World Scripture takes a universal outlook in emphasizing the common features of all religions; nevertheless, religions also have their unique characteristics and emphases.
The following six topics treat specific religious traditions, pointing out their unique features and Father Moon’s teachings about them.
It cannot be overemphasized that any treatment of a religion’s unique features in no way exhausts its spiritual riches or detracts from its universal qualities that join in common witness to the one God and one Reality.
Not all the religions are treated here; just those on which Father Moon has commented upon out of his own experience. Korea is a religiously pluralistic country, with roots in Shamanism, Buddhism, and Confucianism; it has a large and vibrant Christian community and also a growing Muslim minority.
Father Moon’s views on Shamanism are largely the result of his experience with the homegrown Korean variety. Shamanism remains strong in rural Korea, where its practitioners, called mudangs, are largely women. Their ability to communicate with spirits can be impressive.
During his years in America, he befriended Eskimo shamans in Alaska and Native Americans in Brazil and Paraguay. Father Moon is very aware of the reality of the spirit world and the spiritual discipline required to be an effective channel to that world. For this reason, he does not cast dogmatic condemnations on Shamanism and Animism in the manner of Bible-centered Christians.
Rather, he regards Shamanism as an authentic stage, albeit a low one, on the path of humankind’s spiritual development. Notable also is Father Moon’s teaching that Shamanism and polytheism are “servant of servant” religions, whose original objects of worship were fallen angels.
This can be seen rather clearly in Greek and Hindu mythology, where the gods’ amorous activities with earthly women are of a piece with Satan’s seduction of Eve at the Human Fall.
Nevertheless, God still taught through these forms by empowering devoted practitioners to rise above their gods and attain a higher moral plane. In this way, human beings transcended the position of servants’ servants to become their masters, thus opening a higher stage of religious development.
Passages from Hinduism and Shinto illustrate how these traditions were thus elevated over time to form higher religions.
Sun Myung Moon
Worship of Nature Deities
O gods! All your names are to be revered, saluted and adored; all of you who have sprung from heaven and earth, listen here to my invocation. Rig Veda 10.63.2 (Hinduism)
Our ancestors, the emperors of old governed the realm by first paying worship to the kami with reverence and awe. Widely worshipping the kami of mountain and river, they thereby had natural concourse with heaven and earth. For this reason, summer and winter also turned in their season, and the works of creation were in harmony.9 Nihon Shoki 22 (Shinto)
Sansang suira! There are eight peaks within the inner mountain, and thirteen famous places in the outer mountain. Within these famous mountains and the great heavens of all Buddhas, the great altar of the nation is protected by the great generals. Was not General Chae Yong one of them? The famous general of Korea, who was favored by his people… Oh, I am the great mountain god. If I sit down, I cover three thousand li [the entire land of Korea]. If I stand up, I stretch over ninety thousand li [the whole world]. If I look down with my clear mirror, I can observe ten thousand li. Oh, I am the great mountain god. What can you offer to satisfy me? Is the whole pig covered with a red cloth enough? Is the bundle of three different colored silks enough? Offer many rich silks to me. Oh, you, the husband and wife of this home. Do you remember who gives you the food that sustains you? Who gave you a home? Who gave you wealth? Who gave you long life? I, the Sansang, gave you blessings and aid in times of need.10 Invocation of the Mountain Spirit (Korean Shamanism)
War-bundle owners, I greet you. Ye elders, I am about to pour tobacco for the spirits. Hearken Earthmaker, our father, I am about to offer you a handful of tobacco. My ancestor so-and-so concentrated his mind upon you. The fireplaces with which you blessed him, the small amount of life you granted to him, all, four times the blessings that you bestowed upon my ancestor, I ask of you directly. May I have no troubles in life. Chief of the Thunderbirds, who lives in the west, you strengthened my grandfather. I am about to offer you a handful of tobacco. The food, the pair of deer you gave him for his fireplaces, that I ask of you directly. May you accept this tobacco from me and may I not meet with troubles. Great Black Hawk, you also blessed my grandfather. I am about to offer you tobacco. Whatever food you blessed him with that I ask you directly. May I not meet with troubles… You [night spirits] on the other side, who live in the east, who walk in darkness, I am about to offer you tobacco to smoke. Whatever you blessed my ancestor with, I ask of you. If you smoke this tobacco I will never be a weakling. Disease-giver, you who live in the south; you who look like a man; who art invulnerable; who on one side of your body present death and on the other life, you blessed my ancestor in the daytime, in broad daylight. You blessed him with food and told him that he would never fail in anything. You promised to avoid his home. You placed animals before him that he might easily obtain food. I offer you tobacco that you may smoke it, and that I may not be troubled by anything. To you, Sun, Light-wanderer… To you, Grandmother Moon… Hearken, all ye spirits to whom my ancestor prayed; to all of you I offer tobacco. My ancestor gave a feast to all those who had blessed him. Bestow upon us once again all the blessings you gave our ancestor, that we may not become weaklings. I greet you all. Winnebago Invocation at the Sweat Lodge (Native American Religion)
Ala, come and drink and eat the kola nut. Chukwu, come and drink and eat the kola nut. Ancestors, come and drink and eat the kola nut. I was told by a man of Ngbwidi, one named Ehirim, that a man of Agunese had stolen his yams; and so I summoned the priests of Ala and Aro holders and elders in order that we might inquire into the matter. I called them, even as my father, who was priest of Njoku before me, used to do. If any of these men, who have come to try the case, deal falsely in the matter, or if the accuser or accused or any person called to give evidence tells falsehood, then do you, Ala, Chukwu, Njoku, Ancestors, and Ofo, deal with that man.11 Igbo Invocation at a Trial (African Traditional Religions)
Parvati, on seeing her son Ganesha resuscitated, embraced him joyously and clothed him with new garments and ornaments. After kissing his face, she said, “O Ganesha, you have had great distress since your very birth. You are blessed and contented now. You will receive worship before all the gods… “All achievements certainly accrue to him who performs your worship with flowers, sandal paste, scents, auspicious food offerings, waving of lights, betel leaves, charitable gifts, circumambulations, and obeisance. All kinds of obstacles will certainly perish.” Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu declared in unison, “O great gods, just as we three are worshipped in all the three worlds, so also Ganesha shall be worshipped by all of you. He is the remover of all obstacles and the bestower of the fruits of all rites.”12 Shiva Purana, Rudrasamhita 18 (Hinduism)
Sun Myung Moon
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
God instructs all people, from the most primitive to the most advanced, by means appropriate to their level. Thus, in the primitive religions of the past, God taught people to worship the things of creation, such as rocks and trees, as substitutes for God. This was the origin of shamanism. In this way God could teach the people and guide the direction of their lives. (91:271, February 27, 1977)
Shamans are possessed by servant-level spirits, confined within the realm of the fall. Yet through their revelations they can sometimes give accurate information from the spirit world to earthly people. There are groups of people on this earth who connect with the spirit world in this way. (76:95, February 1, 1975)
The spirit world is the world of angels. Why do the angels of the spirit world want to relate to the human world as gods? You have heard about shamanism, fortunetelling, superstition and such. They are religious forms in which there is not clear discernment of good and evil.
As God leads the providence through religions, Satan also prepared religious forms to guard his world. In general, more than eighty percent of fortunetellers are women. Who do they contact? At the time of the Fall, the archangel led Eve and caused her to bring evil into the world.
Likewise, during the course of restoration, the same path is repeated: angels in the spirit world come down to the earth to lead and teach women, uniting with them.
Hence, a shaman’s or fortuneteller’s work is to follow the direction and teachings of angels, but this time for good. (76:95, February 1, 1975)
In the development of history, we see that there was always some sort of faith. The birth of faith lay in ancient beliefs that modern people would call superstition. For example, when people saw a big tree, they revered it. When they saw a magnificent mountain, they revered it. Although most people do not recognize them, guardian deities exist in those places. (176:287, May 13, 1988)
People in ancient times had a close relationship with nature. Then the natural world and the spirit world were close to human beings, not distant and foreign as they are to people living in modern times.
When people entered a grove of giant trees, they looked at them reverently and thought, “For thousands of years these trees have been here; through countless cycles of quickening in spring and dying in autumn they remain unchanged; their shade makes a pleasant environment for all creatures.”
Observing them, they recognized that they were deficient in many aspects, and so they worshipped tall trees, great rocks and high mountains. They saw tall persimmon trees, thick with foliage in the summer and bare in the winter. With the arrival of spring their branches sprouted with new life: first buds, then blossoms, and finally delicious and fragrant fruit.
They marveled at this, and sensed that those trees were better than they. Where is the fragrance in human existence? Do humans give off a fragrance that beautifies their surroundings, attracting birds and insects to nest in their branches? No. Compared to nature, man is humbled and recognizes his inadequacy. (November 4, 1990)
History knows that this is the age when the sun rises in the East. All people are turning in the direction of the light and lighting their own lamps. Some are doing it centering on God, but others are centering on low-level spirits.
Even shamans are receiving the light based on their spiritual senses and experiences. Between shamans and non-believers, who is better? Believing in even low-level spirits is better than having no faith at all. (194:315, October 30, 1989)
Sun Myung Moon
Human Beings Who Achieve Mastery Rise above the Gods
It is people who make the gods important. If a spirit [idol] becomes too troublesome, it will be shown the tree from which it was carved. We shall continue to offer sacrifices so that the blame will lie with the deities. African Proverbs (African Traditional Religions)
Fools misjudge me when I take a human form because they do not know my supreme state as Lord of Beings. Unconscious, they fall prey to a beguiling nature such as belongs to ogres and demons.
For their hopes [ascribing to God human motives] are vain, and so are their rituals and their search for wisdom. Bhagavad-Gita 9.11-12 (Hinduism)
Whoever knows the self as “I am Brahman,” becomes all this [universe]. Even the gods cannot prevent his becoming this, for he has become their Self. Now, if a man worships another deity, thinking, “He is one and I am another,” he does not know. He is like an animal to the gods.
As many animals serve a man, so does each man serve the gods [with offerings]. Even if one animal is taken away, it causes anguish to the owner; how much more so when many are taken away! Therefore, it is not pleasing to the gods that men should know the truth. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10 (Hinduism)
Even the devas are jealous of a yogi, striving as he does to surpass them by attaining Brahman. They therefore try to lead him astray, in various ways, if they find him off guard.13 Srimad Bhagavatam 11.20 (Hinduism)
What is Shinto? Not in the shrines the worldly-minded frequent for gifts in vain, but in good deeds, pure of heart, lies real religion. Genchi Kato (Shinto)
Look, you brothers, who bathe in the holy waters, Look, you monks, who bathe in the stream. Give up, give up, your unholy thoughts; Give up lustful thoughts for another man’s wife, give up coveting after another man’s wealth. If you bathe in the waters without giving up these, It is as if bathing in a stream that has run dry. Basavanna, Vacana 642 (Hinduism)
Truth is victorious, never untruth. Truth is the way; truth is the goal of life, Reached by the sages who are free from self-will. Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.6 (Hinduism)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
We should clearly distinguish monotheism from polytheism. Only God is the true deity; the other divine beings that founded the polytheistic religions are angels. Among those religions, some developed through the good angels’ efforts to elevate human spirituality and heart—they are the higher religions. You should know that God has been cultivating people’s hearts through these good religions. (237:186, November 17, 1992)
Human history can be considered to span at least 850,000 years. Even during the most primitive times, the religious movements that sprang up received persecution. Who initiated such work? It is God. He developed religions to separate human beings from the servants.
God separated us from Satan step by step, starting from the very bottom—the level of a servant of servants. Humans are created to be masters, but at the servant’s level, the servant dominates the master.
In order to take our rightful position in the Kingdom of Heaven as the masters of that servant, humanity must inevitably receive persecution from the entire servant world and triumph over it. (124:69, January 23, 1983)
Among shamans, especially the men, some had formerly led a promiscuous love life. Then, as shamans, they leave their former life and strive on the path of morality. This led to the development of a [higher] realm of religion.
From that starting-point, they could recognize that people should live a straight way of life and form faithful families. At least they recognized that it was not good to live a loose lifestyle and sought a proper way of love.
Such efforts at laying the right path developed into the world’s higher religions. (295:172, August 28, 1998)
Sun Myung Moon