Authors
True Parents' teachings
True Parents have bequeathed to us many teachings during their lives. Their words constitute textbooks on the Principle, given to all humankind. They reveal the essence of God's creation and the secrets of salvation for all people.
True Parents established Hoon Dok Hae, “gathering for reading and learning,” on October 13, 1997, asking everyone to read True Parents' words and make them part of their daily life.
1. During this period, I have spoken about many things. I have said everything that had to be said about the circumstances of the individual, the family, the nation, the world, and the heavenly kingdom.
The question is, where have my words settled? The Word of God should be realized by creatively translating it into substantial action. Then the question is, where can we find their substantial realization? Did the person who spoke those words speak them for his own sake, or for that of the world?
I spoke those words not for myself but for the world. Only when the words spoken for the world come to have substantial form worldwide can they, as words with that purpose, come to have a relationship with the listener.
Unless this is achieved, the two cannot form a relationship. The spoken word achieves its purpose only when its source, the subject partner, and its substantial counterpart become one. What has been spoken therefore must be made substantial. (301-114, 1999/04/25)
2. My words did not come from me. I spoke to them on behalf of God. The textbooks and teaching materials do not contain even one word from me. As I stood in the position of resonance with the spirit world, heaven spoke through me.
So when I hear those words, I too become enlightened. When I speak, God and the spirit world, including the angelic world, cooperate with me. (2010/02/03)
3. The time following the liberation of Korea was the most complicated and eventful period of change in politics, culture, and the economy. I lived through that period, fighting my way for 40 years and not once falling. Every detail is recorded in The Sermons of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon (The Sermons).
What we will face in the future and all the problems in past historical ages are nothing compared to the path walked by True Parents.
If you are told, “These books contain all the methods of success; they are like the encyclopedia of victory, so if you study these books you will become the prince of the field of social science,” would you study them or not?
I have said everything about all fields of endeavor, from science and technology to politics, religion, culture, the economy, and so forth. Every word I spoke was brimming with vision. From this perspective, the political, financial, and intellectual worlds must have a connection with the future, the world, and the united ideal world.
Power structures also must have a way to connect. No matter how brilliant you may be, if you do not do this, you will perish. Water grows stale if it is not moving. (207-070, 1990/11/01)
4. You need to know yours. True Parents. Who are True Parents? No one knows who they are. Since you do not know True Parents, you should read The Sermons.
These books contain wonderful content. How can you make that content your own? I have taught everything already. You need to read The Sermons.
You should think that they are more necessary than your life, and more necessary than your family, tribe, people, nation, world, and cosmos. You cannot find such content anywhere else, even in the libraries of Harvard University. No matter how much you research elsewhere, you will never find a book that contains the content taught by the Unification Church.
The words from fallen history do not have true value. They may all disappear. But, if The Sermons remain, read those books anytime you can, again and again. For this purpose, you should study hard. They will lift you into a higher dimension. (309-169, 1999/05/01)
5. When you read my words, you will find that what I said 50 years ago is the same as what I am saying today. This is a wonderful fact. I have lived a tumultuous life of extreme ups and downs, a life full of suffering from youth to old age, and yet I continue to realize the words I spoke back then.
My words do not drift away. They address eternal issues, and raise issues for the literary world and the art world. I am a person skilled in various fields. In the literary field I am capable of writing a novel in a day.
I even did so when I was in prison. I am full of poetic sentiments. In addition, I know how to utilize revolutionary words. When you read The Sermons, you will find words that you cannot imagine leaping out at you and interconnecting as creative new ideas. They are revolutionary. They are not just theoretical.
I have tied them together, sometimes traversing many hills and obstacles weaving them all together. I am a person who sees all of these relationships.
(325-108, 2000/06/30)
6. What I said 50 years ago and what I am saying now are the same. I have spoken about the same things. God is eternal, and His Word will remain the same even after eons of time.
Only when I speak the same words based on the same standard can I liberate God with the authority of inheritance as His So? know your This is how I can release His sorrow that accumulated throughout the painful march of history.
They are not words spoken of my accord. I never spoke of my accord. I never even opened my mouth if God had not led. The way. That is why these words are so great.
When you speak these words, your innermost feelings are revealed. When I go to the place where I spoke those words of old, the heart I felt then and the spiritual power with which the spirit world cooperated with me at that time concentrates itself and comes into me.
And you should know, when all families in the world have the same heart that I had back then and send this to the spirit world, they can unleash a power that can lead to re-creation and can expand into a realm of heart, the core realm, that can cover the entire world.
People who dislike doing Hoon Dok Hae lack this spirituality. They may become sick and even put themselves in danger of falling. You should find Hoon Dok Hae more delicious than rice or any other food. Your attitude toward Hoon Dok Hae should be such that you regret not having enough time to do it.
You should wish to do Hoon Dok Hae 24 hours a day, for years on end. Every time you do Hoon Dok Hae you should wish to swallow the words all at once, as if they were a spoonful of rice. (323-244, 2000/06/03)
7. Wherever I speak, I speak words befitting that environment. What that means is that I do not prepare my sermons. I speak spontaneously by inspiration. The words are different each time.
You will realize this if you read them. Though the words seem to cover the same ground because the context is different, they follow different paths. In a way, if you think that they are difficult, they will be difficult.
From now on in studying the Word, you will understand it fully only if you do it while offering devotions.
As you continue reading, you may find a passage that you cannot work out or a passage that you cannot understand because the subject leaps and halts incomprehensibly. To understand such passages, you will need to pray.
(144-289, 1986/04/26)
8. I am not a person who normally writes manuscripts for speeches. I can speak eloquently without a manuscript. God trained me to become such a person. Wherever I go, I create new things.
God is the original essence from which I create, and I declare those words together with God. Occasionally, when I say something wrong, my tongue just freezes. I know it when I am wrong. My actions become unnatural.
This is how I declare the Word. Therefore, no one can claim it from me. This being the case even for a Sunday sermon, I do not know the title even five minutes before I am scheduled to speak.
You have no idea how difficult that is. I feel as if I am going to my execution; that is how serious it is. I step forward without having made any preparation, but when I open my mouth I speak words that contain everything in heaven and on earth. The Sermons are the original record of such miracles that I have wrought.
(316-046, 2000/02/09)
9. I never speak words recklessly. When I am scheduled to speak, say, to give a Sunday sermon, I cannot come up with the title until five minutes before the scheduled time. I cannot refer to books or take citations from what historical figures have done and give a spoke-to-led title.
What I speak has to be left complete and intact as the words of heaven. That is why the words of Hoon Dok Hae are living words. On the day you align with those words, your revival will take place.
These words stay alive, beyond time, be it night or early morning. They transcend the seasons, the ages, and the centuries. It is like an active volcano.
Once a crater is made, a volcano breathes fire through that opening.
(532-016, 2006/07/10)
10. When you hear my words, you should assimilate them. When you hear tragic words, you should weep in your heart. It is the same as buds beginning to sprout again when spring comes. My words have such power.
They are different from other words. I have created a frequency within the realm of the heart. When you enter it, you will find something in it. It is different from ordinary words. These words resound in the heart. And when you hear these words resounding in your heart, you are conquered by them.
When I read and study the words I have spoken, though decades have passed, I can still reach that stage instantly. Just as you have wished to see morning sunlight at night, I worked my way through 40 years searching for bright sunlight. Now it is noon and this has become a world without shadows. All the heaven and earth are flooded with light.
My words will not fail; they have the power to change the world into the heavenly kingdom. Where such an era unfolds, Satan disappears. The world of darkness disappears.
As bright worlds of light, the heaven, and the earth of love connect at the place where the earthly world and the heavenly world can love, centering on the light of God. The fact that I have publicly declared these words, which have this wonderful power of re-creation, is truly momentous. (322-012, 2000/05/11)
11. I founded the Unification Church at age 35. More than 600 volumes of The Sermons are now in print, but my words at the time when I established the Unification Church and the words I speak today, decades later, are the same.
My words themselves have never gone up or come down or changed in any way. That is what is great about them. I became famous because I tackled the world head-on amid its ever-changing complications, speaking words directly from God that did not avoid challenges or difficulties. (503-035, 2005/08/01)
12. If you do not read The Sermons, you cannot come to meet me when we go to the spirit world.
Everything I have done on earth, everything I have taken an interest in, surveyed, and examined is included in The Sermons. If you do not read them, it will be impossible for you to discover the course of restoration through indemnity that I have walked.
I have spoken profoundly about Jesus. After reading what I teach about Jesus, no pastor can open their mouth and say that I am a heretic. All the content in those books is like that. I spoke these words in the 1960s, and these people are still opposing me now.
The act of opposing me is a terrible sin. It is equivalent to obstructing everything that forms the realm of victory achieved in the last 2,000 years of history.
(190-231, 1989/06/19)
The practice of Hoon Dok Hae
Hoon Dok Hae is an important tradition. This is because it provides the opportunity to read True Parents' words and thereby gain motivation to practice them in daily life. In particular, Hoon Dok Hae is the center of the home church as proposed by True Parents, which gives it significant meaning in our life of faith.
True Parents emphasized that, through Hoon Dok Hae, each one of us should establish the tradition of following their teachings absolutely and making them a part of our daily life.
13. When all families, both in the spiritual world and the physical world, have received the Blessing, all nations will become the one kingdom of heaven on earth and in heaven through doing Hoon Dok Hae with True Parents' words.
These are the words that God likes the most and desires to establish. That is to say, He desires to establish a nation and educate all people through True Parents' words.
Then who do you think likes Hoon Dok Hae the most? Since God and I both like Hoon Dok Hae, God is the champion of all Hoon Dok Hae champions, the Eldest Son King of all eldest son kings, the King of all family kings, and the King of all nation kings.
That is why I, who am on this earth following His Will, come after Him, in second place, and have the elder son's authority, the parent's authority, and the kingship of Hoon Dok Hae on His behalf.
And all people can inherit the elder son's authority, the parent's authority, and the family kingship on my behalf, and realize the establishment of the kingdom of heaven on earth, where everyone is on an equal, level footing and receives equal treatment. Therefore, everyone will like Hoon Dok Hae. (303-122, 1999/08/08)
14. In the Unification Church, God is the one who holds Hoon Dok Hae most enthusiastically. After Him comes Father, then Mother. Though I know all the words, and I am the one who spoke them, I still participate enthusiastically because I want to harmonize with you.
In other words, I hold Hoon Dok Hae to make you the perfect object partner in front of the perfect subject myself, g, and to enable you to do what True Parents have done.
When you do Hoon Dok Hae, God is always there with you. This being the case, you have no idea what a blessing it is for you to participate in Hoon Dok Hae with your parents and your siblings. It means that you are living together with God. (295-269, 1998/09/08)
15. I am being judged based on the Word. I think that God is the judge listening to the closing arguments of the prosecutor, and He is trying to determine whether there are discrepancies in the testimonies He has heard.
This concerns the question of whether I have put the Word into practice. If I have done anything wrong regarding this, I need to repent.
Now is the moment when we should completely settle the accounts of 6,000 years.
That is why we are now reading and studying about the spirit world. I am trying to go beyond such a situation through Hoon Dok Hae, so in this meeting, we should go beyond this period by uniting in absolute faith, absolute love, and absolute obedience.
That is why I am reading this a second time. I have said everything that needs to be said about life on this earth. Every word I have said was spoken after I translated it into action. Because I practiced it first before I spoke it, those words always pass judgment. They are recorded in the spirit world. (314-034, 1999/12/30)
16. Nowadays, when I read words in Hoon Dok Hae, I am often deeply moved. I am moved even more than I am by others' words. Though I know everything I have ever spoken about, tears come to my eyes even though I try to hold them back.
When I wipe my nose and try to suppress my tears, my eyes still tear up. When I close my eyes my mind cries, and when I distract my mind my whole body weeps.
When I close my mouth, blood flows from my mind, and when I distract my mind, my limbs are touched by emotion.
Though I spoke those words with tears and screams of anguish, I can say the same words now with a smile. I go back and forth between these two extremes. And the gap between the two is so wide that one cannot help but be impressed.
(310-056, 1999/06/06)
17. I know what I have said. You have no idea how serious is the history I have lived through. I clench my fists and grimace as I suppress my bitter memories of injustice.
Those words have not died. Even now, when God looks back upon the time I spoke those words, He cannot help but weep loudly.
It is an environment in which all leaders in the spirit world also shed tears. Such being the case, who could stand in front of those words and not be moved by them? (311-097, 1999/08/19)
18. Unification Church members should yearn for Hoon Dok Hae as much as I do. I yearn for Hoon Dok Hae. I spoke all the words; I know them all; and yet I still yearn for them.
They are the essential element of life that lasts for thousands of years. That is why you should hold on to these words and stay up nights reading them. You should feel that they are delicious even after you have held on to them all your life and read them over and over.
You should feel, after attending Hoon Dok Hae, that you cannot let go of those words and that you wish to carry them around all the time. (314-023, 1999/12/30)
19. True Father's words, the words of Hoon Dok Hae, united the spiritual world and the physical world.
From now on, both the spiritual world and the physical world need to hold discussions on the words of Hoon Dok Hae. You need to hold Hoon Dok Hae every day. The question is how heaven and earth can receive my teachings and complete them substantially through Hoon Dok Hae.
Therefore, in light of these teachings, when a father does wrong his son should advise him, and when a wife does wrong her husband should advise her. By definition, nobody is higher or lower.
You are all brothers and sisters in front of True Parents, and those of you in the realm of brother and sister can advise one another. In whatever place you find yourself, one of you should step forward and commence Hoon Dok Hae to unite all of you as one.
This is what I said 50 years ago. Hoon Dok Hae is an equalizing education that is held every day.
You need to live your whole life centering on the Word. Thereafter, you need to have spiritual experiences to see the spirit world, and create an environment where you can meet with your ancestors and thus hold exchanges with the spirit world.
You will not be able to communicate with them unless you know the Word. Only when you communicate through God's Word can the spirit world be directly connected to the physical world.
If your thoughts get mixed up in it, you cannot communicate.
(314-046, 1999/12/30)
20. In your lifetime, what do you wish to leave behind as the heirloom of your heart? You need to leave behind an heirloom. You need to leave behind an heirloom in the spirit world. This is a serious matter.
You are being evaluated. Therefore, you cannot live your life as you please.
I am weary and exhausted. What will happen when I go to the spirit world? You will have only my words.
You have met me and your emotions have resonated and harmonized with mine, and thus you and I have come to stand in the position of object partner and subject partner, but the Word is not like that. You need to realize the Word substantially.
The Word has no substance. When its owner dies, it is broken into pieces. That is why we are holding Hoon Dok Hae worldwide in this manner.
Why do I emphasize Hoon Dok Hae? It is to make you feel the true taste of the Word. You need to feel it more than you do when you meet me. When you meet me, it is only for an hour or two, but you can meet this Word eternally.
When you feel its depth, the Unification Church will paint all the heaven and earth with its colors instantly. (318-114, 2000/03/04)
21. You have no idea how seriously I do Hoon Dok Hae. There was a time when only a few people were in front of me when I spoke. I was so full of lamentation and I spoke like that even in front of only a few people.
I spoke of great things, not to thousands of people, but to dozens. Imagine how grievous my heart must have been. When you hold Hoon Dok Hae, you come into contact with the world of that heart, so you shed tears unconsciously, or you feel a lump in your throat without knowing why. That is the power of Hoon Dok Hae.
In terms of electricity, Hoon Dok Hae is a battery or generating plant. Not just anyone's words can have such an effect. I spoke those words as if on the verge of death. When the Word appears, it has never before been seen in the world. It is the Word of God.
This means wherever you are, with that Word at the center, the spirit world can work the miracle of resurrection. You need to understand how serious this is. They are not words that float away. They are the final words that you should leave behind for your descendants. (301-087, 1999/04/16)
22. You need this Hoon Dok Hae that you are doing on this earth. You need to settle down in accord with it. The spirit world is already carrying out this work.
The spirit world in its entirety could settle in less than a week, but you have no idea of the amount of work to be done on earth.
We are now living in an era where the family can settle through Hoon Dok Hae. That is why Hoon Dok Hae is important. It is a program for liberating your ancestors in the spirit world and also for liberating your descendants.
The past, the present, and the future are one. And in the future, when your parents become grandparents, you and your children together with your parents will form three generations. You need to build a bridge connecting these three generations on earth. (291-239, 1998/03/15)
23. Why do we hold Hoon Dok Hae? We hold Hoon Dok Hae because the time when I spoke those words was more serious than today. I spoke those words when on the verge of death.
You cannot fathom how serious I was then, and how much devotion I offered to say those words. Today we cannot reach that level of heart. Therefore, we listen to these words so that we can recall what my heart was like at the time.
Since I can recall the heart with which I spoke back then, I can tell even if one word or one punctuation mark is wrong. That is how serious it is.
Then have the words I have spoken come true or not? If I fail to translate those words into action, I need to take responsibility for that failure and do my best to finish that work before I die, even if it means I need to prolong the time it takes.
That is why I am looking for a way to do so. I need to put it in order. I would rather not leave anything but the Word behind, and I need to leave behind the substantial realization of the Word. (324-027, 2000/06/04)
24. You cannot do Hoon Dok Hae without tears. Hoon Dok Hae is necessary if you want the entire world of True Parents' hearts to settle in your family. In the future, Hoon Dok Hae needs to be held on the family level, church level, society level, national level, and world level.
The spirit world cooperated with True Parents as they fought their way through, and you can also receive this spirit world cooperation and go beyond the environment where Satan can accuse you, just by setting this condition. Therefore, Hoon Dok Hae is necessary. (292-216, 1998/04/17)
25. Hoon Dok Hae is fearsome. I spoke those words when I was in the gravest danger with my life at risk.
I spoke those words with a heart that all but burst and spread into all corners of heaven and earth, and that is why those words are still imbued with the heart of heaven and still alive with the cooperation of the spirit world.
They are eternal. They transcend time. Because this Word was alive yesterday and will remain alive today, when I hear those words in Hoon Dok Hae, I realize afresh that those words did not come from me. You must be drawn into such a state. (296-331, 1998/11/18)
26. When the sun rises in the morning, though it may look different from day to day, it still provides the same light for the same world. Because this power exists, the universe enjoys it and is eternally grateful for receiving it. In the same way, through Hoon Dok Hae God is alive and is making relationships of deep affection that can continue in the eternal world, transcending time and space.
These relationships are formed at the place where one is hanging between life and death. Those who are willing to die will live. It is my job to die, and it is God's job to save me from death. A person who has never been in such a serious position will drift away. They will pass by. You need to have roots. (296-332, 1998/11/18)
27. You need to place great importance on Hoon Dok Hae. It should be more important for you than eating. And you should feel an interest and a liking for Hoon Dok Hae. If you were to ask yourself the question, “Where am I going now?
How am I living my life? What grade would you give yourself? You need to grade everything. After all, you are the one who knows yourself best.
Thereafter, you need to bring 160 families or 180 families to receive the Blessing, and when this one tribe comes to be registered, your attitude becomes even more important.
Hoon Dok Hae should be more delicious than eating food, and it should be more real than the life you live now. Even if you forget to eat, you should not forget to hold Hoon Dok Hae.
You should hold it morning, noon, and night. And after you have had your dinner, you should do Hoon Dok Hae if you have time. You
should hold it at least four times a day. To sum it up, you should do Hoon Dok Hae when you wake up in the morning after you have had your lunch, after you have had your dinner, and one more time right before you go to bed. Then your spiritual life force will grow.
And when you do not do Hoon Dok Hae, it will feel stuffy, almost as if the day were dark, rainy, and foggy. You need to place more importance on Hoon Dok Hae than even your prayer time. It is the path to perfecting yourself. It is the time through which True Parents can perfect you. (295-274, 1998/09/08)
28. How should you do Hoon Dok Hae? In the age of creating the history of Hoon Dok Hae worldwide, the ones in the world who hold Hoon Dok Hae before others will be the pillars and the central leaders in their locality and, further, in their nation.
Those who have been educated at the Center for the Education of Ideal Families for World Peace have the responsibility to go out to the world and educate others.
You should not worry about your livelihood. Even if you have sold your house and your land and are wandering around like a refugee, you will eventually come to settle in the position of the world's leading ancestors of Hoon Dok Hae.
In this way, it will be possible to globalize Hoon Dok Hae, and that means it will be possible to globalize the Blessing. Such a wonderful future lies before us.
In every nook and cranny, you need to organize the small units, blocks, and neighborhoods, and those in charge of them should shoulder the responsibility of educating the residents.
You should educate everyone in your area so that they all reach the same spiritual level as a similar area in the spirit world, making your area level with the spirit world, with no difference between the two. (296-221, 1998/11/10)
29. Anyone who can think Hoon Dok Hae should just go and do it. If there is a teaching whose words move your heart and straighten out your path, you should read it in Hoon Dok Hae. If you do not do so, you will fall back. You should not open your mouth recklessly. Now you have no choice but to do it.
We have begun a movement that can move blocks, neighborhoods, and even towns. It is a global movement. Since nations in the world are adopting Korea as the fatherland of faith, the people of the central area, the people who live on the soil of the homeland, should be the first Hoon Dok Hae champions. For that reason, we are carrying out this work on a national scale. (290-160, 1998/02/18)
Sun Myung Moon