The Transition from Cosmic Summer to Cosmic Autumn Has Now Arrived

Nature’s Principle of Birth, Growth, Harvest, and Rest

I have proclaimed it over and over again: ‘All life on earth is born and dies based upon nature’s principle.’ Our practitioners in every region also convey this statement to society. The framework, or fundamental basis, of nature’s principle is unchangeable, for the principle of cosmic change unfolds based upon the cycle of birth, growth, harvest, and rest.

For example, as the earth undergoes a revolution around the sun, there arises the seasonal changes of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and the cycle of birth, growth, harvest, and rest. Specifically, yearly changes occur. In spring, heaven and earth give birth to life (birth); these lives are nurtured in summer (growth); in autumn, the essence of this life is extracted and gathered, producing fruit (harvest); in winter, the process ceases in preparation for the following year’s new cycle (rest).

Within an earth year, plants are cultivated through the cycle of birth, growth, harvest, and rest, while over the course of a cosmic year, humanity is cultivated in accordance with the same cycle. An earth year comprises 129,600 degrees, and a cosmic year consists of 129,600 earth years. Once you understand the principle governing the cyclical procession of an earth year, you can comprehend the unfolding of a cosmic year, the time when the universe undergoes a full cycle of its own, because the universe also follows the same principle.

After spring’s birth and summer’s nurturing comes autumn, in which all living things extract and gather the energy and essence of their roots, branches, knots, and leaves, thus reassuming their original appearances. This is the way of all life. This is the destined nature of the cosmic spirit—of heaven and earth’s spirit.

History Has Been a Process of Development Through Division

Recently, I characterized nature’s principle using the phrase, “giving birth in the spring, and bringing death in the autumn.” Heaven and earth simply give birth to life in spring and kill life in autumn. Since the time of the universe’s formation, nature’s principle has been fixed thus.

Humanity has lived to this juncture in the era of cosmic spring and summer. This has been a time of development through division, when all life has been born and raised. Just as plants of all sorts are born in spring and subsequently grow, various religions have been founded and have yielded diverse cultures. In each such religion, sages who were products of their times emerged and engaged in relentless efforts to spread their ideas and thoughts throughout all lands for the purpose of creating a world where their ideas and thoughts dominated. Their followers did not hesitate to wage wars against people who possessed differing ideas and thus expand[ed] the scope of their beliefs’ influence. Such has been humanity’s existence, and history has progressed in this manner.

The One Who Advents with the Culture of Fruition

The transition period from cosmic summer to autumn has now arrived, and in accordance with the principle of seeking out and returning to the origin, a unified culture is about to emerge—a culture within which heaven and earth shall attain their purpose.

This autumn culture shall be a unified culture. In the days to come, the order of heaven and earth will be altered. In other words, instead of the culture of sanggeuk and its process of division that has been dominant, there shall appear the culture of sangsaeng, i.e., a unified culture of convergence. I speak often of this, the emergence of the culture of fruition. It is an inevitable consequence of nature, an unmistakable and absolute principle.

In the coming times, humanity’s cultures will be united into one by combining the tangible and intangible aspects of all cultures, as well as all cultures’ material and spiritual aspects. Who, then, is the absolute being who shall bring to pass the unified culture of fruition?

Sages of the past declared that Maitreya Buddha—God the Father, Okhwang-Sangje—
would advent on earth, bringing with Him the cosmic autumn’s unified culture of fruition. When Shakyamuni attained enlightenment some three thousand years ago, he proclaimed that in the transition period between cosmic summer and autumn, the One would come to harvest humanity and that He would be Maitreya Buddha. The term “Buddha” corresponds to “God” in Christianity. Therefore, what he meant is that God is coming to bring culture to completion.

Jesus proclaimed that he was sent by the True God, and that God the Father would advent on earth in the future. It is not Jesus himself but God the Father who is to advent.

Confucianism and Daoism speak[spoke] of Sangje or Okhwang-Sangje. When they pray[ed] to heaven, they call[ed] out to Okhwang-Sangje.

Although sages of different religions have cited different titles such as Maitreya Buddha, God the Father, and Okhwang-Sangje, they have all been speaking of the same One, our Sangjenim. Of all the different titles that have been used, the correct title is Okhwang-Sangje. He is the True God: Okhwang-Sangjenim, who sent to earth sages like Confucius, Shakyamuni, Jesus, and other historic figures. Since He incarnated into the Gang family in Korea and adopted the honorific name Jeung-san, we call Him Jeung-san Sangjenim. After He sent the sages of the Early Heaven to earth and exercised control over them, the Sovereign of the Universe—God the Ruler, the True God whom no one can disobey—came to this world in person.

The Culture of Fruition That Extracts and Gathers the Essence of the Early Heaven’s Cultures

The existing cultures of the Early Heaven are imperfect and biased. Such being the case, only their positive characteristics, throughout history, will be selected and united into one, hence producing Sangjenim’s unified culture of fruition.

This precept of the culture of fruition may sound similar to Confucianism, but it is not Confucianism; it is similar to Buddhism, but is not Buddhism; it is similar to Immortalism, but is not Immortalism. Sangjenim’s culture shall be created by extracting and gathering all the essences of the Early Heaven’s cultures throughout history and unifying them.

The cultures presently dominant will not be able to maintain their current status in the future because nature’s principle dictates otherwise. The same principle is present in the growth process of plants: plants sprout and grow throughout spring and summer and, receiving the qi [qi] of the element metal, bear fruit in autumn. Just as plants extract and gather the essence of their roots, stalks, knots, and leaves to produce fruit—which is their original form—so too will heaven and earth cultivate humanity, extract and gather its essence, and create a unified culture. In doing so in accordance with nature’s principle, heaven and earth will bring forth seeds inferior to none. To fulfill heaven and earth’s final and proper purpose, Sangjenim shall create the unified culture of fruition. And we practitioners, as Sangjenim’s soul and limbs, are the very workers of heaven and earth who shall actualize His work.

One Should Practice Faith Sincerely

The coming days will be the era of the union of humans and spirits, and spirits are wielding inking strings to measure the minds of all ilkkun. Therefore, to practice Sangjenim’s teachings in the proper manner, we must not forget even for a moment that we must practice our faith sincerely. Each and every practitioner should dedicate themselves to their faith as the soul of Sangjenim—the Ruling God of the Universe—or as the true sons and daughters of Sangjenim. Of course, each and every person has their biological parents, and their parents and ancestors are their first God; yet people must, first of all, become the soul of the Ruling God, who wields the sublime authority of heaven and earth, in order for their ancestors to exist. As the leader of Jeung San Do, I warn our practitioners that without first becoming the Ruling God’s soul, people cannot receive aid from the spirits. Our work can only be accomplished by receiving the spirits’ help by all possible means.

Sangjenim’s Truth Is Nature’s Principle

Jeung-san Sangjenim’s truth is nature’s principle. His truth does not exist separate from nature. Nature’s principle is what should be so and not otherwise. Does water poured upon the ground not flow downward? Fire flares upward, and water flows downward—this is the truth and nature’s principle.

Similarly, the principle of nature is Sangjenim’s truth. Humanity cannot exist if it contravenes nature’s principle. There are almost seven billion people living on earth, and nature’s principle does not exist solely for any certain individual. Therefore, regardless of the number of people there are, they must all share the truth and be embraced by it in order to survive. They ought to live in accordance with the truth throughout the fifty thousand years of the Later Heaven.

What I am saying is not a statement arranged to conform to a certain conclusion. As the Sovereign of the Universe—God the Ruler, who rules nature’s principle—Sangjenim proclaimed, “Through Me, all shall begin anew” (Dojeon 2:11:9). Sangjenim has combined all existing cultures and used the elements that best fit the heavenly principle, the earthly principle, and human affairs to create the autumn culture.

The Historical Principle of the Early Heaven

Nature’s principle dictates that in the Early Heaven’s world of cosmic spring and summer, all existence must surpass its competitors to survive, as part of the developmental process of division. Trees vie to grow faster than other trees in order to survive, and to do so they spread their branches to receive sunshine. In places where trees are planted too thickly for their branches to expand horizontally, they instead expand vertically. Those which remain behind cannot receive sunshine, and they wither and finally perish. This is the struggle for existence.

Humanity’s history is no different. In the world of the Early Heaven, people had to harm others because one could become successful only by defeating others. In such a world dominated by the principle of sanggeuk, people who killed others and seized others’ property led wealthy and prosperous lives, but those who were killed became spirits filled with unresolved bitterness or became the spirits of failed revolutionaries. This is the way of world history, due to the dominant principle of the Early Heaven.

Sangjenim Resolves the Bitterness and Grief of Spirits

Currently, the earth is crowded with spirits filled with unresolved bitterness and the spirits of failed revolutionaries. If their bitterness and grief is not resolved, the world can never be transformed into a good place in which to live, not by any means. It is for this reason that the Sovereign of the Universe—God the Ruler—had to incarnate into this world.

Sangjenim set free all the spirits of those who were killed without achieving their goals and who therefore bore deep-rooted bitterness and grief, and He endowed them with equal opportunities. He conducted Cheonjigongsa to resolve the spirits’ bitterness and grief many-fold.

Concerning Cheonjigongsa, Sangjenim declared, “Cheonjigongsa is not Cheonjigongsa if even the spirit of a dead fly is left holding a grudge” (Dojeon 4:35:3), meaning that Cheonjigongsa must not fail to resolve the bitterness of even a small and trivial spirit like that of a dead fly. For the spirits of those killed by others before they could lead the life they desired, Sangjenim organized a framework that would resolve their bitterness and grief without exception. As a result, these spirits’ deep-rooted bitterness will be completely relieved. This is the significance of Sangjenim’s Cheonjigongsa. Sangjenim attached the dosu of the ssireum tournament to the work of renewal concerning world affairs and arranged plans through which the spirits’ inveterate bitterness and grief will be resolved over a period of approximately one hundred years. His work of renewal is aimed at bringing to pass a peaceful paradise free of enmity and curses.

The World Evolves Within the Framework of Cheonjigongsa

To present an example of Sangjenim’s Cheonjigongsa, the six party talks involving the two Koreas, the US, China, Russia, and Japan have also been planned in Sangjenim’s work of renewal. What I mean is that Sangjenim predestined through His work of ssireum that world affairs would unfold with the children’s match, the youths’ match, and the sangssireum. Consequently, after the children’s match, or World War I, the League of Nations was formed; after the youths’ match, or World War II, the United Nations was established. And lastly, the sangssireum is the Korean War between the two Koreas, the hosts of the baduk board. When the sangssireum concludes, the world will be brought together as one family under a united rule. This will be, as Sangjenim described, the fulfillment of dao through three stages.

In addition, Sangjenim linked the work of Five Immortals Playing Baduk to the ssireum ring, so that world affairs would proceed in the manner of the five immortals’ baduk match. He declared:

… two immortals contest a match, two offer advice, and one serves as host. This host, unable to take sides, simply observes the match and entertains the guest, and he fulfills his duties as long as he does not lack hospitality. When the match reaches its conclusion and everyone else departs, the game board and baduk stones return to the host. (Dojeon 5:6:3-6)

This work of Five Immortals Playing Baduk has been implemented as the six party talks. Why is it the ‘six’ party talks instead of ‘five’? When Sangjenim conducted His Cheonjigongsa, Korea was only one country. Sangjenim, through His Cheonjigongsa, drew the three-eight line and there located the sangssireum ring. Korea was subsequently divided into South and North Korea, turning the singular host into two. Adding China, Russia, the US, and Japan to the two hosts made six parties. Although the number of participants has become six, the basis of the talks is still the Five Immortals Playing Baduk, and world affairs still evolve within that framework.

Both the children’s match and the youths’ match have come to an end, and now the sangssireum between the two Koreas is underway. Both South and North Korea are standing face to face. Even now, two immortals are contesting a match, two immortals are giving advice, and one is the host.

Just as nature’s principle is implemented by giving birth in the spring and bringing death in the autumn without fail, world affairs proceed in exactly the manner that Sangjenim planned. Since the Sovereign of the Universe—God the Ruler—devised this arrangement, does the world have any choice but to follow His framework? People can understand the framework of world affairs by simply observing the way that the six party talks progress.

A hundred years ago, Sangjenim designed the framework of all world affairs, great and small, so that history would proceed a certain way, and His design has been put into practice with unerring accuracy.

A Culture of Sangsaeng Will Blossom

Since Sangjenim has resolved the inveterate bitterness and grief of the spirits, the world will transform into a paradise on earth—the Paradise of Creative Change. A Paradise of Creative Change will unfold and last fifty thousand years, and people will enjoy indescribable joy, untold prosperity, and renown. In this world, people will live in peace and harmony, immersed in perfect happiness. People will also be bonded with one another in righteousness and will be unable [to] commit any wrongdoings and shall have no reason to do so.

In Sangjenim’s truth, only the culture of sangsaeng is possible. History has seen the creation of many political systems, including democracy; democracy, however, is not perfect at all. It may have advantages over communism, but people’s wealth becomes polarized in a democracy, with the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer. The rich drown in excessive wealth, while the poor starve to death.

Only if others live well can one also thrive; people can live well only if all do so together. If a single person lives well, will others allow this situation to continue? They will go so far as to even steal that person’s belongings. For this reason, the culture of the past was a culture in which one lived life by trampling others. This is why a culture of sangsaeng shall emerge.

Sangjenim proclaimed, “Through Me, all shall begin anew” (Dojeon 2:11:9). Although the world of the past was dominated by the principle of sanggeuk, thievery and destruction will spontaneously disappear in the coming world, in accordance with Sangjenim’s proclamation. Those two acts will naturally disappear, and a new culture of sangsaeng will be established instead. We are all Sangjenim’s soul and are to serve heaven and earth in initiating a culture of sangsaeng. We are to implement the principle of heaven, strictly and impartially obeying nature’s principle.

The World Craves Truth

There is a saying, “With enough people, even heaven itself can be defeated.” Therefore, we must, above all, spread the truth. However profound a truth is, it cannot exist in solitude. According to the Dojeon, Sangjenim commanded the disciples, “… each of you must covey the teachings to one thousand people” (Dojeon 7:57:8). Those of strong faith answered, “We shall do so,” while disciples with weak faith did not answer, meaning they could not possibly do so.

You can do so if you strive. Our work can be accomplished if we put forth a sufficient effort. The world is seeking out truth. People’s living environments demand they seek truth, even if they do not acknowledge this to themselves. If someone informs them of the truth, they will become a follower of Sangjenim’s truth, declaring, “Aha, this is exactly what I have been seeking.”

Sangjenim declared, “…time will reveal all to you” (Dojeon 7:1:6).[16] In accordance with His words, the environment of the current age has created a natural yearning for truth.

The World Evolves In Accordance with the Framework of Cheonjigongsa

We exist in heaven and earth. Since the order or framework of heaven and earth is to change, we can survive only if we adapt ourselves to the change. Otherwise, nothing shall be of any avail.

I am certain that you are all well aware of how things are presently proceeding in the world. Look at how world affairs are unfolding: they are proceeding exactly as Sangjenim planned in His Cheonjigongsa. Nothing can escape the framework of Cheonjigongsa. For this reason, I always say that the earth is the live stage upon which Sangjenim plays out His Cheonjigongsa, and that the world population of almost seven billion are all stage actors and actresses performing His Cheonjigongsa. All the laughter and frowns, all the full stomachs and hunger, occur within the bounds of Sangjenim’s Cheonjigongsa.

The six party talks are meetings by the representatives of six participating nations that occur in accordance with the framework of Sangjenim’s Cheonjigongsa. To resolve the issue of the Koreas, the countries of China, Russia, Japan, and the US are acting—whether they like it or not—exactly as Sangjenim formulated.

This world is Sangjenim’s. Heaven is Sangjenim’s, as is the earth. The entire population of the world residing under heaven are Sangjenim’s people. No one lives their life free of Sangjenim’s Cheonjigongsa. Whether they recognize or not, all people lead their life within the framework of Sangjenim’s Cheonjigongsa. If a person sincerely practices faith in Sangjenim’s teachings, that person will survive and be blessed; conversely, if a person leads a life unaware of Sangjenim’s truth, that person shall surely perish in accordance with the order of nature.

We have all encountered the True God’s truth, which visits the earth only once every 129,600 years. A person can encounter Sangjenim’s truth only through the bond of three lives. We have encountered such a sublime truth, the truth of sangsaeng. Has there ever been any truth other than that of sangsaeng?

The world to come shall be Sangjenim’s world of sangsaeng. I ask you all to dedicate yourselves to the work of conveying Sangjenim’s truth with sincerity, attentiveness, and faithfulness.