Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: Episode 123
Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: A Selection of True Parents’ Speeches
Book 3: The Mission of Religion in Achieving God’s Ideal
Speech 9: The Fundamental Truth, pg 427-430
A showdown with God to discover fundamental truth
Human beings began from a first cause. What is the first cause? The name of that first cause does not matter. He is the one with the ideal that we human beings yearn for. He is not a being who comes and goes and thinks just any thoughts. Since He is the Absolute Being, the ideal He is thinking of is also absolute.
No religious founder can be above Him. No matter how eminent a religious founder or religious leader, or how great the power of a religious believer to overturn the world, he or she needs to center on God. The person will be in serious trouble if the focus is on the self. This is because human beings are, after all, only resultant beings and not the Causal Being.
How did human beings, who are the second beings, come to be born? For us, the first being is our mother and father. And our mother and father’s first being is our grandfather and grandmother. This is the way it traces back and upward. Ultimately, the grandfather and grandmother’s first being is the first ancestor. And though we human beings may not know it, if there is a God, He would be the one to whom we can trace our first cause all the way back, centering on our first ancestor.
What is the Will of this God? Is it to establish religions and save individuals and families, or is it to save the nation, the world and heaven and earth? At present, there is hell on earth, and Heaven is in great anguish over the state of the cosmos. Thus, the salvation God intends has to mean to do away with the suffering of heaven and hell on earth and to build the kingdom of heaven. A being who intends such salvation is a being of absolute goodness.
I have thought long and hard about such questions. I prayed deeply and confronted the entire spirit world in pursuit of the fundamental truth of the universe. And thus I found God. Then I challenged God in a showdown, saying, “I have discovered You, and I am ready to die in pursuit of the truth. Please teach me the fundamental secrets of the universe.” Going through terrible struggles, I discovered the fundamental truth by asking God, “What kind of being are You?”
Today the question of whether there is a God or not is a global one. From that question arose the materialistic interpretation of history, the idealistic interpretation of history and the theory of duality. The question can be reduced to: Which is dominant, the mind or the body? It has been revealed that neither the mind nor the body is dominant, and that such a dualistic conflict exists because the body and the mind are not united. The democratic world is in a sense an extension of the mind, while the communist world is in the same way an extension of the body. And they are fighting each other. How can this struggle between the two be stopped? Unity between the democratic world and the communist world begins from the mind and body unity within you.
While pondering such questions, I set as my motto, “Before you desire to have dominion over the universe, you must first have dominion over yourself.” This was my first motto. Consider that even though every person and every religious denomination desires to rule the world and heaven and earth, they are unable to control themselves. Engaged in this struggle, I wandered and searched for ten years. And I shed many tears.
You are taught that the duty of a filial child is to become absolutely one with the parents. You are taught about the way of the patriot centering on the nation. Filial piety connects to patriotism, and if you broaden it, it becomes the way of the saint. Are the religious founders you believe in saints or sages? Jesus, Confucius and Buddha are all saints.
A true disciple is one who can receive love from a religious leader
From among each of the four great religions, which one can set the standard of morality? There cannot be two highest peaks. Though you may climb peaks in all the four different directions, east, west, north and south, there is only one highest peak.
What are the traits of a true believer? There are many Buddhist monks present here, as well as the high priest. How wonderful would it be if the Buddha told you, “Your high priest is number one!” What would Buddha really wish for? When you go to the spirit world, you do not need money. Nor do you need knowledge. I have been there, and that is what I saw. You do not need power. God can create money. He can even make a diamond as big as a star. He is the Absolute Being, and the Great King of knowledge and power. He can transcend the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, and exercise His power freely and eternally. What then would He need?
Buddhist believers are those who have earned the trust of Buddha. Is having his trust the best thing there is? It isn’t. In the end, where you need to go is to the internal relationship from the external relationship. You need to become the person who receives the love of Buddha more than anyone else. After all, would you rather be a person who is trusted or a person who is loved? A mother absolutely trusts her child. However, it will not do if she only trusts in her son and does nothing else. She will be happy only if she holds him in her embrace and breastfeeds him and loves him. It is her original nature to do so.
That is why, as I have said before, there is a relationship between the moral leader and the believer. It is a relationship based on the saying, “When one’s home is harmonious, all goes well.” What is this relationship like? A relationship centered on a doctrine is excellent. Yet the doctrine only teaches you the path to follow. It teaches you what is morally right and wrong. The Chinese character for morality do (道) signifies the path you walk. It teaches you what direction to follow. What will you do once you have arrived? What will you do when you meet Buddha and Jesus? Everyone wishes to meet all the religious leaders. What will you do when you meet them? Would it be nice if what belongs to Jesus also became yours, and what belongs to you also became his? When all is said and done, it is about embracing the faith. In other words, it is the wish of believers to be on an equal footing with their leaders.
What will you need to do to be on an equal footing with them? Centering on Buddha, would it be nice to have a relationship of niece or nephew with him as your uncle, either on your father’s side or on your mother’s side? Or would it be nicer to be in a master-servant relationship with him? If you were to ask believers, “What kind of a relationship would you like to have with him?” they will answer, “We wish to be Buddha’s sons and daughters.” That is the ultimate conclusion.
The sons and daughters are the heirs. And they can live together with him and go with him wherever he goes.They can participate in whatever he does. In the parent-child relationship, when you are centered on love you are entitled to the inheritance. One of the attributes of love is the right of inheritance.
When a man and a woman are in love with each other, to whom will the husband’s possessions belong? They will belong to the wife. Similarly, the wife’s possessions will belong to the husband. For that reason, a married couple with separate bank accounts can be said to be false. It is as if they are prepared to pack up and leave at any time. Such behavior needs to be set right, and set right at the root.
With respect to the relationship between Buddha and his disciples, or if you were to ask Jesus, “What do you desire of believers?” they wouldn’t say, “I wish them to work as my servants for generations to come,” would they? Christian ministers in prayer say that they are servants of God. Why do they offer such prayers? Are they satisfied only to be servants of God? Above the servant are the adopted son, the stepson and the son of direct lineage. Since you recognize three stages through which to climb from being a servant to being His son or daughter, all other things being equal, wouldn’t you just want to establish yourself as His son or daughter? Why would you opt for being His servant?
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