There was great rejoicing on September 1, 2015 in Cheong Pyeong, Korea, with the successful publication of the Cham Bumo Gyeong in Korean, English and Japanese. A new and first-hand account of the life and works of True Parents, the Cham Bumo Gyeong accompanies two earlier volumes, the Cheon Seong Gyeong and the Pyeong Hwa Gyeong, published in 2013.
During his lifetime, the published sermons of True Father filled more than 700 thick volumes; most of them not yet translated from the original Korean. If all the books were piled on top of each other, the collection would form a wall over 90 feet high – a daunting task for even the most devoted scholar or disciple who would try to read them all.
True Father himself pointed to a preferred selection of those readings, which Unificationists informally refer to as the “Eight Great Textbooks.”
These include many important speeches and teachings, as well as the Divine Principle, the central theological premise of the Unification movement, and the World Scriptures, an anthology of the teachings of other faiths, including Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Taoism, and more. Still, that 90-foot tower of sermons remained in the background.
Realizing this, True Mother commissioned a series of three volumes of teachings compiled from these sermons, hoping to capture the essence of her husband’s unique understanding of the heart of God and adding a few significant insights of her own. She directed that the work be completed during the traditional three-year period of mourning for True Father, who ascended to the spirit world on September 3, 2012.
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The stance of some key figures concerning criticism over the Cheon Il Guk scriptures
After True Father’s ascension last year, brothers and sisters of the Unification community were all entrusted with the most urgent task of inheriting the unfinished works of True Father. We must hand down the teachings, accomplishments and traditions left by True Father, while he was still on earth, to all the generations to come and establish the Cheon Il Guk True Parents have sincerely hoped for until now.
On November 29, 2012, True Mother said, “True Parents' teachings and accomplishments are gems. I will make these gems into precious stones of the finest value" and then instructed the compilation project of the Cheon Il Guk scriptures to be conducted. During the publication ceremony of the revised version of Cheon Seon Gyeong and Pyeonghwa Gyeong on June 10, True Mother remarked, “I am immensely happy to see that True Father’s teachings are not dispersed and have become beautiful gems that have all been threaded in one line.”
At a time when we must all delight over the dedication of Cheon Seong Gyeong and Pyeonghwa Gyeong of the Cheon Il Guk scriptures at this providential point, there have been some thoughtless people who have been sending seditious documents to blessed families, harming the value of the scriptures through online blogs, and going as far as shaking even the identity of True Parents. These people are among those who have been going against True Parents’ will, opposing us for opposition’s sake alone.
Though we should all coalesce through the new scriptures bestowed to us by True Parents in this Cheon Il Guk era, we are deeply concerned that these people are not only afflicting pain to True Mother through their letters to her, but also going against the providence by misleading the public opinion. The situation has gone to such a state that we feel there are no other alternative but to step forward in clarifying the anti-providential assertions made by these people. Therefore, we would like to ask all pastors to guide members so that they become well informed, have a proper understanding of the value of Cheon Il Guk scriptures, and become reborn through a life of hoondokhae.
1. Concerning the assertion “Do not tamper with it” = While True Father was still alive, he spoke a lot about the preciousness of Cheon Seong Gyeong and told a few key leaders “not to tamper” with Cheon Seong Gyeong. Some members of the opposing group have been bombarding the revised Cheon Seong Gyeong with criticism based on the above grounds. However, True Mother, who has been leading the providence on earth in True Father’s place, gave the instructions to start the supplementation project of Cheon Seong Gyeong in order to add all the teachings Father gave until his ascension and make it into a scripture that can be passed down for generations. True Mother, who has always been on True Father’s side, knew what Father’s thoughts on Cheon Seong Gyeong were.
True Father said, “Cheon Seong Gyeong consists of teachings extracted from the 480 published volumes of my sermons. I am waiting for the unpublished content, which is three times more, to be published through a second or third volume of Cheon Seong Gyeong” (TF’s sermon vol. 599-85, Sept 25, 2008). Here, Father talked about the importance of a second and third volume of Cheon Seong Gyeong. Father also said, “The first volume of Cheon Seong Gyeong has been issued. Based on the first, second and third volume, we must then add contents of the encyclopedia and ensure that all preparations are made so that everything can be concluded by January 13, 2013” (vol. 611-282, May 17, 2009). Here, True Father mentioned that the new Cheon Seong Gyeong must be ready by Foundation Day. He also remarked, “Cheon Seong Gyeong has been compiled based on 400 volumes of my sermons which make up only one third of 1,200 volumes. The Cheon Seong Gyeong contents have been extracted from only one third of published volumes. Two or three times more contents must be published” (vol. 599-110, Oct 10, 2008). He also emphasized, “Cheon Seong Gyeong has been extracted from 400 of the published volumes. I recently heard that sermon volumes have totaled to 500 volumes, right? I am waiting for more to be published. If Cheon Seong Gyeong has been extracted from that amount of volumes, then imagine how many Cheon Seong Gyeong volumes can be published” (591-192, May 30, 2008).
True Father also mentioned the reduction project of the previous edition of Cheon Seong Gyeong, emphasizing the necessity of a new compilation project in the following manner: “The first and second sorting process have been conducted. It consists of around 2,300 pages. Look at the huge amount of pages. No one among you is capable of conducting the task of reducing it. I will work on reducing it myself, complete it before I die and mark it with a seal” (vol. 434-128, Jan 30, 2004). Father also talked about the supplementation project of Cheon Seong Gyeong, “It is certain that you are following the path of love’s responsibility which I taught you based on Cheon Seong Gyeong; however, if there is anything that is left out from it, you must supplement it all in order to educate inadequate man. If you do so, there won’t be any problems.” (582-287, Dec 12, 2007)
No one can meddle with True Parents’ teachings from a human level. However, True Mother allowed the publication of the revised Cheon Seong Gyeong so that True Parents’ teachings and tradition are passed down for generations. Putting into consideration the preciousness of True Father’s teachings, the compilation committee focused on supplementing Cheon Seong Gyeong with Father’s sermons after 2000 and teachings Father emphasized on countless occasions during official meetings that were nevertheless omitted while grounding it on the previously published Cheon Seong Gyeong at the same time.
2. Concerning the assertion of extreme embellishment and elimination of Father’s teachings = Among those opposing the new Cheon Seong Gyeong, a member sent a letter to True Mother strongly criticizing the extreme embellishment of Father’s teachings, which according to this member, has dented the basis of the word. This again is a mere conjecture. The major standard, with which the supplementation project of Cheon Seong Gyeong was conducted on, was to quote only from True Parents’ original sermons in its intact form. For the past ten months, domestic experts including professors of theology compared Cheon Seong Gyeong with the original teachings within Father’s sermon volumes day and night and corrected mistakes within the previous edition based on the comparison. They restored distorted quotes or altered teachings into its original form. Repeated paragraphs, in particular, were replaced with new extracts from Father’s teachings. The entire team completely immersed themselves within the compilation project in order to come up with a scripture that can be passed down to all generations for eternity.
Some of the opposing groups also assert that 80-90% of the previous edition was deleted in the new edition with only 10-20% of the previous contents left. This is completely different from the truth. The previous edition had sixteen books while the revised edition combined books with similar contents such as “Life on Earth and the Spiritual World” and “Human Life and the World of Spiritual Beings” and added the book of True Parents’ Prayers. The revised version has been reorganized into fourteen books but still maintains its original frame. Instead, new additions such as “True Creation”, “Cheon Il Guk”, “Peace Ideology”, “Peace Messages”, “True Parents’ Prayers” and other books have been made and organized in such a way that it may be helpful in guiding the life of faith of members living in this age. In particular, opposing members have been accusing the new compilation project for having deleted 80-90% of the contents from within the previous edition; however, a big quantity of the quotes used as extracts from Father’s sermons within the previous edition were found to be wrongly recorded. Putting into consideration that the 80-90% deletion was based on quotes with wrong sources, we can only say that their accusations are far-fetched.
In addition, True Father’s public speeches which were included within the previous edition have been all placed within Pyeonghwa Gyeong. Also, all extracts relating to True Parents’ achievements are to be included within Champumo Gyeong which will be published soon. Hence, the criticism that the contents of the previous edition have been deleted to the extreme is mere criticism for criticism sake. All compilation standards were decided based on True Mother’s approval. The compilation project were future-oriented in their undertaking, looking into hundreds or thousands of years later.
3. Concerning the assertion that the eight holy textbooks have been defiled = The assertion made by some members of the opposing group that the eight holy text books have been dented is irrelevant. Of course, the value of the eight holy text books True Parents left to us as his will must not be dented in any way. Putting into consideration the importance of the eight holy text books, a relatively smaller content amount of “Peace Messages”, “True Family, Gateway to Heaven”, “Owner of Peace, Owner of Lineage”, “Family Pledge” and others have been included in the revised Cheon Seong Gyeong and Pyeonghwa Gyeong so that members may always be able to do read them together.
In the process of criticizing the Cheon Il Guk scriptures, the identity of members of these opposing groups has come to light. They are desperately trying to dent True Parents’ identity and tradition. When we refer to True Parents, we mean True Father and True Mother. After the Holy Wedding in 1960, True Father always spoke, led the entire providence, and blessed us in the name and position of True Parents. Yet, these opposing members have been regarding the status of True Father and True Mother as different and have been criticizing everything True Mother has been conducting. Hence, they have proven that they are the problematic group that has been trying to systematically destroy our community.
True Parents are governing the spiritual world and physical world on the basis of having attained unity of the heart, body, and harmony. When Father proclaimed “the Cosmic Assembly for the Firm Settlement of the True Parents of Heaven, Earth, and Humankind and the Proclamation of the Substantial Word of God”, he said, “True Parents have now reached complete unity and the era of God’s full transcendence, full immanence, full authority and omnipotence is dedicated and proclaimed on the standard of perfection, conclusion, and completion.” In the same way, True Father and True Mother are leading a new providential age together in the spiritual world and on earth. Likewise, the compilation project of the Cheon Il Guk scriptures was conducted by True Parents, who have become one, under the big plan to help people inherit True Parents’ teachings and tradition.
Therefore, we must all receive True Parents’ request, “Please use these gem-like teachings that Heaven has bestowed on us to completely dedicate yourselves in bringing salvation to humanity”, with an unwavering heart. Let us all completely put our maximum effort, live up to our faith in order to establish Cheon Il Guk through Cheon Seong Gyeong and Pyeonghwa Gyeong.
I pray that the blessings of our Heavenly Parent and True Parents of Heaven, Earth, and Humankind shower upon your families and churches as you read the Cheon Il Guk scriptures. Thank you very much.
May 7, 2013
The Compilation Committee of True Parents’ Teachings
