is a yellow stamen that harmonizes with the petals. That is where seeds are made. Peony Hill in Pyongyang is famous because it has that kind of topography.

This region looks the same, with Mt. Cheonseong at the center. The places beyond this mountain are not at all beautiful; if you climb to the top and look in that direction, the topography seems haphazard. On the other hand, the fields and mountains in our direction, with Mt. Cheonseong at the back, create the pattern of a folding screen and appear as the petals of a peony blossom.

9  If you look out over the front garden of the Cheongpyeong training center, you feel as if the river water is not flowing. You cannot tell where it flows from or where it flows to. You cannot even tell the path by which the river water flows in and out. You almost feel as if you are looking at a lake. And when you look down from the training center, the scenery is truly a masterpiece. It is a beautiful place where the lakefront, mountains and fields are harmonized, and we have every right to boast of it to the rest of the world.

Therefore, when workshop participants are brought to such a scenic spot, they can be stimulated to have noble thoughts, whether they look at the mountain or the garden. When all these natural elements come together in harmony—the mountaintop at sunset, the sun surmounting the highest peak or rising over the mountain in the morning, the birds flying in the midst of all that, or the scenes of people working in the heat of it all—one grows distracted without realizing it and enters into the realm of daydreams and imagination. In this way, the spirit of young people will rise. All these are raw materials that bring associations to mind, and they take you from riding on this water now to crossing the Atlantic Ocean in the future, or climbing over that mountain now to crossing the Himalayas and going on to India in the future.

People like scenic places because they can think new thoughts and dream new dreams. When people see a flying crane that fits into the landscape like a part of a painting, or a small boat floating on the blue lake, they become sentimental and recite poetry. They become so happy that they cannot help but stand up and dance in rhythm with it. The Cheongpyeong training center has an environment like that.

10  When you look at the entire region surrounding the Cheongpyeong training center, you see that it is really beautiful. I named the group of mountains behind the center, Cheonseung Dae (天勝臺, Tower of Heaven’s Victory). The mountain directly behind it was originally called Mt. Jangnak, but I renamed it Mt. Cheonseong. It presents three peaks whose names sound the same. I named the middle peak Mt. Cheonseong (天聖山), with the character Seong (聖) meaning “to be holy.” I called the peak on the right Mt. Cheonseong (天成山), but with the character Seong (成) meaning “to accomplish,” and I called the peak on the left Mt. Cheonseong (天城山), with the character Seong (城) meaning “a castle.”

The three Seong mountains symbolize holiness, completion and protection. When deciding the names of these three Seong mountains, I thought that there should not be any higher mountains within three miles. In other words, there should be no mountain range within three miles connected to Mt. Jangnak that has a higher peak. Therefore, I went up and observed that Mt. Jangnak rose high in a straight line.

It was truly beautiful and it looked like a folding screen. The water of this place changes its appearance hundreds of times a day. This means harmony. Harmony means hope and boundlessness, and the prosperity of all. From that viewpoint, the site of the Cheongpyeong training center can be said to be the very best of places.