October 11, 1998
Dong-dai-shin-dong
Period of Change and the World after Period of Change
Today I will explain the period of change and the world after the period of change.
The world brings all phenomena into existence through activities of what exists(things) and what exists(natural law). The period of change is one of these phenomena.
The period of change refers to a phenomenon that ends one era and opens a new era. Prophets and religious groups use the term apocalypse instead of the period of change. Due to the period of change, or the end, all civilizations and the results of all phenomena that exist in the present era will be destroyed and disappear.
There is one task that the present humanity must accomplish in preparation for the period of change that will come in the near future. It is about moving living creatures from the current era to a new era. Through humanity’s abilities, efforts, and enlightenment, this task can be accomplished.
The unfortunate thing is that modern humans not only do not know about this but they are not even interested. If people do not know about this and cannot carry out the task properly, the path of humanity may be cut off.
Humanity’s case can be said to be special when it comes to the movement of living creatures to a new era. First of all, a small number of humans will be able to move into a new era while maintaining physical life using highly developed science and technology. Other than the previous case, the way for humans to move on to a new era is to maintain the life of the soul through enlightenment.
I will explain how the movement to a new era can be made through the survival of the soul.
Humans are the ones with consciousness. Through consciousness humans see, hear, or react to things in the world. When humans encounter something new, they accept it into themselves, combine it with what already exists within them, and react in the form of words or actions. In other words, through the activities of consciousness, humans input and store in their souls things that have happened to them, things they have done, or results of their words or behavior. Things once accepted into the soul do not disappear for no reason as long as the soul itself is not destroyed.
When things that have happened to you, your own words or actions, or the results of those words or actions are stored in your soul, they can be good or bad. The thing that is formed by the accumulation of bad things is called ‘karma’.
Because people are ignorant of these things, they do not know how what has happened to them, what they have done, or the results of their words or actions are input to their souls. This phenomenon can be proved through modern science and technology. Or, we can confirm the principle for how this happens through the life activities of living things such as plants.
The way to survive the soul through the period of change is to elevate the soul to the level of eternal life. Once the soul’s level reaches that of eternal life, it is not affected by the fatal energy waves that occur during the period of change.
The way to raise the level of the soul is to remove the karma accumulated within the soul. To do this, humans must first open their eyes to what exists. They need to open their eyes and practice love through what exists. This practice of love can eliminate the karma accumulated within the soul. In other words, the fire of love can burn away the karma.
The fire of love can only be created when love is practiced with a true understanding of what exists. When you practice love through what exists you can stand with dignity and, through collisions with what exists, the fire of love comes to be formed. With this fire, if the karma is burned away, the human soul can reach eternal life.
When the soul reaches eternal life, it can depart from the body at the moment of death and remain outside the physical body for a period of 500 to 1,000 years. For reference, the period during which the Earth remains uninhabitable due to the period of change is approximately 30 years. 100 to 200 years after the period of change occurs, they are reborn into life in a new world. This is the way to move to a new world through the survival of the soul.
The period of change must occur. The period of change signifies that all the old energies die and new energies are born.
When the period of change begins, the world experiences catastrophic events such as tectonic shifts, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions, reminiscent of scenes from movies. The ongoing collision of water and fire that occurs in these situations generates energy waves with devastating destructive power. After everything is destroyed by the energy waves generated, new energy is created and purified. After several decades of purification, these energies eventually become the source of life. In other words, when the purified energies encounter living beings, they are resurrected into new life.
From this phenomenon, we can find the answer to the question of how living beings come into existence. In other words, living beings are created through the activities of nature. The world has brought everything into existence through the activities of what exists, and it will continue to do so in the future.
How can I speak confidently about such matters? Observing what exists allows anyone to see and speak about it.
Among the ruins submerged deep under the sea, there are structures believed to have been built 6,000 to 7,000 years ago. This fact indicates that civilizations existed 7,000 years ago. Furthermore, human civilization also existed 7,000 years before that. Human civilization will continue to exist even after the upcoming period of change because everything repeats itself.
Things can be made anytime and anywhere. Through what exists, anything can be verified. This means that anything can be confirmed through what exists(things) and what exists(natural law). Matters related to eternal life can also be verified using current scientific technology. If there are things that people cannot understand, I have evidence to make them sufficiently comprehensible. In other words, the validity of my explanations about the period of change can be verified through scientific technology. By using any system or theory to work with what exists, new things can be created, and through that, the secrets of the world can be discovered.
In fact, with the current scientific and technological capabilities alone, it is impossible to move humanity to a new era. We need to understand the properties of matter. For example, when making products using iron, the type of iron used will result in products with different properties. In other words, it is almost impossible to achieve desired results without knowing what exists. Furthermore, the difficulty of moving living beings of the present age to a new world goes without saying.
Let me give you an example. There is a technology that involves freezing fish at extremely low temperatures and then placing them in room temperature water to bring them back to life. This technology still has many limitations. If the freezing time is too long, the fish will not come back to life. This is because prolonged freezing causes cellular damage and destruction.
In the case of freezing humans, there is an even more difficult issue beyond cellular damage. Humans are unique in that the soul with consciousness is the essence of life. A body from which the soul has departed cannot be revived. When freezing a human, the soul must also be frozen simultaneously to ensure it does not leave the body. As of now, research on frozen humans has not considered the aspect of the soul at all.
The period of change during which living organisms cannot survive lasts about 30 years. With current scientific and technological capabilities, it is questionable whether we could build a space station or establish a base on the Moon that could support life for 30 years. In this context, the development of technology to freeze a soul so that it does not leave the body is crucial.
People who ascend to a level beyond eternal life and are born into a new era after the period of change possess pure energy. They have exceptional abilities in perception and understanding. If someone is currently working in the field of science, they will be able to discover the scientific facts that existed within themselves even if they are born after the period of change and do not have access to schools or teachers. This is because what they did in their past remains within them, allowing them to discover these facts independently without needing to learn from others.
Most people ask such questions to a fortune-teller possessed by a ghost. While a fortune-teller might be able to steal a glimpse into someone else's mind, they cannot see the truth(Natural law). They have no knowledge of what exists within the truth. How could they know what is within the truth even if they have never learned it? Things of the world occur through phenomena governed by Natural law.
Good things can be made by what exists or so can bad things. Because of this fact, I always say that the causes of all fortunes and misfortunes should be sought within what exists. When undertaking any task, one must examine both what exists(facts) and what is happening(principles), as these are the causes of the phenomena that appear.
As explained earlier, the movement of living beings can be achieved by first awakening to what exists and practicing love through what exists. Such love can burn off the karma one has accumulated. But is practicing love as easy as it sounds? Few people truly understand love in the world. It is often said that helping the poor is an act of love. However, if wealthy individuals or the society they belong to focus solely on helping the poor, that society will ultimately collapse.
Teaching people so they can bless themselves through their own efforts is true love. Money given to the poor will be spent within a few days. If this is the approach, one would have to support them for a lifetime. By enlightening such people and enabling them to engage in meaningful work, they can live with dignity and self-respect. Even the Buddha once said that giving money to the poor is a minor merit, while enlightening people to help them live well is a great merit.
With what and how can we awaken people? It is awakening them about what exists. Many people seek to learn from those possessed by spirits in their quest for enlightenment. Others believe that enlightenment will come if they simply sit still long enough. But how can one learn how to farm, drive a car, or pilot an airplane without studying and actively engaging in the process? Such things will never happen by themselves.
Human life cannot be seen as solely created from the energy derived from the human soul. Life can also be revived when the essence (精) of a physical body combines with the fresh energy present in the surroundings. Those born in this way have nothing stored within their spiritual bodies, so they come to understand through contact with reality. If such people do nothing, their souls will perish.
What we need to do is to learn and enlighten ourselves about what exists and then convey this enlightenment to others. The problem is that this task is not easy. Because each person has their own unique self, even when they hear good things, they often do not fully comprehend them. This is because the good words intended to awaken them do not align with what exists within them. Just as two gears with mismatched teeth cannot function properly, people will reject ideas that do not fit with their own inner reality. In other words, if you know what exists and try to bless others with it, they may reject the blessing because they perceive it as differing from their own thoughts.
To burn away the inside of you, you first need to be aware of what exists within you. When people hear this, if their heart feels a bit warm and they think that the inside of them has already started to burn away. The heat necessary to remove karma can only be generated through continuous clashes with others. It is only through repeatedly clashing with others and bouncing back that true fire is created, enabling you to burn away your karma.
A magician appears on TV, and when he concentrates, a spoon bends. But does this mean that humans can live better lives, find salvation for their souls, or make the world a better place? Absolutely not. It's just the work of a spirit. When asked when he started performing such feats, he replied that it began after a certain light entered him. What was that light? It was a spiritual entity, a spirit. It was the presence of this spiritual entity that enabled him to perform such unusual tricks, or magic. This is an important fact to understand
Organizations that spiritual entities or ghosts teach advertise that one can attain enlightenment just by only sitting. They claim that by sitting there, a spirit will enter and teach you things you don't know. But if these spirits are aware of things of the world, why would they be clinging to living people? They would be undergoing reincarnation themselves. The fact that reincarnation does not occur for these spirits indicates their complete ignorance. Their ignorance and the attachments created by that ignorance lead them to play tricks around people. It is not impressive to know what is happening in a distant place without seeing it firsthand. It is simply the trickery of spirits.
What do monks know? The things they teach are often about beliefs like curing illnesses by boiling and eating salt, or receiving blessings by placing graves in certain locations. Some people claim to have attained enlightenment by reading the Diamond Sutra several times, but no matter how many times you read it, you cannot achieve enlightenment simply through that text.
Merely learning what I say without acknowledging what exists will not be of any help to people. Awakening your consciousness through what exists is the way to save the life of your soul. This is what makes the movement to a new world of life possible.
During my recent trip to the UK, I had the opportunity to meet a world-renowned historian from Oxford University. He was considered the so-called "professor's professor." We were discussing British history, and despite it being a chilly spring day, he was sweating so much that his sweater was soaked through. He was visibly flustered by questions he couldn't answer for the first time in his life. While I was asking questions based on observing events as they exist in history, he struggled because he had only seen these events through books. I framed my questions in the context of practical situations, whereas the books he had read lacked the practical facts. To use an analogy, history books may contain the corpse of a person, but they do not capture the person's soul. One cannot truly understand what a person was like through books alone. The books contain stories about events that occurred in history, but they do not address the fundamental issues that caused those events to happen.
The purpose of your coming here is to know the essence of what exists and to live a life free from inner calamities. Furthermore, it is to attain happiness, peace, and eternal life through enlightenment. There is no other reason for you to be here. I have no talent for telling stories without substance or for lying. Yet, people in this era do not consider this to be important. This is the greatest misfortune.
What is truly important? It is to know the truth of what you are trying to accomplish. By knowing the truth of what exists, our efforts become easier and yield better results.
I do not say that you should learn only here. You must also strive to learn in your everyday reality. Play when you want to, but when you are awake, make an effort to learn from the reality around you. Everything is a lesson. Even though I never graduated from elementary school, my poetry contains this idea.
“Everything in the world is a teacher. Every meeting and parting carries a lesson.”
If you're not careful, you might encounter bad people. Not everyone in the world is good. It is only after encountering and experiencing bad people that you learn that meeting bad individuals can force you to have unfortunate consequences. This is a lesson. Isn’t it a form of teaching to see bad things and learn about what exists within them?
You should strive to learn through the things that exist. If you observe what exists but still do not understand, seek out someone who has attained enlightenment and ask them for guidance.
“That event occurred due to this particular cause, and that is why you witnessed this phenomenon. However, you should not have become entangled with the events within that phenomenon. By turning away from that situation, you lost this and gained that.”
This is how teaching is given. The greatest reason to learn from someone who has attained enlightenment is that, through them, you can quickly and accurately understand what exists and reach Nirvana.
Nirvana refers to achieving a state of peace by freeing oneself from delusions and afflictions. It can also be described as attaining inner peace and eternal life. Nirvana is different from emancipation. Emancipation refers to the state of one's consciousness staying in the realm that exists before birth. A emancipated being, while still alive, stays in this pre-birth realm of consciousness and thus perceives the essence of all that exists across all dimensions.
There are three realms: the realm of life, the realm of souls, and the realm of the fundamental.
Living beings leave behind souls through their life. The physical body returns to nature, while only the soul remains. A living being is a combination of matter and gas, with consciousness attached to the gas. Dying means that the gas, or the soul, separates from the body, or matter. The realm of soul is a world where gas with consciousness exists. The state where consciousness disappears from the soul and ceases to exist is called the fundamental. This world, where gas without consciousness exists, is referred to as the realm of the fundamental.
The world of the fundamental is the world of death and birth. It is the world where one generation ends and a new generation begins. The phrase “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form(색즉시공 공즉시색, 色卽是空 空卽是色)” from the Heart Sutra is an expression of the world of the fundamental by Shakyamuni. Through the Heart Sutra, I was able to see that Shakyamuni attained supreme enlightenment. To achieve supreme enlightenment, a soul must be able to stay in the world of the fundamental with consciousness. A soul whose consciousness has karma cannot stay in the world of the fundamental.
Humans exist in the world of life while their physical bodies are alive. Upon death, their soul with consciousness separates from the body and moves to the world of souls. In the case of souls capable of reincarnation, they pass through the world of the fundamental, where consciousness ceases, and return to the world of life to continue life activities. Those who have achieved emancipation can enter and stay in the world of the fundamental from the world of life. This is a phenomenon that cannot occur under the natural laws of the world. So, how can those who have achieved emancipation stay in the world of the fundamental? When all of a person's karma is eradicated, they can enter the world of the fundamental. They can freely enter the world of the fundamental.
A spiritual entity, or soul, consists of consciousness and a gas compound (a complex aggregation of energy). When consciousness ceases, reincarnation occurs. This world, where consciousness disappears and life is reborn, is referred to as the world of death and rebirth or the world of the fundamental. Without the cessation of consciousness, reincarnation is absolutely impossible.
In Tibet, there are monks known as Rinpoche. In Tibet, when elderly monks die and are reborn, they are called Rinpoche and revered as leaders. However, this phenomenon is not reincarnation but rather the phenomenon where a spiritual entity attaches itself to the body of a newly born baby. In other words, a Rinpoche has two souls. While it is challenging to teach and enlighten a person with a single soul, it is extremely difficult to enlighten someone with two souls. Despite this, people in the world hold such Rinpoche in high esteem.
Reincarnation cannot occur if consciousness does not cease. When consciousness disappears and reincarnation happens, one will never know anything about their previous life.
For someone who claims to know about their past life, it implies that something is attached to them. If someone claims to see past lives, it can be considered as a trick of a ghost, because seeing past lives is impossible.
The period of change occurs every 6,000 to 7,000 years. If the period of change does not happen, the world would self-destruct. Due to resource depletion and pollution, the world would collapse on its own. Without the occurrence of the period of change, time would lead to the emergence of only strange, deformed, or evil things, with no good things appearing. Eventually, the land on Earth would become useless, water would disappear, and the atmosphere would vanish, leaving Earth like a planet such as the Moon. It is through the periodic occurrence of the periods of change that humanity continues to persist.
There is no need to fear the period of change. The periods of change have occurred in the past and will occur in the future. At this point, what we need to do is focus on our own future and reflect on the preciousness of life.
Now, I will once again talk about life and conclude this session. If you come to attain enlightenment through such opportunities and connections, you will have a future that continues to be endlessly bright. In the many future lives you will lead, endlessly bright days will appear. This is because what once accumulated within yourself has been stored in your essential energy(a gas compound) will reappear even after consciousness has vanished. Even a small realization will continuously guide you to brighter places.
I cannot guarantee how much longer I can stay in Korea. If I remain in Korea, I may not only fail to save humanity, but also may not be able to save myself. So, what purpose would there be in staying in Korea any longer?
When I go abroad, I speak loudly among intellectuals. It would be absurd if a person with sight could not speak up in front of someone who is blind. The interesting thing is that while I am engaged in things of the world, very few people show any interest except for a few people here. If I had not been truly enlightened and committed myself to the mission of work for the world, I would never be able to engage in such work. Even if my sister were deceived and asked to pay 100,000 won, she would do so, but she would not contribute even a single penny to the work of enlightening people and making the world prosperous.
You should now understand why you need to burn yourselves, how you can save yourselves, and how, as a result, you will receive blessings through your endless future lives. Only by experiencing difficult tasks can one become resilient to them.
Where does right and wrong lie? Do we not see right and wrong through what exists? If you do not properly learn and understand what exists, love, conscience, and justice cannot exist within you.
What moves according to one's own thoughts is emotion, not love. Giving money to a person with missing limbs begging on the street is an act of emotion, specifically pity. It is not love. While we see people showing pity for beggars today, we do not see those who truly wish to bless the world by contributing money.
You should abandon a meaningless life and learn as much as you can about what exists, so that you can create a happy life for the rest of your days. Furthermore, if you still have love for humanity, learn about what exists properly and teach others, contributing to blessing the world. This is the path to attaining blessings in life. If you fail to properly engage with what exists, you will incur losses due to that failure. However, if you understand and practice what exists correctly, you will receive rewards proportional to your efforts. This is the truth.
Truth refers to what exists. Truth does not change. If one person claps their hands and makes a loud noise while another person claps and makes a soft noise, you need to examine what exists in that situation. If the same seeds are planted in the ground and one field yields a good harvest while another field does not, you must investigate what existed in each case.
I say that all hope exists in the world. Every path exists in the world. Paths to eternal life, enlightenment, emancipation, becoming wealthy, or becoming a president—all of these paths are available. For this reason, if you attain enlightenment, you will see a bright world; if you do not attain enlightenment, you will see a dark world. Knowing will bring blessings through what exists, while ignorance will lead to suffering from what exists.
I will take questions and then conclude this session.
Question: How can one determine whether a person is truthful or not? Should one listen to what the person says? Is there a criterion for distinguishing whether a person is truthful or not?
Answer: When we observe things, some people see them clearly while others do not. The same applies to truth. Truth which people have is not the same. Some people have greater truth, while others have less of it. Those with greater truth rarely speak falsehoods and always speak of what exists as it is, whereas those with less truth often add or omit things, telling lies about what exists. We can discern whether a person is truthful by observing their actions. Additionally, by examining what exists, we can determine whether the person who performed it is truthful or not.
If one has a conscience, they are truthful. A person with a conscience does not act carelessly even when dealing with others' matters. They consider what exists and take responsibility for their work proportional to the pay they receive. A person who is not truthful does not act this way.
The problem in our society today is human truthfulness. The issue in this country is not the billions of dollars in foreign debt but the truthfulness of each individual citizen. Truthfulness can be developed through education, but it can also be destroyed by the social environment. The extent to which people learn about what exists can shape their consciousness to be genuinely truthful or otherwise.
The standard for truth lies in what exists. One can ascertain the degree of another person's truthfulness through their words and actions. Since one might be deceived by a person after only seeing them once or twice, continuous observation is necessary. By consistently observing a person's words and actions, their true nature will eventually become apparent. You should evaluate a person's truthfulness based on their inherent nature.
Question: If one wishes to live a truthful life, are there any fundamental principles that should be followed?
Answer: To live a truthful life, enlightenment is essential. When we are ignorant, it is natural to end up telling lies. As we gradually know more about the world, it becomes increasingly difficult to speak falsehoods.
I will explain why religious precepts are necessary. The reason we need to follow precepts is that they help prevent us from deteriorating. When a person commits a bad deed, that action becomes ingrained within them. Later, when faced with a similar situation, they may unconsciously repeat the previous bad action. If this happens several times, it becomes a habitual pattern. Ultimately, this leads to the continuous manifestation of such bad behavior. In other words, our consciousness accepts and stores what exists, and what is stored within us prompts us to repeat similar actions.
To obtain truth, enlightenment is crucial. The foundation of enlightenment is to know the truth about what exists. This means that enlightenment comes when we correctly know what exists. Having enlightenment allows us to avoid continuing the bad behaviors we have engaged in. Hearing that we should not do bad things hundreds or thousands of times is of no use if we do not have enlightenment. Even if we do not want to commit bad deeds, we may end up doing them. The body is governed by consciousness, and consciousness, influenced by what exists within ourselves, tends to repeat similar actions when faced with certain environments.
If you want to live truthfully, you must first engage with enlightenment. To engage with enlightenment, you need to continuously strive to learn about what exists. Once you come to know, you will not lie. When we know something, it becomes very difficult to alter the truth. The cause of evil is ignorance. What is the cause of ignorance? It is evil. My ignorance is not corrected due to past mistakes.
Question: Is lying always wrong? Why is lying considered wrong?
Answer: When someone believes a lie as if it were the truth, it becomes a form of deception. If someone believes a lie and their expectations based on that lie are not met, it results in time and material losses for others.
The first reason not to lie is that lies can harm others. The second reason is that once you lie, it becomes easier to lie again. Repeated lying alters one's consciousness, leading to the continuation of the same lies. Ultimately, the reason not to lie is that lying harms oneself. In this sense, lies can be seen as the most harmful cause of damage in human society.
Is it possible to live a truthful life without listening to your teachings?
Answer: If a person lives a truthful life without my teachings, they are likely someone who stays in heaven and is born into the world with good fundamentals, living in a favorable environment. Those who are not born with sufficiently good fundamentals cannot live a truthful life without enlightenment.
I continuously explain what exists to help open your consciousness to the realities of the world. This may sometimes lead to lengthy discussions or topics you might not desire. The important point is that this approach is meant to focus your attention on what exists. If you have unresolved questions, please keep asking them.
Even if you do not meet me, if you refrain from acting recklessly until you understand what exists, you will be less likely to be deceived. If you can learn from what exists and attain enlightenment, you can achieve everything you desire without my assistance.
By continually coming here and listening to my teachings, you must create favorable conditions for yourself to experience good things. Even if that is not the case, you can still prevent some degree of bad outcomes. I assure you that by paying a little attention, you can avoid many of the bad experiences you might otherwise encounter.
I will conclude this session.
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