Purity of Intention

Since the essence of worship is the disposition of the heart, the intention we bring to an act of worship determines its value. Even when the outward form of an act expresses faith and obedience, a person’s inner intentions become manifest in the end.

Progress on the path to God requires purity of heart and sincerity of mind.

Intention begins our life in the world. When the Israelites approached the Temple and sung the psalm, “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?” they were declaring that in their daily lives they had been obedient to God’s commandments to live ethically and justly.

From that pure starting point, we can cultivate a mind conducive to worship by placing our practical concerns in second place to the affairs of Heaven. As we glorify God in our minds and dedicate our bodies to His service, our sincere intention opens the door to an authentic relationship.

For the antithesis of sincerity, see Chapter 15: Hypocrisy. For more on the role of sincerity in everyday life, see Chapter 12: Sincerity and Authenticity.

Purity and Sincerity of Heart

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5.8

A man becomes pure through sincerity of intellect; thereupon, in meditation, he beholds Him who is without parts. Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.8 (Hinduism)

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord, and vindication from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek thee, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.35 Psalm 24.3-6

All you who come before me, hoping to attain the accomplishment of your desires, pray with hearts pure from falsehood, clean within and without, reflecting the truth like a mirror.36 Oracle of Temmangu (Shinto)

Though I had nothing to eat but a red-hot ball of iron, I will never accept even the most savory food offered by a person with an impure mind. Though I were sitting upon a blazing fire hot enough to melt copper, I will never go to visit the place of a person with a polluted mind.37 Oracle of the Kami Hachiman (Shinto)

O my brother! A pure heart is as a mirror; cleanse it with the burnish of love and severance from all save God, that the true sun may shine within it and the eternal morning dawn. Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys 21 (Baha’i Faith)

Sincerity (ihsan): You should worship God as if you saw Him; for although you do not see Him, He sees you. Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi 2 (Islam)

Sincerity (makoto) is the mind of the kami. Accordingly, when serving the kami in worship, if one has a mind of sincerity, the kami will surely respond. Ekken Kiabara, Divine Injunctions (Shinto)

A man who makes efforts to cleave to God has no time to think of unimportant matters; when he constantly serves the Creator, he has no time to be vain.38 Israel Baal Shem Tov (Judaism)

I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.39 Revelation 3.15-16

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
God does not work where utmost sincerity is lacking. (Way of God’s Will 1.1.1)

God’s heart is the home of eternal blessing. Prepare within yourself a place where God’s heart can abide; then His blessing will flow through you. (Way of God’s Will 2.3)

Guide us not to be sons and daughters who live for ourselves and keep Christ at a distance. (2:300, June 30, 1957)

We cannot overcome with tricks or by talent, but only with a sincere heart. The question is how much sincerity you invest in loving and serving God, with how much sincerity you long for Him, with how much sincerity you seek to know His inmost feelings, and through these experiences, how much you can restore a father-son relationship with Him. (42:228, March 14, 1971)

Regardless of whether anyone is watching, you should fulfill your responsibility. You should keep your promise with God. (104:112, April 15, 1979)

True sons and daughters should show sincerity, not mainly about the practical things of everyday life, but rather sincerity of hope in God, sincerity to glorify God, sincerity in their filial piety to our Heavenly Father, and sincerity in submission to God’s will. If you practice all these forms of sincerity, then heaven will become your heaven and Heavenly Father will become your Heavenly Father. (17:245, January 29, 1967)

Some people forsake everything for a doctrine or abandon their own views for the sake of an ideology, but if they are not doing it to find the truth that can elevate their minds, then they cannot make a worthy relationship with Heaven.

What must we do to enter the nucleus of the divine mind and cleanse our defiled minds that have inherited our ancestors’ lineage of sin from the beginning of his- tory? We must give our utmost; as Jesus said, “Love the Lord God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (2:194, May 19, 1957)

Sincerity as the Measure of Worship

Like a clear mirror reflecting images according to the forms, so from Buddha’s field of blessings, rewards are obtained according to one’s heart. Garland Sutra 10 (Buddhism)

When the monks assembled before the midday meal to listen to his lecture, the great Hogen of Seiryo pointed at the bamboo blinds. Two monks simultaneously went and rolled them up. Hogen said, “One gain, one loss.” Mumon’s comment, “Tell me, who gained and who lost? If you have an eye to penetrate the secret, you will see where their teacher failed. However, I warn you strongly against discussing gain and loss.” Mumonkan 26 (Buddhism)

Actions are but by intention and every man shall have but that which he intended. Thus he whose migration was for Allah and His messenger, his migration was for Allah and His messenger, and he whose migration was to achieve some worldly benefit or to take some woman in marriage, his migration was for that for which he migrated.40 Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi 1 (Islam)

God revealed this to David: “There is no more unjust man among My slaves than he who serves Me for the sake of Paradise or for fear of Hell. Would I have been unworthy to be served if I had not created the Paradise and Hell?” As-Sharani41 (Islam)

O God, if I worship Thee for fear of Hell, burn me in Hell, And if I worship Thee in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise. But if I worship Thee for Thine own sake, Grudge me not Thine everlasting Beauty. Rabi’a42 (Islam)

The Dharma is without taint and free of defilement. He who is attached to anything, even to liberation, is not interested in the Dharma but is interested in the taint of desire. The Dharma is not an object. He who pursues [the Dharma as an] object is not interested in the Dharma but is interested in objects… The Dharma is not a secure refuge. He who enjoys [it as] a secure refuge is not interested in the Dharma but is interested in a secure refuge… The Dharma is not a society. He who seeks to associate with the Dharma is not interested in the Dharma but is interested in association. Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti 6 (Buddhism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Why did you come and sit in this room this morning? Are you sitting here and listening to my good message so that you can become a great person?

Or are you sitting here and listening to my message because you want to make the church prosper and make America great?

Which is your reason for being here, the former or the latter? After listening to me now, those of you who came with the first motivation have converted to the second. You prove that by your laughter! (118:45, May 2, 1982)

People who believe in religion for their own benefit stop believing when they receive blessings, because their goal of faith was to receive blessings. After enjoying their blessings for a time, they fall away from God.

You should be different. The goal of your faith in God should be to bless the world, because that is what God wants from you. (127:27, May 1, 1983)

When I visited the spirit world, I saw that the martyrs who died to enter heaven did not enter heaven. Rather, those martyrs who died with a grateful heart entered and dwell there.

They went the way of martyrdom with this heart: “God walked a suffering path to find me; He shed His blood for me. I will go anywhere and do anything to repay God for His grace.” For whom did they die?

Did they die for their own sake?

No, they died for the sake of heaven and earth. On the other hand, those martyrs who thought, “I will die like this because it is the path to heaven,” for whom did they die? They died for themselves. As fallen people, we can never enter the Kingdom of God by insisting on ourselves. (41:355, February 18, 1971)

When you offer sincere devotion, you must not offer it merely for your own work. Do you realize this? If your devotion is merely for your own work, it turns out to be just that; it is like asking God, who makes His sunlight shine over all the earth, not to shine it equally on everyone but to shine it only on you. Hence, you must have the presence of mind that you are praying as a representative of all humanity, even representing God.

When you pray, representing God, and when you offer your sincere devotion, representing God, you must try to imagine how much sincere devotion God Himself has been offering throughout providential history and continues to offer even now. (308:200-201, January 5, 1999)

God’s sorrow is that He has no one who will suffer with Him when He suffers and be sorrowful with Him when He is sorrowful. Though God has embraced humankind for thousands of years, He has suffered alone. He suffered injustice alone and suffered sorrow alone.

When He suffered hardship, He had no one with whom to share the hardship. When he was sorrowful, there was no one to share his sorrow. That is why God’s suffering has been so great and His sorrow so great. (11:95, February 12, 1961)

Father, make Thy heart and mind my heart and mind, Thy situation my situation, Thy hope my hope, Thine enemy my enemy, and Thy battle my battle. May we be Thy victorious offerings, sons and daughters who make Thy dream come true. (5:213, February 1, 1959)