Sangjenim: the Sovereign of the Universe

the following is an excerpt of Taesang Jongdosanim’s lecture at Jeung San Do’s dojang(“dao center”) in Whitestone, New York on February 28,2003. 

 

Heaven and Earth’s Dynamic of Change

All existence in the universe arises and expires in accordance with the laws of nature. Allow me to explain these principles in the simplest of terms with reference to the earth year—the period during which the earth circles the sun, begetting spring, summer, autumn, and winter—and with reference to the cycle of change known as ‘birth, growth, harvest, and rest.’

Earth, upon which we live, orbits the sun in an elliptical path resembling the shape of an egg, if you will. As the earth, tilted on its axis, wobbles around the sun, the four seasons are created. When there is an abundance of sunlight, the climate warms, spring and summer prevail, and life flourishes across the lands. However, when less sunlight is received, the temperature drops, and autumn and winter ensue.

Fundamentally, spring begets life; summer raises this life; autumn gathers in the essence of all life begotten and nurtured in spring and summer and brings it to fruition; and winter brings all life to rest. Such is the cycle of change known as ‘birth, growth, harvest, and rest.’

All life arises and expires within this, heaven and earth’s cycle of change. During this time, flora bears seeds—in other words, flora bears fruit in autumn to perpetuate its existence into the coming year. Quite simply, the earth year is a time of nurturing and harvesting plant life.

The same cycle of change visible in the earth year also exists within the cosmic year. This cosmic year is, in short, a time of cultivating and harvesting human beings. And so, just as there is a ‘gaebyeok of plants’ during the transition from summer to autumn within a yearly cycle of nurturing and harvesting plants, there also exists a ‘gaebyeok of human beings’ during the transition from the cosmic summer to the cosmic autumn within a cosmic year’s nurturing and harvesting of human beings. Such are heaven and earth’s principles.

Now consider this. The life and death of plants during the earth year depends in no way upon their will, for it is merely nature’s principle that plants sprout in spring, flourish in summer, and gather the life essence that drove their sprouting in spring and flourishing in summer and concentrate this essence to bring maturation and fruition in autumn. Then comes rest in winter.

This same principle underlies the universe’s cultivation of humanity.

 

Ours Is the Era of Summer-Autumn Transition

In what era do we now live?

We are now living at the time of a great divide—the transition from the cosmic summer to the cosmic autumn—in which the gaebyeok of humanity will soon befall the world. The purpose of begetting life in spring and nurturing life in summer lies solely in the bearing of fruit in autumn. And so, if nothing bears fruit in autumn, the great journey of spring and summer serves absolutely no purpose.

So let us now ask: how fruitful has been history’s cultivation of humanity?

Since the beginning of time, heaven and earth have sown the seeds of myriads of lineages throughout the long march of history; now, at the end of the cosmic summer, countless people crowd the face of earth. Just as plants may fill a vast field in June or July so fully that it is impossible to walk the field without stepping on plants, so too do the lands throughout the world now brim with people. Such is the extent of heaven and earth’s bountiful crop of human beings.

In terms of cosmic principles, the present era of the cosmic year is the time when the cosmic summer is giving way to the cosmic autumn—the time of summer-autumn transition.  The ramifications of these natural principles cannot be avoided simply because someone decides to deny them. The natural principles are the way they are, and they can only be the way they are. Under the dominion of these natural principles, the cycles of an earth year and a cosmic year march ever onward. Within this dominion, plants come and go, and people come and go.

We, humanity, now face the age of cosmic gaebyeok. The era of cosmic gaebyeok, in essence, is the era of the gaebyeok of humanity. And yet, the people of the world know nothing of this.

 

Heaven and Earth’s Purpose

The history of the Early Heaven’s cosmic spring and summer has been the history of competition over lands—the history of war in the conquest of lands. The lands of others were invaded and the belongings of others were plundered to amass the wealth of a given country, to broaden its territory, and to subjugate multitudes. This experience runs throughout humanity’s history in both the East and the West, and in all times and all lands.

Just as nature’s principles usher in maturation through the course of spring, summer, autumn, and winter under the cycle of birth, growth, harvest, and rest, humanity’s cultures and history undergo maturation as well.

Consider an earth year: plants are begotten, and are they not brought to fruition in autumn? In this same manner, cosmic principles serve to beget human beings, cultivate humanity, and impel the maturation of human history and civilization, culminating, in short, in a civilization of mansaji (“omniscience”) and oneness—a united civilization.

Moreover, throughout humanity’s history, religions have emerged to serve humanity’s needs. Let us consider the present-day major religions such as Confucianism, Christianity, and Islam. The world in which we live is the not the world of two or three thousand years ago, when these religions first emerged. Since then, the times have evolved and progress has occurred, and hence the religions of two, three thousand years past are no longer as suitable for us—we who live in modern times. Religion, in truth, must be essential to our way of life; religions must be pertinent to our needs. If religious faith and practice are not meaningful to our lives, they are simply burdens that will not be tolerated by the multitudes. 

Modern civilization, from the perspective of the yearly cycle of nurture and harvest, is undergoing the phase of blossoming—and with this flowering burgeons a humble blossom of fledgling seeds. This symbolizes that the sages who have walked this world have presented immature truths, and hence the present-day religions are all parochial and skewed.

 

Heraldings of Sangjenim’s Incarnation

Since the dawn of history, founders of civilizations have emerged from time to time. Even in the present cosmic year in which we now exist, many founders of cultures have risen and fallen.

Shakyamuni Buddha came to this world three thousand years ago, and he declared that Maitreya Buddha would advent three thousand years hence. Shakyamuni foretold the coming of the one who would guide human civilization to its culmination and bring forth a new core culture, a united culture for all humanity.

Also, Jesus two thousand years ago proclaimed, ‘God the Father, He who sent me into the world, shall Himself come to the world.’ This did not mean that Jesus himself would return to this world. What Jesus meant was: God the Father, the Absolute, would advent into this world two thousand years in the future to bring humanity’s civilization and history to a culmination, and that He would bring forth a new essence truth and hence bring to pass a new civilization of fruition, a new united civilization. Apostle John also foretold, ‘God on a great white throne will arrive in the world.’ In the East, Confucianism and Daoism worshipped the Jade Emperor of Heaven (Okhwang-Sangje).

In sum, these tidings heralded that the True God who resides in heaven and earth would incarnate into this world. In other words, the age that Buddhism foretold three thousand years ago and the age that the Dao of the West foretold two thousand years ago is the very era in which we now live.

And so, God—the Sovereign of the Universe, God the Ruler, God the Absolute—chose this era to unite all cultures to bring forth a new essence culture, a consummate culture, a culture of oneness.

 

The Coming Civilization of Fruition

The world of the past has been the world of the cosmic spring and summer under the reign of sanggeuk. Under this reign, heaven and earth and all of existence have been engaged in creative competition. This creative competition has impelled material civilization to great heights—but this civilization stands on only one leg.

At this time when the cosmic summer is giving way to the cosmic autumn, when all existence is to attain fruition, there will come to pass a world in which both material and non-material (spiritual) cultures are unified within a civilization of oneness, a consummate civilization, a civilization of oneness between spirits and humans.

To usher in this civilization of oneness between spirits and humans, the True God incarnated into this world to transform the order of sanggeuk into a culture of sangsaeng. The True God is the one who completely expunges the reign of the Early Heaven’s sanggeuk.

 

Sangjenim, the Sovereign of the Universe

Above all, we must understand that there exists Okhwang-Sangjenim (Jade Emperor of Heaven), who rules the universe—He who is the Absolute, the True God. To understand the cosmic principles—to understand the marrow of humanity’s culture—is to understand Okhwang-Sangjenim, God the Ruler, who rules the universe. If you cannot attain this understanding, all your innumerable days of study will be for naught.

The dominion of nature’s principles drives heaven and earth to evolve the way they do. Within the heart of heaven and earth presides Okhwang-Sangjenim, God the Ruler, who rules over all existence. This truth is absolute: unchangeable even were heaven to change; an absolute principle unshakeable even were heaven itself shaken.

Within the cosmic year presides the True and Absolute God—God the Ruler—who nurtures and enables humanity’s culmination. He is Gang Jeung-san Sangjenim, who incarnated 139 years ago in the Eastern land of Joseon. He is Okhwang-Sangje, who is worshiped by Jeung San Do and who is the fountainhead of Jeung San Do. The True God is Jeung-san Sangjenim. Since His dao name is Jeung-san, His supreme dao is known as Jeung San Do.

The land of Jeung-san Sangjenim’s incarnation is Korea, but He is the God of all of humanity. He is Okhwang-Sangjenim for all of humanity. He is God, who will harvest the seeds of humanity in the coming times. He is God the Absolute, who reigns over all the principles of heaven, earth, and humanity.