WS-II - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Prayer and Worship Prayer PRAYER LIES AT THE CORE OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE in most religions. The passages collected here discuss the efficacy of prayer and give guidance on how to pray. Through prayer, we develop a relationship with God, exposing our inner life to Him and receiving His grace. In prayer we repent for our sins, ask God for help, and receive God’s guidance. We learn to trust in God to fulfill our prayers, and to follow His guidance for what we should do to progress in our life of faith. Conversely, God can begin to trust us as we declare our intention in prayer to do good, and then strive to fulfill it. Thus, prayer life can develop into a living relationship with God, as substantial as with a friend or indeed, with our own parents.

Prayer directs our heart to God and purifies it, providing a natural defense against temptations and the evil promptings of our fallen self. As we cultivate a taste for prayer, it nourishes our spirit and brightens our entire life. We receive divine energy in our conscience to do what is right, strength of character to endure hardships, and comfort in our heart as we seek to love.

Some of these texts give instruction on how to pray. Prayer should be done constantly, sometimes with vigils far into the night. Prayer should be honest; it is quiet and sincere conversation from the heart. Prayer should be accompanied by deeds; the prayer of the hypocrite is without effect. Among the best prayers are those that put the welfare of others ahead of oneself and, as Father Moon teaches, prayers to comfort God’s heart. Some representative prayers can be found in the Invocation which opens this anthology.

1. God Answers Prayer Your Lord says, “Call on Me; I will answer your prayer.”

Qur’an 40.60

The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.

Psalm 145.18

When My servants ask you concerning Me, I am indeed Close to them. I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calls on Me.1 Qur’an 2.186

Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you.

Psalm 55.22

Lord of creation! No one other than Thee pervades all these that have come into being.

May that be ours for which our prayers rise, may we be masters of many treasures!

Rig Veda 10.121.10 (Hinduism)

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Mark 11.24

Is any one among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith 795

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will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.

The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects. Elijah was a man of like nature with ourselves and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again and heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.

You must always pray unto the Father in my name; and whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing you shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you. Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed.

Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 18.19-21 (Latter-day Saints)

James 5.13-18

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon Prayer is calling to God and conversing with Him. (270:17, May 3, 1995) Prayer is a covenant between man and God; it is a pledge. Whatever you pray about, you have to practice.

There is no need to pray for the same thing day after day. You only need to pray for it once with genuine sincerity. Then seek and long for it with a prayerful heart even if it takes ten or twenty years to be fulfilled. (40:299, February 7, 1971) Prayer is making a wish. By making a wish, you place yourself in an object position to God, the Subject. You set up a subject-object relationship of love.

Having unfulfilled wishes and longings is good, because they motivate us to make this relationship. Because we lack confidence to fulfill them ourselves, we pray… clinging to God. (112:54, March 29, 1981) Through prayer you receive strength. Through prayer you are given wisdom to know how situations will develop in the future. You will be taught how to deal with every work. The wisdom gained through prayer can equip you for a great mission. Prayer is indispensable if you are pioneering a such a path. (104:111, April 15, 1979) [In times of difficulty], pray and ask God for His power to sustain you on the path. Declare your determination: “Father, although I might die for this work, I will do it. Though I suffer from hunger and thirst, I will cling to Thee, my God.” Thus, your prayer is a pledge and a proclamation.

Once you have made that proclamation, then on your own, decide your course and determine to accomplish it. Practice love; then surely God will listen and encourage you to go forward.

Once you have prayed, as long as you practice what you have prayed about, overcoming obstacles one by one, then God will approve of you and recognize you as a trustworthy person. (112:54, March 29, 1981) Test the power of your prayer. Pray every day for one person [without telling him]. Pray tearfully for his well-being, and see what happens. Amazingly, he will feel a magnetic attraction to you. He will feel drawn to you, but he won’t know why. (104:113, April 15, 1979)

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When you make a request in prayer, it passes through several stages before it is answered. And when it is answered, the answer may come in an unexpected way. Furthermore, when you pray for a blessing, depending on your condition, you may receive a certain amount of blessing, only to have something else taken away…

We are also praying for the world. When your personal devotions and efforts at spreading the Word do not go well, do not worry that your prayers are ineffective. Continue praying, and far away something in the communist world crumbles. Yet it takes time. So pray for something that will not come to pass in your lifetime but thousands of years from now. I am praying such prayers; therefore the work of God will continue to flourish for thousands of years after I am gone, until my prayers are fully answered. (104:110, April 15, 1979)

❖ 2. Prayer Protects Against Evil Prayer restrains one from shameful and unjust deeds; and remembrance of God is the greatest thing in life, without doubt.

Qur’an 29.45

Beings possessed by carnal passions, anger, or infatuation have but to revere and remember the Bodhisattva Kuan Shih Yin and they will be set free from their passions.2 Lotus Sutra 25 (Buddhism)

What lies between a man and infidelity is the abandonment of prayer.

Hadith of Muslim (Islam)

Establish regular prayers at the two ends of the day and at the approaches of the night: for those things that are good remove those that are evil.

This is a word of remembrance to those who remember.3

Qur’an 11.114

In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

Say, “I take refuge in the Lord of mankind, the King of mankind, the God of mankind, from the evil of the sneaking whisperer who whispers in the hearts of mankind, of the jinn and of mankind.”4 Qur’an 114

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon Prayer is needed to purify the mind and spirit. It is necessary training to purify the mind and to focus the mind on God. (181:325, October 3, 1988) When we are going the wrong way, prayer guides us to the right direction. (45:247, July 4, 1971) Those who pray do not make serious mistakes; they know what to do.

Once you develop the habit of prayer and relish its taste, you will find it tastier than food and more interesting than listening to music or watching a movie. Moreover, you will find that you are better able to distinguish between good and evil and make the correct choices in life. (128:172, June 12, 1983)

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Through prayer you should know the invisible enemy and discern the enemy’s manifest works.5 (19:146, January 1, 1968) Through prayer, your mind should completely subjugate your body. Through prayer, your conscience will receive energy and become one with God vertically; then Satan will surely flee away. Through a life of prayer, you cultivate the path for uniting mind and body and for connecting with God, becoming one with Him. Then God will be within you, and Satan will have no choice but to run away. (229:7, April 9, 1992)

❖ 3. Prayer from the Heart There is a polish for everything that becomes rusty, and the polish for the heart is the remembrance of God. Hadith of Tirmidhi (Islam)

“To serve the Lord your God with all your heart” [Deut. 11.13]. What is a service with the heart?

It is prayer.

Sifre Deuteronomy 41 (Judaism)

Set me free, I entreat Thee from my heart; If I do not pray to Thee with my heart, Thou hearest me not.

If I pray to Thee with my heart, Thou knowest it and art gracious unto me.

Boran Prayer (African Traditional Religions)

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalm 19.14

Always let a man test himself: if he can direct his heart, let him pray; if he cannot, let him not pray.

Talmud, Berakot 30b (Judaism)

Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart…

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners will return to thee…

The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Psalm 51.6-17

People are granted birth into this world by the kami. Accordingly, the mind of a person is something which communes with the will of the kami, and one must thus avoid doing anything which would impair that mind. To be visited with the blessings of the kami, one must first direct one’s mind wholeheartedly to prayer; to be granted the protection of the kami, one must make a foundation of honesty. In this way, the person’s pristine, undefiled mind will be awakened to the original, profound way.

Of all the prayers of the heart, the best prayer is the prayer to the Master to be given the grace of properly praising the Lord.

Records of the Enshrinement of the Two Imperial Deities at Ise (Shinto)

Adi Granth, Maru Ashtpadi, M.5, p. 1018 (Sikhism)

Prayer is an act of daring. How else could a mortal utter a prayer before the Kings of Kings?

Nachman of Breslov (Judaism)

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Teachings of Sun Myung Moon Do not pray casually, but ask your original mind. Do not pray looking up into the sky, but look into your mind. Open the door of your mind. (308:16, November 21, 1998) When you pray, your heart should be as desperate as a baby crying for mother’s milk. (18:185, June 6, 1967) When you pray, do not think that God is up in the sky. God is right behind your mind. First you have to battle to focus your mind. As your mind and body become more and more united they rise up, connecting to the realm of resonance. (306:255: September 23, 1998) Do not pray when you are in a fickle mood. Rather, you should pray when you are in the most profound and heavenly state of mind. Your mind should abide at the center of your heart, not near the borderline.

When you want to pray about an important matter in your life, first purify yourself. Make sure your environment is free from worldly distractions and your inner state is far removed from the borderline; then pray. (123:80, December 12, 1982) Pray with all sincerity, never wavering… “Heavenly Father, how can I best attend Thee? How sincerely have I attended Thee? Have I properly represented my family, my community, my tribe and my nation before Thee?” You can know the answer at once, and knowing it, you shed tears. Fallen people cannot attend Heavenly Father without tears of repentance. Without cleansing we cannot re-create our environment, which having been lost sorely needs re-creation…

Do you weep when thinking about your nation? Do you wail in repentance when thinking about the world? Since Heavenly Father is weeping for them, and the Lord [Christ] is also weeping for them, you people on earth should be doing the same. When you stand with God and Christ, you can participate in their life. (171:19, December 5, 1987) Whether I am in the east or the west, prayer helps me to move in a circular orbit around the Axis.

I can then participate in the realm of life where God dwells. However, people usually do not live centered on the Axis. They live a casual life, as they want… Prayer is what tunes me to the center point. (171:14, December 5, 1987) How does one make a true prayer? By overcoming obstacles with patience, love and sacrifice. People who live this way see their prayers fulfilled. They do not even need to pray, since they are already advancing to fulfill it. (112:52, March 29, 1981)

❖ 4. How to Pray Call on your Lord with humility and in private.

Qur’an 7.55

When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in

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secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not

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be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Prayer should not be recited as if a man were reading a document.

Matthew 6.7-8

Jerusalem Talmud, Berakot 4.3 (Judaism)

O believers, when you stand up to pray wash your faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and wipe your heads, and your feet up to the ankles. If you are defiled, purify yourselves; but if you are sick or on a journey, or if any of you comes from the privy, or have touched women, and you can find no water, then have recourse to wholesome dust and wipe your faces and hands with it. God does not desire to make any impediment for you; but He desires to purify you, and that He may complete His blessing upon you; haply you will be thankful.

It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.

Mohandas K. Gandhi6 (Hinduism)

The Great Spirit is everywhere; He hears whatever is in our minds and hearts, and it is not necessary to speak to Him in a loud voice.

Black Elk (Native American Religions)

Qur’an 5.6

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon When you pray, you should shed tears and sweat. (112:54, March 29, 1981) What prayer position do you prefer? The best is to kneel and lower your head. You have to restrict your body. You will feel pain and discomfort, but you must be serious to overcome it. Then God will accept you as His. (104:110, April 15, 1979) Prayer is powerful. It is a pledge, an oath and a proclamation to Heaven. (240:35, December 11, 1992) The way of righteousness requires that we declare our intentions and then report what we do. First declare in your prayer, “Father, I will do such and such today,” and later on report, “I have accomplished those things today.” (308:211, January 5, 1999) Prayer is to honestly report your situation to God; then you draw closer to Him. Since you are not just saying idle words but reporting what you have practiced, your report remains as a record. Because your report remains as a record, God acts to give blessings. That is why a person who prays is powerful. Though he prays quietly, he is a powerful person. (233:105, July 30, 1992) The Tao—the spiritual path—begins with prayer. Traditionally, people pray in the mountains. They pray in the mountain fastness, alone and solitary. In such a place you should cultivate yourself.

(157:13, February 1, 1967)

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5. Pray Constantly, Day and Night Pray constantly.

Rabbi Johanan said, “Would that man could pray all day, for a prayer never loses its value.”

1 Thessalonians 5.17

Celebrate constantly the praises of your Lord, before the rising of the sun and before its setting; yea, celebrate them for part of the hours of the night, and the sides of the day: that you may have spiritual joy.

Jerusalem Talmud, Berakot 1.1 (Judaism)

O you wrapped up in your raiment!

Keep vigil the night long, save a little— A half thereof, or abate a little thereof Or add [a little] thereto and chant the Qur’an in measure, For We shall charge you with a word of weight.

Lo! The vigil of the night is when impression is more keen and speech more certain.

Lo! You have by day a chain of business.

So remember the name of thy Lord and devote thyself with complete devotion.

Qur’an 20.130

I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.

Psalm 16.7

The truest vision comes a little before daybreak.

Hadith of Tirmidhi and Darimi (Islam)

Qur’an 73.1-8

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon In the Bible we read that we should pray constantly. Why is it a crucial teaching to live by? Satan controls this fallen world. He lures us every which way and continually afflicts us with pain and suffering. The only way God’s power can reach us is in the perpendicular direction of the Spirit.

(201:208, April 9, 1990) When you pray for public things all day and all night, your prayer becomes a living prayer. Then every few years the level of your prayer will advance, with different topics for the prayer. (104:112, April 15, 1979) Pray often to touch limitless spiritual power. That power should become the main spring of your life.

(Way of God’s Will 2.2) Indescribable joy comes from a life of prayer. You enter the state of God’s thought at the time of creation. (29:321, March 13, 1970) Pray a lot. Although you may live alone, if you pray hard you will never be lonely. Prayer is like breathing. If you pray a lot, you will become spiritually bright. You will become very sensitive and acquire the ability to discern good and evil. Effective prayer requires sacrifices and special devotions.

(30:283, April 4, 1970) Prayer supplies the warehouse of the heart. If you do not have time to pray, pray through the work you do. (27:89, October 26, 1969) When you become a person of complete character, your life becomes a prayer. (Way of God’s Will 2.2)

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6. Unselfish Prayer He who prays for his fellowman, while he himself has the same need, will be answered first.

Talmud, Baba Kamma 92a (Judaism)

The pure whom you have found worthy for their righteousness and their good mind, Fulfil their desire, O Wise Lord, let them attain it!

I know that words of prayer which serve a good end Are successful before you.

Avesta, Yasna 28.10 (Zoroastrianism)

Sitting cross-legged, They should wish that all beings Have firm and strong roots of goodness And attain the state of immovability.

Cultivating concentration, They should wish that all beings Conquer their minds by concentration Ultimately, with no remainder.

When practicing contemplation, They should wish that all beings See truth as it is And be forever free of opposition and contention.

Garland Sutra 11 (Buddhism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon Your prayers will definitely be realized if they are not for selfish ends but in accordance with God’s Will and righteousness. (104:109, April 15, 1979) Instead of praying to receive a blessing, pray that you can offer devotion for God’s sake. To pray out of a desire to receive a blessing is a selfish prayer. It is better to pray asking God’s blessing on the nation and the world. (126:339, May 1, 1983) My teaching is this: Do not pray for yourself. Pray for the fulfillment of your mission, pray for others, and offer your prayer as words of comfort to God. (91:117, February 3, 1977) People who are experienced in the spiritual life know to pray for themselves at the very last. If you enter into the realm of the holy, the realm of the spiritual, you will naturally pray for God first. And the moment you meet the Lord, you want to invoke blessings upon Him. By praying for God’s sake, you can know God’s heart throughout history. Next you should pray for Jesus; then you will understand his heart when he walked the earth. Then you should pray representing the multitudes of saints in Christendom who have fought for the great Will of the dispensation, putting yourself in their places. Following in the footsteps of all the prophets and saints who walked the path of faith since the fall of Adam and Eve, you should pray in tears, “Please allow me to become an offering to cleanse all their sorrows.” After you have finished that prayer, you may pray for your beloved children, and lastly for yourself. That is the order, according to heavenly law.

(7:328, October 18, 1959) When in prayer we pledge before God to advance the foundation of Heaven’s victory at the cost of sacrificing ourselves, God takes responsibility and fulfills our prayer. To fulfill the content of our prayers, God does not walk an easy path. He goes through many courses to arrive at the place to meet our requests. When you stand in the most miserable situation akin to God’s, then God can

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directly take action; otherwise God cannot act. As long as we stand in a sacrificial and sorrowful situation, and our true heart corresponds with God’s desire, then God will recognize us and be merciful to us. (18:269, June 12, 1967)

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Meditation MEDITATION CLEANSES THE MIND OF ALL OBSTRUCTIONS and opens the door to Ultimate Reality that lies within. The various techniques of meditation all have in common the restricting of the body and sense stimuli, controlling the mind’s wandering thoughts and feelings, and finally attaining a pure state of stillness where the true Self-nature can reveal itself.

While most of our scriptural sources on meditation describe its practice in the Eastern religion, meditation is also widespread in Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Mystics, monastics, Sufis and Kabbalists all developed meditative techniques to raise practitioners to a higher state of communion with the Spirit of God. Silent meditation is often employed as preparation for prayer, as a time of quiet when the mind is calmed and clarified and its spiritual senses heightened before communing with God. Father Moon values meditation in this context.

He sometimes calls it “prayer,” but what he means is a meditative, stilling technique that is an element of effective prayer.

The topic of meditation is vast, and one can practice it for a lifetime without getting to the end of it. Some aspects presented here include: quieting one’s thoughts, focusing on the breath, developing intense concentration, the discipline of “mindfulness” of one’s body, feelings, and thoughts, visualization of a divine image, and the shamanistic quest for a supernatural vision.

1. One-Pointed Concentration Concentration is unafflicted one-pointedness.

Nagarjuna, Precious Garland 437 (Buddhism)

Within the lotus of the heart He dwells, where the nerves meet like the spokes of a wheel at its hub. Meditate on Him as OM. Easily may you cross the sea of darkness.

Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.6 (Hinduism)

Can you keep the unquiet physical soul from straying, hold fast to the Unity, and never quit it?

Can you, when concentrating your breath, make it soft like that of a little child?

Can you wipe and cleanse your vision of the Mystery till all is without blur?

Tao Te Ching 10 (Taoism)

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On one occasion a certain monk was seated not far from the Buddha in cross-legged posture, holding his body upright, enduring pain that was the fruit born of former action, pain racking, sharp, and bitter; but he was mindful, composed, and uncomplaining. Seeing the monk so seated and so employed, the Buddha gave this utterance: For the monk who has left behind all karma, And shaken off the dust aforetime gathered, Who stands fast without thought of “I” or “mine”— For such there is no need to talk to people.

Udana 20, Nanda sutta (Buddhism)

Arouse your entire body with its three hundred and sixty bones and joints and its eighty-four thousand pores of skin; summon up a spirit of

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self-pity… all these I abandon with body, mind, and speech. I further renounce all delight and all repulsion of a sexual nature.

Whether it is life or death, whether gain or loss, whether defeat or victory, whether meeting or separation, whether friend or enemy, whether pleasure or pain, I have equanimity towards all.

In [attaining] knowledge, insight, and proper conduct, [the cause] is invariably nothing but my own soul. Similarly, my soul is cause for both the influx of karmas and the stopping of that influx.

One and eternal is my soul, characterized by intuition and knowledge; all other states that I undergo are external to me, for they are formed by associations. Because of these associations my soul has suffered the chains of misery; therefore I renounce with body, mind, and speech, all relationships based on such associations.

Thus have I attained to equanimity and to my own self-nature. May this state of equanimity be with me until I attain salvation.8

great doubt and concentrate on the word “mu” [nothingness]. Carry it continually day and night. Do not form a nihilistic conception of vacancy, or a relative conception of “has” or “has not.” It will be just as if you swallowed a red-hot iron ball, which you cannot spit out even if you try. All the illusory ideas and delusive thoughts accumulated up to the present will be exterminated, and when the time comes, internal and external will be spontaneously united. You will know this, but for yourself only, like a dumb man who has had a dream. Then all of a sudden an explosive conversion will occur, and you will astonish the heavens and shake the earth.7 Mumonkan 1 (Buddhism)

As long as I am seated in this meditation, I shall patiently suffer all calamities that might befall me, be they caused by an animal, a human being or a god.

I renounce, for the duration of this meditation, my body, all food, and all passions.

Attachment, aversion, fear, sorrow, joy, anxiety,

Samayika Patha (Jainism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon There is a reason why people on the path to enlightenment go off to meditate in the mountains.

We cultivate external determination based on our internal determination—the confidence that we will not deviate from our course no matter what obstacles we encounter. We must have the conviction that even if we fall to the bottom, we will support our minds and bodies. Without this conviction, there is no way we can run the race, or even enter the stadium. Each of us is a racer who is competing in some event; therefore we should train ourselves with unchanging conviction in order to reach the goal. The attitude of a devout believer—the attitude of a person walking the path to enlightenment—is like that of a racer competing in a race. You must have this attitude.

Whether awake or asleep, you should have a burning desire to accomplish your goal. (7:135, August 9, 1959)

❖ 2. Breathing to the Rhythm of the Cosmic Breath Undivided I am, undivided my soul, undivided my sight, undivided my hearing;

undivided my in-breathing, undivided my out-breathing, undivided my diffusive breath; undivided the whole of me.

Atharva Veda 19.51.1 (Hinduism)

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Pure spirit reaches in the four directions, flows now this way, now that—there is no place it does not extend to. Above, it brushes heaven; below, it coils on the earth. It transforms and nurses the ten thousand things, but no one can make out its form. Its name is called One-withHeaven. The way to purity and whiteness is to guard the spirit, this alone; guard it and never lose it, and you will become one with spirit, one with its pure essence, which communicates and mingles with the Heavenly Order.9

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Holding the body steady, with the three upper parts erect, And causing the senses with the mind to enter into the heart, A wise man with the Brahma-boat should cross over All the fear-bringing streams.

Having repressed his breathings here in the body, and having his movements checked, One should breathe through his nostrils with diminished breath.

Like that chariot yoked with vicious horses, His mind the wise man should restrain undistractedly.

Chuang Tzu 15 (Taoism)

Svetasvatara Upanishad 2.8-9 (Hinduism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon Get up early in the morning and pray. When praying, listen to the sound of your heart. Think of the origin of your heart, imagining that the harmony of heaven and earth is flowing through your arteries and veins. Then, your health will improve. (27:85, November 26, 1969) How can we experience the heart of God, when He rejoiced upon creating all things? Meditate on Him from morning till evening sunset while sitting in a garden or a mountain meadow. Be so immersed in your meditation that you lose track of time. Breathe in deeply, and the air of the universe will come to you with life force. Live along with the life force of the universe. Exhale, and all beings will come alive anew. If you enter a state of deep relaxation, all things will harmonize with you. You will attain the position of an absolute being that can have dominion over all creations…

Exhale, and all things receive; inhale, and all things give out. If you reciprocate with the creation centered on love, all things in the universe will interact with each other. Keep on relating with them and become their center of harmony. Thus you will become a being who resembles nature in all its beauty, like the universe itself. Once you dwell in that state, you will become a center of harmony for the whole universe. (29:133, February 26, 1970) What does the nose symbolize? With its two nostrils, it represents Adam and Eve, male and female.

The right nostril symbolizes the male and the left nostril the female. God breathes through these holes. What does God breathe? He breathes the air of love. The atmosphere of the spirit world is love. Man and woman were created as partners of love, to be trained in love here on earth and then breathe love in the spirit world. When you have a cold and can only breathe through one nostril, it is like a divorce. When you can only breathe through your mouth, it is as if God can only breathe through the things of creation but not through man and woman, whom He needs to breathe properly. (118:111, May 9, 1982)

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3. Quiet the Mind and Enter a Calm State, Empty of Self When all the senses are stilled, when the mind is at rest, when the intellect wavers not—then, say the wise, is reached the highest state.

Katha Upanishad 2.6.10 (Hinduism)

Wherever the mind wanders, restless and diffuse in its search for satisfaction without, lead it within; train it to rest in the Self. Abiding joy comes to those who still the mind. Freeing themselves from the taint of self-will, with their consciousness unified, they become one with God. Bhagavad-Gita 6.26-27 (Hinduism)

The wise man should surrender his words to his mind; and this he should surrender to the Knowing Self; and the Knowing Self he should surrender to the Great Self; and that he should surrender to the Peaceful Self.10 Katha Upanishad 3.13 (Hinduism)

Be still, and know that I am God.

For luxuriantly as they grow, Each of them will return to its root.

To return to the root is called quietude, Which is also said to be reversion to one’s destiny.

This reversion belongs with the eternal: To know the eternal is enlightenment.

Tao Te Ching 16 (Taoism)

The Self-existent pierced sense openings outward; therefore a man looks out, not in.

But a certain wise man, in search of immortality, turned his gaze inward and saw the Self within.11 Katha Upanishad 4.1 (Hinduism)

The wise, self-controlled, and tranquil souls, who are contented in spirit, and who practice austerity and meditation in solitude and silence, are freed from all impurity, and attain by the path of liberation the immortal, the truly existing, the changeless Self.

Mundaka Upanishad 1.2.7-11 (Hinduism)

Psalm 46.10

Block the passages, Shut the doors, Let all sharpness be blunted, All tangles untied, All glare tempered, All dust smoothed.

This is called mysterious leveling.

Tao Te Ching 56 (Taoism)

Only after knowing what to abide in can one be calm. Only after having been calm can one be tranquil. Only after having achieved tranquility can one have peaceful repose. Only after having peaceful repose can one begin to deliber­ate. Only after deliberation can the end be attained. Things have their roots and their branches. Affairs have their beginnings and their ends. To know what is first and what is last will lead one near the Way.12 Great Learning (Confucianism)

Attain utmost vacuity; Hold fast to quietude.

While the myriad things are stirring together, I see only their return.

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Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be silent.

Psalm 4.4

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Teachings of Sun Myung Moon We need training in the way we think and the way we use our mind. Meditation and prayer are methods for cultivating the mind. (67:178, June 10, 1973) Zen meditation brings your mind to a level place on the horizontal line. There you lose consciousness of self. Consciousness is formed through resonance; in that horizontal state it can resonate with wavelengths coming from the vertical world. (296:203, November 9, 1998) When we pray or meditate, as when Buddhists practice Zen, we are seeking a state that is void of self. What is our goal in seeking this state? It is to awaken the elements that can become the nucleus of the mind. If you set that one standard and establish the center of your mind, you will see, hear and cognize everything in accord with the principles of Heaven. Then you can offer a full bow before God and return Him glory. (2:193, May 19, 1957) We seek the deep ravine of the world of mind. Buddhists who meditate also ask, “What is mind?” and enter the deep ravine of the mind. When you enter the deep ravine of the mind and journey to the state of the original mind before the Human Fall, you will be connected to Heaven. Indeed, without entering the world of the mind, you cannot make a relationship with Heaven.

As long as we are holding on to the world, we cannot contact or attend Heaven. Human beings are composed of mind and body, yet because spirit and flesh are in opposition, we are unable to attain the original world of the mind in a state of mind-body unity. Instead, the journey to the world of the mind requires that we deny the world of body—deny it one hundred percent. We have to remove all that the body desires and isolate ourselves from the world. We have to separate from the world and put it behind us. This is the religious path; it is opposite the ways of the world. It seeks that original point to which we should return. (21:37-38, September 1, 1968) Make your mind taut like a round air-filled balloon. If you are insecure or self-centered, or if you are approaching things from a personal viewpoint, then your mind is not round but wrinkled and jagged.

Therefore, you need to stretch your mind and make it round.

When your mind rolls like a ball, it makes smooth contact with a flat plane. But if it is jagged, only the points make contact. In that case, it will not smoothly stimulate anything but will act against everything. That is when we feel conscience-stricken, and if we continue this way gradually the standard of our conscience will decline.

Therefore, you need to keep your mind taut like a round balloon. Then upon receiving a stimulus, the whole of it will resonate. Take two tuning forks and strike one; the other will vibrate with the same frequency. A well-rounded mind makes a good resonating vessel. It has the sensitivity to feel the spiritual vibration coming from the Subject Being. Therefore, when living a life of faith, you need to take time to meditate. Meditate while longing for goodness. When you meditate, open the door of your mind completely and make your mind round.

Then, God’s original nature and your original nature will resonate together. The individual qualities of your mind [e.g., your spring-like personality] will resonate completely with those same qualities of God, uniting you in a complete relationship with the Subject Being. In that state, when you go out to pursue your desired purpose, God will certainly be with you. (40:278, February 7, 1971)

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4. Mindfulness—Awareness of All Thoughts and Feelings There is this one way, monks, for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and misery, for the destruction of pain and grief, for winning the right path, for the attainment of Nibbana, namely the Four Arousings of Mindfulness. What are these four?

Here a monk lives contemplating the body in the body… contemplating feelings in feelings… contemplating consciousness in consciousness… and contemplating mental objects in mental objects, ardent, clearly conscious and mindful, having overcome in this world, covetousness and dejection.

And how, monks, does a monk live contemplating body in the body?

Here a monk, having gone to the forest, sits down cross-legged keeping his body erect and setting up mindfulness in front of him.

Mindful he breathes in, mindful he breathes out. Breathing in long, he knows, “I breathe in long.” Breathing out long, he knows, “I breathe out long.” Breathing in short, he knows, “I breathe in short.” Breathing out short, he knows, “I breathe out short.” “Experiencing the whole body I shall breathe out,” thus he trains himself…

And further, a monk knows when he is going, “I am going”; he knows when he is standing, “I am standing”; he knows when he is sitting, “I am sitting”; he knows when he is lying down, “I am lying down”; or just as the body is disposed so he knows it…

And further, a monk reflects on this very body enveloped by the skin and full of manifold impurity from the soles up and from the crown of the head down, thinking, “There are in this body: hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, marrow, kidney, heart, liver, membranes, spleen, lungs, bowels, intestines, mesentery, feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, saliva, mucus, synovic fluid, urine.”… And seeing a body dead for one day, or two or three, swollen, discolored, decomposing, thrown aside in the

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cemetery, he applies this perception to his own body, “Truly, this body of mine, too, is of the same nature, it will become like that and will not escape it.”…

And how, monks, does a monk live contemplating feelings in feelings?

Here a monk when experiencing a pleasant feeling knows, “I experience a pleasant feeling”; when experiencing a painful feeling knows, “I experience a painful feeling”; when experiencing a feeling that is neither pleasant nor painful knows, “I experience a neither pleasant nor painful feeling.”…

And how does a monk live contemplating consciousness in consciousness?

Here, monks, a monk knows the consciousness with craving as with craving; the consciousness without craving as without craving; the consciousness with anger as with anger; the consciousness without anger as without anger; the consciousness with ignorance as with ignorance; the consciousness without ignorance as without ignorance…

And how does a monk live contemplating mental objects in mental objects?

Here, monks, a monk lives contemplating mental objects in the mental objects of the five hindrances. When sense desire is present, a monk knows, “There is sense desire in me,” or when sense desire is not present he knows, “There is no sense desire in me.”… When anger is present, he knows… when sloth and torpor is present, he knows… when restlessness and worry are present, he knows… when doubt is present, he knows…

Truly, monks, whoever practices these Four Settings up of Mindfulness for seven years, then one of two results may be expected by him: highest knowledge here and now or, if some remainder of clinging is yet present, the state of non-returning.13 Majjhima Nikaya 1.55-63, Satipatthana Sutta (Buddhism)

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mind depends upon anything it has no sure haven.

Leave behind all phenomenal distinctions and awaken the thought of the Consummation of Incomparable Enlightenment by not allowing the mind to depend upon notions evoked by the sensible world—by not allowing the mind to depend upon notions evoked by sounds, odors, flavors, touch-contacts, or any qualities. The mind should be kept independent of any thoughts which arise within it. If the

Diamond Sutra 14 (Buddhism)

Man’s feelings are the evil aspect of his nature.

If one realizes they are evil, then this evil will not exist in the first place. If the mind is in the state of absolute quiet and inactivity, depraved thoughts will cease of themselves.

Li Ao (Confucianism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon In the mind there is a door, called the door to the mind. God enters through that door. That door does not open only to one direction. Since the mind is in motion, the door is also in motion. For God (plus) to enter through this door, we should relate to Him as a minus (object partner). Yet if our direction is slightly off, even by just a degree, the door will not open.

There indeed exists a door to the mind of each human being. You can discern it in your prayers.

The feeling you get when you pray changes depending upon the time of day. Praying at 1:00 a.m. has a different feeling than praying at 3:00 a.m. Try it yourself, and you will sense the difference. If you pray in a deep mysterious state, you will feel different depending upon what time you are praying.

The feelings of your prayers in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening are all different.

The same is with the state of our mind. Our emotions change with the seasons, our feelings towards our loved ones change; in such ways the world of the mind is constantly changing. That is why we need to discover the best time to pray. You need to pray when your spiritual senses are keen, so your sensitivity to God will be high. As you enter deeper and deeper into a state of feeling connected to God, you will eventually reach the door to the mind.

The door to your mind connects with the door to God’s mind. Once it opens, the way unfolds to experience God’s feelings.

What should you do to enter such a state? You should cultivate your mind. First, examine the state of your mind. It was originally to be at the zero point, but because of the Fall its direction has deviated by 180 degrees. Although your mind is supposed to rest at the zero point, because of the Fall it behaves randomly and unpredictably. Your first task is to return it to the original point.

Since we are 180 degrees opposite the zero point, we should struggle to turn around in a clockwise direction. As we move in this direction seeking the zero point, we will feel a minus-like sensation.

Nevertheless, most people are inclined to go counterclockwise. Yet going in that direction they will not succeed, even if they continue for a thousand years. Everyone must return to the zero point…

If your mind is deviated from the path by a certain angle, you should adjust your mind’s direction by the opposite angle and return it to the proper course… Each of us has a good mind and an evil mind. You may think that your mind is always good, it is not so. As a result of the Fall, human beings are contaminated by Satan’s realm of evil minds. We struggle to remain in the realm of good minds.

For this reason, what is most important is to find the zero point and reach the door to the mind.

Learning how to do this is crucial in our life of faith. Therefore, you should learn to discern when is the right moment to open the door to your mind and how to match it to the door of God’s mind.

(76:127-129, February 2, 1975)

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5. Visualizations and Visions Fog, smoke, sun, fire, wind, Fireflies, lightning, a crystal, a moon— These are the preliminary appearances, Which produce the manifestation of Brahman in yoga.

Svetasvatara Upanishad 2.11 (Hinduism)

Buddha then replied to Vaidehi, “You and all other beings besides ought to make it their only aim, with concentrated thought, to get a perception of the Western Quarter. You will ask how that perception is to be formed. I will explain it now. All beings, if not blind from birth, are uniformly possessed of sight, and they all see the setting sun. You should sit down properly, looking in the western direction, and prepare your thought for a close meditation on the sun; cause your mind to be firmly fixed on it so as to have an unwavering perception by the exclusive application of your thought, and gaze upon it when it is about to set and looks like a suspended drum.

“After you have thus seen the sun, let that image remain clear and fixed, whether your eyes be shut or open—such is the perception of the sun, which is the First Meditation.

“Next you should form the perception of water; gaze on the water clear and pure, and let [this image] also remain clear and fixed; never allow your thought to be scattered or lost.

“When you have thus seen the water you should form the perception of ice. As you see the ice shining and transparent, you should imagine the appearance of lapis lazuli.

“After that has been done, you will see the ground consisting of lapis lazuli, transparent and shining both within and without. Beneath this ground of lapis lazuli there will be seen a golden banner with the seven jewels, diamonds and the rest, supporting the ground. It extends to the eight points of the compass, and thus the eight corners [of the ground] are perfectly filled up. Every side of the eight quarters consists of a hundred jewels, every jewel has a thousand rays,

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and every ray has eighty-four thousand colors which, when reflected in the ground of lapis lazuli, look like one hundred thousand million suns, and it is difficult to see them all one by one… Lodged high up in the open sky these rays form a tower of rays, whose stories and galleries are ten millions in number and built of a hundred jewels. Both sides of the tower have each ten thousand million flowery banners furnished and decked with innumerable musical instruments. Eight kinds of cool breezes proceed from the brilliant rays. When those musical instruments are played, they emit the sounds ‘suffering,’ ‘non-existence,’ ‘impermanence,’ and ‘non-self’—such is the perception of the water, which is the Second Meditation…

“Make the images as clear as possible, so that they may never be scattered or lost, whether your eyes be shut or open. Except only during the time of your sleep, you should always keep this in your mind. One who has reached this stage of perception is said to have dimly seen the Land of Highest Happiness (Sukhavati).

“One who has obtained samadhi is able to see the Land clearly and distinctly: this state is too much to be explained fully—such is the perception of the Land, and it is the Third Meditation.”14 Meditation on Buddha Amitayus 9-11 (Buddhism)

Before I could go on my vision quest, I had to purify myself in the oinikaga tipi, the inipi, the sweat lodge… With the buffalo-horn ladle, Good Lance poured ice-cold water over the red-glowing stones. There was a tremendous hiss as we were instantly enveloped in a cloud of searing white steam… Good Lance prayed.

He used ancient words, “This steam is the holy breath of the universe. Hokshila, boy, you are in your mother’s womb again. You are going to be reborn.” They all sang two songs, very ancient songs, going way back to the days when we Sioux roamed the prairie. Suddenly I felt wise

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with the wisdom of generations. These men, my relatives, sang loud and vigorously… The little hut was shaken as if in the grip of a giant hand. It was trembling as a leaf trembles in the wind. Beneath us the earth seemed to move.

“Grandfather is here,” said Good Lance. “The spirits are here; the Eagle’s wisdom is here.” We believed it; we knew it. The pipe was passed…

Four times we smoked. After the last time, Good Lance told me, “Hokshila, you have been purified; you are no longer a child; you are ready now and made strong to go up there and cry for a dream.”…

Our vision pit was an L-shaped hole dug into the ground, first straight down and then a short horizontal passage deep under the roots of the trees. You sit at the end of that passage and do your fasting, anywhere from one to four days… in my case, it was decided that I should stay there alone without food or water for two days and two nights…

The first hours were the hardest. It was pitch dark and deathly still. I sat there without moving. My arms and legs went asleep. I could neither hear nor see nor feel. I became almost disembodied, a thing with a heart and wild thoughts but no flesh or bones. Would I ever be able to see and hear again?… I don’t know how long I sat there. All sense of time had left me long ago. I didn’t know whether it was day or night, had not even a way to find out.

I prayed and prayed, tears streaming down my cheeks. I wanted water but kept praying.

Toward evening of the second day—and this time is only a wild guess—I saw wheels before my eyes forming up into one fiery hoop and then separating again into bright, manycolored circles, dancing before my eyes and again contracting into one big circle, a circle with a mouth and two eyes.

Suddenly, I heard a voice. It seemed to come from within the bundle that was me, a voice from the dark. It was hard to tell exactly where it came from. It was not a human voice;

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it sounded like a bird speaking like a man. My hackles rose… “Remember the hoop,” said the voice, “this night we will teach you.” And I heard many feet walking around in my small vision pit.

Suddenly I was out of my hole, in another world, standing in front of a sweat bath on a prairie covered with wildflowers, covered with herds of elk and buffalo.

I saw a man coming toward me; he seemed to have no feet; he just floated toward me out of a mist, holding two rattles in his hand. He said, “Boy, whatever you tell your people, do not exaggerate; always do what your vision tells you. Never pretend.” The man was wearing an old-fashioned buckskin outfit decorated with quillwork. I stretched out my hands to touch him, when suddenly I was back inside my star quilt, clutching my medicine bundle of stones and tobacco ties. I still heard the voice, “Remember the hoop; remember the pipe; be its spokesman.” I was no longer afraid; whoever was talking to me meant no harm.

Suddenly before me stretched a coalblack cloud with lightning coming out of it.

The cloud spread and spread; it grew wings; it became an eagle. The eagle talked to me: “I give you a power, not to use for yourself, but for your people. It does not belong to you; it belongs to the common folks.” I saw a rider on a gray horse coming toward me, he held in his one hand a hoop made of sage. He held it high… and again everything dissolved into blackness. Again out of the mist came a strange creature floating up, covered with hair, pale, formless. He wanted to take my medicine away from me, but I wrestled with him, defended it. He did not get my medicine.

He, too, disappeared.

Suddenly somebody shook me by the shoulder. “Wake up, boy.” My father and my uncle had come for me. The two days and two nights were over.

Leonard Crow Dog, Sioux Vision Quest (Native American Religions)

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Teachings of Sun Myung Moon As you become one with all beings, what phenomena will occur? You will feel something multidimensional that you have never felt before. It will come mysteriously…

Once you enter the door to your mind, you will have intuitions and premonitions. Maybe as you walk down the street you see a bird flying. All of sudden, you feel the door to your mind opening.

You do not realize what is happening, but suddenly you receive a heavenly inspiration that teaches you some lesson. Maybe the inspiration will hit you when you hear someone talking. The more you practice, the more often you will experience such incidents.

The next stage is to enter a dream-like state, not a dream in deep sleep but a state half dreaming and half waking. The Apostle Paul experienced three levels of heaven in that state, when he did not know whether it was a dream or reality…

Do not let such experiences pass casually. Collect them, analyze them logically, and figure out the direction that God is leading you. Keep a record of your experiences every day and you will see that your most unforgettable visions actually came true; their predictions were one hundred percent accurate.

Maybe in that dream-like state you were talking with someone about certain things, and later on you actually talk with that person and the things you discussed actually happen. Maybe in your dream you and a friend were singing a certain song. Later on that person actually sings it. Such phenomena can take place. What do they mean? You entered a spiritual realm, and there your mind was resonating with everything in that realm. Your mind was like a tuning fork, resonating with the vibrations of the cosmos. If you have such an experience, treasure it as precious…

Where does God appear to us? Not in the sky, but in the [original] mind. For this reason, we know that our self and our original mind are two different entities.15 If you do not feel it, it is because your original mind has not fully established its existence. Being often dragged about by the body, it cannot stand. Therefore, once your mind is established in its existence and subjectivity, things will change.

Once you reach a higher state, during prayer you can communicate with your original mind.

Your prayer will resonate with your mind, and you will hear yourself in your mind. At this stage you will receive messages or warnings about events in your daily life. Religious people should keep a record of these experiences.

Whenever you relate with someone, do not be careless or indifferent. Think, “What can this person teach me?” Have a hungry mind, eager to learn something new from him or her. Also, you should discern right away whether to relate to him or her as your subject partner or as your object partner… Then your mind will be happy and will be automatically attracted to that person.

This is due to the influence of mind waves. Do you believe that every mind emits mind waves?

When you meet a butcher, don’t you smell meat? When you meet a fabric merchant, don’t you smell fabric? Just as you can smell a person’s unique body odor, you can also smell the mind’s odor. Such phenomena happen.

In our body, we have a special sense which strives to reach out to everything. It sends out invisible energy waves to locate its object partners. It is true. Even if our mind wants to go its own way, it cannot. As the pole of a magnet is attracted to the opposite pole, minus is attracted to plus, and plus is attracted to minus.16 Therefore, the attitude of believers should be that all beings are related to us. Why? Due to the Human Fall we lost all relationships—with God, among human beings and with nature, all were entirely severed. In order for us to reconnect our relationships, we should always strive to make

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these connections ourselves. If we do not have the attitude to make connections with others, we cannot improve the environment in which we live.

For this reason, you should all have a mind to anticipate new things. When praying in the morning, you should feel, “Today, something good will happen.” But do not just think that good things will just happen. You have to seek for them. This attitude of seeking should be your life of faith. Experience and continual practice bring relationships to life. Yet it all stems from cultivating a dream-like state in meditation.17 (76:129-133, February 2, 1975) Sometimes we hold all-night prayer vigils, focusing on God and leaving all worldly matters aside. We do not sleep, but try to enter a state beyond sleep. As we cultivate the mind and repress our consciousness, remnants of our flesh mind sink down and our spirit rises to the surface like pure water.

Then although we are tired, we reach a state beyond sleep—a state where we are half sleeping and half awake. We can hear sounds, but not precisely; we can see things, but not clearly. Dream-like phenomena unfold, and God can instruct us.

We hold prayer vigils to disconnect from carnal desires and unify the spirit. Your spirit will be elevated to the point where God may give you a glimpse of your future. After many of these vigils, you will arrive at a state where in prayer you see visions and hear voices. Your eyes see events both spiritual and earthly; your ears hear sounds both spiritual and earthly. Then you can direct events in the spirit world and on earth. (91:275, February 27, 1977) At the next level, we can receive oral directions or symbolic visions. Visions require careful analysis. Directions are directly given, but visions require interpretation, and this is where we meet with problems. Heaven often teaches us by words, but sometimes it is through a vision. For example, you have a vision of a beautiful spring-like day; a pair of deer drinks at a stream and then looks far off at the mountains. That vision is a very good sign, and you can expect that something good will happen.

This is not a coincidence. God is working to cultivate the field of your mind. Why so? The field of your mind is not flat like glass. It is rough and uneven. It may appear flat, but look closer and you see that its surface is rough. When the light of Heaven hits a rough surface, it is not reflected, but scatters in all directions. That is why revelations are received and interpreted differently. Therefore, to properly discern Heaven’s guidance, we need to cultivate the various aspects of our mind, piece by piece. This requires our effort.

Beyond the stage of revelations as oral directions or symbolic visions, we arrive at the stage of direct revelations in silence. Like John in the Book of Revelation, you can have spiritual experiences all day long, journeying into the other world and exploring its mysteries. Eventually, everyone is to be connected to the spirit world, reaching the realm of God’s heart and feelings.

Unless you experience such things in your life of faith, you cannot carry out God’s great Will on the stage of your own life. Therefore, I do not trust believers who have not had actual spiritual experiences. Please understand how important it is for you to have these spiritual experiences for cultivating your life of faith…

God works when you pray, sending His spiritual power like electricity. But since this high-voltage energy is stronger than your consciousness, it will lift your consciousness to feel the supernatural.

However, when supernatural and divine emotions come inside you, your body, imbedded with fallen nature, rebels against God’s original divinity. Fallen people do not naturally harmonize with God’s divine energy, no matter how strongly it tries to penetrate. As a result, the energy does not come all at once. Like alternating plus and minus energies, like a spreading sound wave that is

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sometimes strong and sometimes gentle, the energy comes as a series of vibrations. They overwhelm your conscious mind and display their spiritual power. That is how God performs His work.

When God is working with you all the time like this, what happens? Your body-centered fallen nature is gradually purified, and eventually it will accept God’s indwelling activity naturally and 100 percent. Then, when God ceases sending His spiritual power in this way, your own spirituality will exceed God’s work in you. At that point God will be with you, and He will teach you without your realizing it.

You should reach this level of total purification, after going through all these stages: the dreamlike state, oral directions, revelations, and so on. At this level, your mind will fully direct you. You may want to chastise someone, but your mind will stop you. You may want to say something sweet, but instead you say words of admonishment. Such phenomena can seem incomprehensible. You need to learn how to adjust to them, otherwise, you could be regarded as an insane person.

You must absolutely experience something like this in your life of faith. People who experience these things in their life of faith, always testing and experimenting, will become strong. They have first-hand knowledge and do not need to believe what others tell them. Experience and practice are the most necessary elements in our life of faith. (76:133-136, February 2, 1975)

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Praise WORSHIP SHOULD BE ARDENT AND EMOTIONAL; and there is no better way to generate emotional power than by praising God in songs and chants. Praise is a natural expression of our love for Him. Hymns and psalms give poetic and heartfelt voice to the word, penetrating the soul more deeply than any theological discourse.

Singing can elevate us into an exalted spiritual state where we experience the mystic glories of heavenly choirs of angels. Chanting a sacred syllable or repeating the Lord’s holy names attunes our mind to Ultimate Reality and call forth its mystic power.

1. On the Value of Praise He is the Living One; there is no god but He: call upon Him, giving Him sincere devotion.

Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds!

Qur’an 40.65

I know that my greatest good is to worship The Wise Lord and those that have been and are.18 By their names will I worship them And come before them with praise.

Avesta, Yasna 51.22 (Zoroastrianism)

Enthusiasm: The ancient kings made music in order to honor merit,

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and offered it with splendor to the Supreme Deity, inviting their ancestors to be present.

I Ching 16: Enthusiasm (Confucianism)

The words dearest to God are four: Glory be to God, Praise be to God, There is no god but God, and God is most great.19 Hadith of Muslim (Islam)

The word which all the Vedas extol, Toward which all asceticism points, In quest of which men live disciplined lives, That will I tell you, that is “OM.”

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This syllable, indeed, is imperishable Brahman; This syllable, indeed, is the End supreme.

The one who knows this selfsame syllable Will surely obtain whatever he desires.20 Katha Upanishad 1.2.15-16 (Hinduism)

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Him, and making offerings to Him, if he sings daily the praise of Vishnu, the Great Lord of the whole universe who has neither beginning nor end and presides over the world, he overcomes all unhappiness.

Mahabharata, Anusasana Parva 254 (Hinduism)

The elements of word OM are fourths, the elements: the letter A, the letter U, the letter M. The waking state, the common-to-all-men, is the letter A… the dreaming state, the Brilliant, is the letter U… the deep-sleep state, the Cognitional, is the letter M… The fourth is without an element, with which there can be no dealing, the cessation of phenomena, benign, without a second. This AUM is the Self indeed.21 Mandukya Upanishad (Hinduism)

All Buddhas in the universe throughout past, present, and future invariably attain Buddhahood with the seed of the five characters of “Namu Myo Ho Renge Kyo.”22 Nichiren (Buddhism)

If man, with constant endeavor, praise the Lord of the Universe, the unlimited Supreme Being, with His Thousand Names,23 if he worships daily and with devotion the same imperishable Being, meditating on Him, praising Him, bowing to

When, indeed the Holy Spirit saw the human race was guided only with difficulty toward virtue, and that, because of our inclination toward pleasure, we were neglectful of an upright life, what did He do? The delight of melody He mingled with the doctrines so that by the pleasantness and softness of the sound heard we might receive without perceiving it, the benefit of the words… A psalm implies serenity of the soul; it is the author of peace, which calms bewildering and seething thoughts. For, it softens the wrath of the soul, and what is unbridled it chastens. As psalm forms friendships, unites those separated, conciliates those at enmity. Who, indeed, can still consider him an enemy with whom he has uttered the same prayer to God? So that psalmody, bringing about choral singing, a bond, as it were, toward unity, and joining the people into a harmonious union of one choir, produces also the greatest of blessings, charity.

Saint Basil (Christianity)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon Song is the material basis for harmonizing with God. That is why when you sing you should be intoxicated with joy. (16:289, July 31, 1966) Hymns sung with deep emotion are the best form of entreaty and spirit-filled prayer. If you look into the eyes of people singing and praying, you will see something moving in them. You feel, “Ah, from here, God’s work begins!” (17:21, November 6, 1966) Prayer is a time to be in harmony with God. From this perspective, prayer by singing can be more moving than prayer in words. When singing hymns, you can quickly experience the feeling of being drawn into a world of mystery. (270:19, May 3, 1995) Buddhist monks chant and beat the wood block. We listen to sermons and sing hymns. They are all conditions. (January 5, 1999)

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All creation praises God: even the insects, birds, fish and beasts praise Him. (269:171, April 17, 1995) May we become Thy sons and daughters who sing songs of Thy love, after fulfilling all Thy hopes and all Thy Will!…

May we become true children who comfort our Father with songs of joy and glory, who have accomplished Thy hope, Thy work and Thy thought, and who forever live with Thee! (5:280, February 22, 1958)

❖ 2. Hymns and Psalms of Praise Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness!

Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord is God! It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!

Give thanks to him, bless his name!

For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

One generation shall laud thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.

On the glorious splendor of thy majesty, and on thy wondrous works, I will meditate.

Men shall proclaim the might of thy terrible acts, and I will declare thy greatness.

They shall pour forth the fame of thy abundant goodness, and shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

Psalm 145.1-7

Psalm 100

Sing you all, and sing aloud!

Devotees, sing your songs.

Let children, too, sing. Sing to Him who is like a mighty fortress.

Let the viol send down its strains, the lute raise its voice around, the bow string strike its echoing sound: to Indra is our hymn upraised.

Rig Veda 8.69.8-9 (Hinduism)

I will extol thee, my God and my King, and bless thy name for ever and ever.

Every day I will bless thee, and praise thy name for ever and ever.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

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He is God, there is no god but He. He is the knower of the Unseen and the Visible; He is the All-merciful, the All-compassionate.

He is God, there is no God but He. He is the King, the All-holy, the All-peaceable, The All-faithful, the All-preserver, The All-mighty, the All-compeller, the All-sublime.

Glory be to God, above that they associate!

He is God, the Creator, the Maker, the Shaper.

To Him belong the Names Most Beautiful.

All that is in the heavens and the earth magnifies Him; He is the All-mighty, the All-wise.24 Qur’an 59.22-24

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Come together, you all, with the power of spirit, to the Lord of heaven, who is One, the Guest of the people.

He, the ancient, desires to come to the new.

To Him all pathways turn; verily He is One. We all here are Thine, O Indra, praised by many, We who go about, attached to Thee, Lord of wealth!

O Lover of song, none but Thee receives our songs.

Love these our words as the earth loves her creatures.

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Loud songs have sounded to the bounteous Indra, One worthy of praise, the Supporter of mankind, to the much invoked, waxing strong with lovely hymns, and the immortal One who is sung day by day.

Towards Indra have all our loving songs, joined to the heavenly light, proceeded in unison; as a wife embraces her husband, comely bridegroom, so they encompass the bounteous One for His grace.

Sama Veda 372-375 (Hinduism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon Grace filling me with golden light, measureless blessing divine; God gives eternal life to me, perfect rejoicing is mine.

Glorious the song ringing in my heart for my Father above; Gratefully I give offering to Him, triumph and glorious love.

Joy surging like an ocean wave, flowing so deep in my soul; Hope rises as I go in praise, knowing that man will be whole.

Glorious the song ringing in my heart for my Father above; Gratefully I give offering to Him, triumph and glorious love.

High, limitless eternal life, touching the top of the sky; Praise filling every part of me, blessing that never will die.

Glorious the song ringing in my heart for my Father above; Gratefully I give offering to Him, triumph and glorious love.

You’ve chosen me to do Your will, thankful, I vow to be true; I’m pledging in my heart of hearts, “Father, my life is for You.” Glorious the song ringing in my heart for my Father above; Gratefully I give offering to Him, triumph and glorious love. (Grace of the Holy Garden)25

Now the light of glory arises like the sun that shines on high; Now awaken into freedom, O revive, you spirits, O revive!

Wake the mountains and the valleys; bring alive the springs of the earth.

Light the world forever with the Light of your rebirth.

Light the world forever with the Light of your rebirth.

We are called to bring back the glory to the life of God above; Now the Lord in His greatness fills the universe with tender love,

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Ever seeking souls awakened, ever calling them to be free.

How shall I attend Him who is calling to me?

How shall I attend Him who is calling to me?

From the dark of death I awaken and rejoice to live in grace; When the One who came to save me holds me tenderly in His embrace; How can I return the blessing? Though in all my life I will try.

I can never stop feeling how unworthy am I. I can never stop feeling how unworthy am I! (Blessing of Glory)

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Devotion DEVOTION MEANS TO WORSHIP GOD OUT OF LOVE. Love can be volitional, expressed in acts of dedication and sacrifice, as in the biblical commandment, “Love God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.” In the Abrahamic faiths, devotion is primarily expressed in acts of loyalty and dedication to God’s will.

Love for God can also be an emotional experience. Devotional worship is expressed in joyful and emotional outpourings of praise and song and in the constant longing for God’s sweet presence. This powerful mode of religious consciousness is particularly manifest in the Hindu and Sikh bhakti tradition, the dancing and song of Sufi Muslims and Hassidic Jews, and in the outpourings of the Holy Spirit in Pentecostal Christianity.

Many passages of scripture describe this mystical emotion as a transfigured sublime love of a bride for her beloved, as in the Song of Solomon in the Bible, in the loves of Radha and Krishna or Sita and Rama in the Hindu tradition, and in the devotion of Mary Magdalene to Jesus. Father Moon teaches that there is a fundamental link between the love of man and woman and the joining of heaven and earth.

Father Moon also adds a new, minor key to this longing to experience God’s love by bringing in the element of God’s suffering heart. If God’s real circumstances are full of suffering and pain, then the longing for emotional unity with God should also take us into the experience of divine sorrow. His prayers are full of tears, commiserating with God. Knowing that God is in pain also motivates us to act in this world to alleviate His suffering by saving our brothers and sisters from sin, oppression and despair. At this deep level, heart and action become one.

1. Deeds of Devotion to God and His Will Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10.31

He is the Living One; there is no god but He: call upon Him, giving Him sincere devotion.

Qur’an 40.65

Let all your deeds be done for the sake of Heaven.

Mishnah, Avot 2.17 (Judaism)

The most excellent action is love for God’s sake and hatred for God’s sake.

Hadith of Abu Dawud (Islam)

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You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and

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when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.

Deuteronomy 6.5-9

Whatever I am offered in devotion with a pure heart—a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water—I partake of that love offering. Whatever you do, make it an offering to me—the food that you eat, the

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sacrifices that you make, the help you give, even your suffering. In this way you will be freed from the bondage of karma.

Bhagavad-Gita 9.26-27 (Hinduism)

Holy is the man of devotion; Through thoughts and words and deed And through his conscience he increases Righteousness; The Wise Lord as Good Mind gives the dominion.

For this good reward I pray.

Avesta, Yasna 51.21 (Zoroastrianism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon The spirit of loyalty, filial piety and integrity, which stands as straight as the pine or bamboo, will be the central thought and spirit of the Kingdom of God on earth that is to be established. We must be loyal to heaven because heaven is God’s country. We must offer eternal filial devotion to God because He is the Father of humankind. (100:253, October 19, 1978) You are doing things on behalf of God, so you must know God’s circumstances and what He is doing right now. In order to be God’s representatives, you should make sure that you represent God’s point of view, follow the path of His Will, and know where He would have you go. (70:257, February 13, 1974) What shall we do in order to receive God’s love? Since God has total love for us, we should also invest totally. The saying, “Sincerity moves Heaven,” like “Faith will move mountains,” is a proverb in Korea, but truly it is also the natural order of things. The proverb, “Act with utmost sincerity,” means act with all your efforts, inside and outside, heart and soul. The saying, “Practice everything with sincerity in your words and deeds,” means to completely unite your body and soul in a conscientious life. This means a life of dedication. We call it “utmost sincerity” or jeongseong. The Korean word jeong deals with the spirit, and song means the fulfillment of the Word. Thus jeongseong means fulfilling everything inwardly and outwardly and offering it .26 If you do everything with jeongseong you can “move heaven.”

When Heaven moves, what happens? Since God has regard for such people, He makes His love dwell with them. Love wants to be with them. Love naturally dwells with people whose thoughts are for God and all His creatures. Therefore, when you offer jeongseong, you stand in a position to receive God’s love. As God loves all humankind, if you offer everything with jeongseong for the sake of God you will feel God’s love from the very first moment, and as a result you can love God. Due to the Fall, we cannot truly love God. Therefore, by offering jeongseong for God, God’s love that has been searching for us can find us, and through that love we can come to know God and to love God. (78:31-32, May 1, 1975) Without a heart of utmost sincerity (jeongseong) and love, it is absolutely impossible to root out Satan’s lineage. How else can we completely pull out the root that was planted when Adam and Eve fell, that extends deep into God’s heart and torments God as He deals with the world’s sorrowful

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history? If we are to succeed in pulling out that root, we have to dig beneath it. That means we must go to a place of suffering more intense than the pain of God. If God is sleeping, we should be awake.

We should willingly stand in a position hundreds of times more painful than what God’s heart experienced at the time of the Fall; only then can we pull out Satan’s root. Our heart of devotion should go that deep. (308:208, January 5, 1999)

❖ 2. Love and Longing for God The supreme Lord who pervades all existence, the true Self of all creatures, may be realized through undivided love.

Bhagavad-Gita 8.22 (Hinduism)

Those who remember the Lord with every breath, each morsel, And in whose mind ever abides the spell of the Lord’s Name— Says Nanak, are blessed, perfect devotees.

Adi Granth, Var Gauri, M.5, p. 319 (Sikhism)

The Chakora bird longs for the moonlight,27 The lotus longs for sunrise, The bee longs to drink the flower’s nectar, Even so my heart anxiously longs for Thee, O Lord.

Basavanna, Vacana 364 (Hinduism)

As a hart longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night.

Psalm 42.1-3

Beloved, what more shall I say to you?

In life and in death, in birth after birth you are the lord of my life.

A noose of love binds my heart to your feet.

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My mind is fixed on you alone, I have offered you everything; in truth, I have become your slave.

In this family, in that house, who is really mine?

Whom can I call my own?

It was bitter cold, and I took refuge at your lotus feet.

While my eyes blink, and I do not see you, I feel the heart within me die.

A touchstone I have threaded, and wear upon my throat, says Chandid­­asa.28 Chandidasa (Hinduism)

Once, while Yasoda was holding the baby Krishna on her lap, she set him down suddenly to attend to some milk that was boiling over on the oven. At this the child was much vexed.

In his anger he broke a pot containing curdled milk, went to a dark corner of the room taking some cheese with him, smeared it over his face, and began feeding a monkey with the crumbs.

When his mother returned and saw him, she scolded him. As a punishment, she decided to tie him with a rope to a wooden mortar. But to her surprise the rope, although long enough, seemed too short. She took more rope, but still it was too short. Then she used all the ropes she could find, but still Krishna could not be tied.

This greatly mystified Yasoda. Krishna smiled within himself, but now, seeing that his mother was completely tired out and perplexed, he gently allowed himself to be bound.

He who has neither beginning, nor middle, nor end, who is all-pervading, infinite, and

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omnipotent, allowed himself to be bound by Yasoda only because of her great love. He is the Lord omnipotent, the Lord of all beings, the

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con­troller of all; yet he permits himself to be controlled by those who love him.29 Srimad Bhagavatam 10.3 (Hinduism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon How much do you adore and yearn for God? What is at stake in this question is whether you are prepared to completely forget about your own situation and offer everything for God; in other words, whether or not you can become a perfect minus before the perfect Plus. When you can stand before the absolute Plus as an absolute minus, then the perfect Plus will rush straight toward you. (36:100, November 22, 1970) Many are the believers who grasp the doctrine, but few are the believers who know the Real Being whom the doctrine describes. Few are the believers who can say, “Lord, Thy mind is my mind and my mind is Thine. Thy sorrow is my sorrow.”

Have you ever felt God’s heart of grief, a heart in fetters, a heart so sorrowful it feels as if your bones are melting? Understand that wherever Jesus went during his thirty-odd years on the earth, he had such an intense heart that he was constantly on the verge of losing consciousness and fainting.

(4:126, March 23, 1958) Today, we have to go beyond just the word “faith” and substantiate our faith in our daily life. That is, we must become people who live our lives with Heaven… God taught the way of faith to countless numbers of our ancestors throughout history. Nevertheless, more than just be believers, God longed that they would become people who could live together with Him. This is what Heaven is longing for us to become.

God is longing for you to become people who can willingly sacrifice, die and be resurrected for the sake of your faith. God longs for you to relate to Him as your Father, to overcome death and rejoice in your resurrection to the realm of life, and to sing His praises in the eternal ideal world. God dearly misses each one of you. He has persevered to find you and meet you. (6:84, March 29, 1959) Do you call out to God, “Father!” with the heart to liberate His heart, which is immersed in the sorrow that pervades the 6,000 years of history? If you cling to the distressed heart of the Father and call on Him, with just that one word you can reunite heaven and earth. That was how Jesus clung to God when he called, “Abba.” Unless you can attain the same level, the sorrow of God will never leave you. (3:58, September 22, 1957) My misery is not from hunger; my sorrow is not from being mistreated.

Oh loving Father, I did not realize that no sorrow is worse than being apart from Thee.

No matter how lacking a place may be, if Thou art there it has everything.

Even in the center of hell, if Thou art there it becomes heaven.

Father, whether I live or die, my place is only with Thee. (43:135, April 25, 1971)

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3. Devotion to God as a Bride for Her Bridegroom Upon my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.

“I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my soul loves.”

I sought him, but found him not.

The watchmen found me, as they went about the city.

“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”

Scarcely had I passed them, when I found him whom my soul loves.

I held him, and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.30 Song of Solomon 3.1-4

As the mirror to my hand, the flowers to my hair, kohl to my eyes, tambul to my mouth, musk to my breast, necklace to my throat, ecstasy to my flesh, heart to my home— As wing to bird, water to fish, life to the living— so you are to me.

But tell me, Madhava, beloved, who are you?

Who are you really?

Adi Granth, Sarang, M.1, p. 1232 (Sikhism)

My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance.

Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is comely.”

Song of Solomon 2.10-14

Vidyapati says, They are one another.31 Vidyapati (Hinduism)

How may I live, Mother, without the Lord?

Glory to Thee, Lord of the Universe!

To praise Thee I seek; Never without the Lord may I live.

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The Bride is athirst for the Lord; All night is she awake lying in wait for Him. The Lord has captured my heart; He alone knows my agony: Without the Lord the soul is in travail and pain— Seeking His Word and the touch of His feet.

Show Thy grace, Lord; immerse me in Thyself.

Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at table, a woman32 came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. But there were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment thus wasted? For this ointment might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and given to the poor.” And they reproached her. But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you will, you can do

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good to them; but you will not always have me.

She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burying. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

Mark 14.3-9

O Rama… I wish to be with thee! I shall experience no fatigue in following thee, even if I may no longer rest near thee on a luxurious couch.

The harsh grass, the reeds, the rushes and thorny

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briars on the way, in thy company, will seem as soft as lawns or antelope skins! The dust raised by the tempest that covers me will resemble rare sandalwood paste, O my dear Lord. When, in the dense forest, I sleep beside thee on a grassy couch, soft as a woolen cover­let, what could be more pleasant to me? Leaves, roots, fruits, whatever it may be, little or much, that thou hast gathered with thine own hand to give to me, will taste of ambrosia!… To be with thee is heaven, to be without thee is hell; this is the truth!33 Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda 30 (Hinduism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon God is the eternal Lord of our bodies and the eternal Lord of our hearts. Consider the most loving couple in the original world: The wife will not resent the husband for loving God more than he loves her. Likewise, the wife may love God more than she loves her husband, but the husband will not complain, “Why do you love God more than you love me?” The Kingdom of Heaven is the world where both husband and wife rejoice to see such a thing. God is our Subject Partner, transcending any earthly love. He is the eternal Lord of our bodies. As long as God embraces us in His bosom, as long as we dwell within His garden, we do not mind if we die right there. Since our hearts are united with their eternal Lord, what more could we ask for? (7:255, September 20, 1959) If a woman feels about a man, “If I could be with that man, I wouldn’t care if I died,” and she is joined with that man, she wants nothing else under heaven. She doesn’t care if she eats well or poorly. She doesn’t care if she cries. She doesn’t care if she even dies. There is nothing greater for her.

In the same way, as human beings, our highest ambition is to take possession of God’s love. When we do, we become the lords of the universe and possess the authority of a king, even a king of kings.

God endowed everyone, whether handsome or unattractive, with such ambition. It is God’s original ideal that all people have this desire in common, so that everyone will naturally arrive at this destination.

The oneness of God and human beings through love: How can God and human beings, one vertical and the other horizontal, become one? God’s love is perpendicular to human love. For this reason, God sent the Holy Spirit after Jesus ascended into heaven. The Holy Spirit is the love of the mother…

The Kingdom of God on Earth, the messianic ideal, is for realizing God’s vertical love on the horizontal plane. After God sends the returning Lord to this earth and establishes him in the center, he develops God’s domain horizontally. It is accomplished in two ways. First, mind and body are no longer two, but become one. Second, man (representing mind) and woman (body) establish a mutual relationship and become the radiating center for the harmony of heaven and earth. (252:119, November 14, 1993) The Fall was not the failure to consider God’s circumstances. It was the failure to consider His heart.

As God seeks fallen humanity, He has the heart that is capable of relating with His lost sons and daughters, but He does not have people with whom to share this heart. Therefore, God has worked

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to find and establish such people. You need to clearly know that this has been the providence of salvation and the purpose for sending the Savior.

Before we wish for the Kingdom of Heaven, we should desire for God’s heart; and before we wish for God’s heart, we should first reflect on how we should live or lives. First of all, we should have a heart of attendance. It is the original character of human beings to long for what is exalted and precious, and on finding it, to bow our heads before it. We human beings fell, but we were created with a heart that desires to relate with the exalted and precious heart of Heaven. We learn how to communicate at this level of heart through a life of attendance.34 Therefore, anyone who has never experienced a life of attendance does not have even the slightest connection with the Kingdom of Heaven. (8:291, February 14, 1960) Father! Today please let our bodies move, our minds move and our thoughts move in the garden of Thy heart.

We realize Thy heart is a heart of infinite love, a heart of infinite sorrow pierced with an infinity of wounds…

Exceedingly sorrowful Father; Thou hast worked exceedingly hard, and still even now Thy heart feels exceedingly anxious!…

May we become sons and daughters who offer our full devotion, giving our entire minds and bodies, until we can be recognized as having no inadequacies before Thy heart.

We do not want Heaven to give us anything material, we do not want Heaven to understand our situation, and we do not want Heaven to give us grace— only allow us to know Thine innermost heart. (8:262, February 7, 1960)

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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.

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1. 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.

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)

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

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)

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

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)

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.

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

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

Revelation 3.15-16

Oracle of the Kami Hachiman (Shinto)

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)

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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 history? 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)

❖ 2. 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)

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)

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

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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)

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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

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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 in order 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,43 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, 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)

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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)

❖

Offerings and Tithes OFFERINGS ARE MATERIAL EXPRESSIONS of faith and devotion. The animal sacrifices of ancient times long ago gave way to monetary donations and tithes, as well as gifts to mendicant monks. Every offering, regardless of its kind, represents an outward expression of a devoted heart. Essentially, an offering is a substitute for the self.

Therefore, scripture instructs us to offer up the things that are dearest, willingly and without any reservations or lingering attachments. The biblical standard for offerings is the tithe—ten percent of one’s income.

1. Offerings—Out of a Pure and Devoted Heart You will not attain piety until you expend of what you love; and whatever thing you expend, God knows of it.

Qur’an 3.92

Every sacrifice is a boat to heaven.

Satapatha Brahmana 4.2.5.10 (Hinduism)

The spirit that eats a man’s offering, pays him back with life.

Yoruba Proverb (African Traditional Religions)

And the beasts of sacrifice—We have appointed them for you as among God’s waymarks; therein is good for you. So mention God’s name over them, standing in ranks; then, when their flanks collapse, eat of them and feed the beggar and the suppliant. So We have subjected them to you; haply you will be thankful.44 The flesh of them shall not reach God, neither their blood, but godliness from you shall reach Him. So He has subjected them to you, that you may magnify God for that He has guided you.

Qur’an 22.36-37

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Weeds are the bane of fields; lust is the bane of mankind. Hence what is given to those without lust yields abundant fruit.

Weeds are the bane of fields; hatred is the bane of mankind. Hence what is given to those rid of hatred yields abundant fruit.

Weeds are the bane of fields; delusion is the bane of mankind. Hence what is given to those rid of delusion yields abundant fruit.

Weeds are the bane of fields; craving is the bane of mankind. Hence what is given to those rid of craving yields abundant fruit.

Dhammapada 356-59 (Buddhism)

The dedication of the offering is God; that which is offered is God; God offers it on God’s fire. God is attained by those who concentrate on God’s work.

Some aspirants offer material sacrifices; others offer selfless service upon the altar of God. Some renounce all enjoyment of the senses, sacrificing them in the fire of asceticism. Others partake of

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sense objects but offer them in service through the fire of the senses. Some offer the workings of the senses and the vital forces through the fire of self-control, kindled in the path of knowledge.

Some offer wealth; others offer asceticism and suffering. Some take vows and offer knowledge and study of the scriptures; and some make the offering of meditation. Some offer the forces of vitality, regulating their inhalation and exhalation, offering their life-breath as they breathe in and breathe out. Others offer the forces of vitality by fasting. All these understand the meaning of sacrifice and will be cleansed of their impurities.

Bhagavad-Gita 4.24-30 (Hinduism)

Of the saying, “The word ‘sacrifice’ is like the word ‘present’; one should sacrifice to a spirit as though the spirit were present,” Confucius said, “If I am not present at the sacrifice, it is as though there were no sacrifice.”

Analects 3.12 (Confucianism)

Rabbi Meir was once asked, “Why do the scriptures tell us in some passages that sacrifice is very pleasant unto the Lord, while in others it is said that God dislikes sacrifices?” He answered, “It depends whether a man’s heart is sacrificed at the time he brings the sacrifice.”

Baraita Kallah 8 (Judaism)

And [Jesus] sat down opposite the treasury [of the Temple], and watched the multitude putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came, and put in two copper coins, which make a penny.

And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, her whole living.”

Mark 12.41-44

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Whatever is given should be given with faith, not without faith—with joy, with modesty, with fear, with kindness.

Taittiriya Upanishad 1.11.3 (Hinduism)

“Make your offering,” said the Master. “As you make it be pleased in mind. Make your mind completely calm and contented. Focus and fill the offering-mind with the giving. From this secure position you can be free from ill will.”

Sutta Nipata 506 (Buddhism)

When a man goes to sacrifice he must remain peaceful, without a hot heart. He must stay thus for at least a day. If he quarrels on that day or is hot in his heart he becomes sick and destroys the words of the lineage and of the sacrifice.

Luhya Saying (African Traditional Religions)

The word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this temple lies in ruins? Now therefore thus says the Lord of Hosts: ‘Consider how you have fared. You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put them in a bag with holes… Go up to the hills, and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may appear in my glory’, says the Lord.”45 Haggai 1.3-8

Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the

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apostles’ feet; and distribution was made to each as any had need. Thus Joseph who was surnamed by the apostles Barnabas (which means, Son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field which belonged to him, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

But a man named Ananias with his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back some of the proceeds, and brought only a part and laid it at

the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died.

Acts 4.32-5.5

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon People present offerings because they want to be saved and return to God. The offering they give is in place of their bodies. When it is done properly, the three—the person making the offering, the offering, and God—become one. No gap should exist there. (274:199-200, November 3, 1995) Restoration through indemnity is the guiding principle of our walk of faith. Every act of indemnity requires an offering. The offering serves as a conditional object given in place of ourselves. In other words, the offering is an object external to ourselves, and we are the internal counterpart of the object. We must be united with our offering to advance in our life of faith. (67:113, May 27, 1973) There should be no separation between the offering and the person offering it. They should be united in heart. In other words, when you make an offering, you should give something you love. It will not do to offer something you do not care about. You should regard the sacrificial offering as representing your very blood and flesh. Therefore, you should offer the most valuable thing you own. If you own something very precious, it will make a good offering. (47:285, August 30, 1971) Instead of offering a lamb, have this conviction: “Like a lamb that obediently goes to the slaughter, I will absolutely obey Thee, O Lord.” Instead of offering a cow, think, “Like a cow that offers its whole self, I will be an absolute sacrifice for Thy will.” Instead of offering a dove with an earnest heart, think, “With this heart I will love Thee absolutely.” (97:289, March 26, 1978) Suppose you have some precious treasure or property. Would you think it wonderful if God’s order comes to offer all of it for the sake of the world? Do you yearn for the day when you can offer it?

People who think like that will be blessed. If you really want to give it, then God will bless you and add to your abundance before that time comes. (308:206, January 5, 1999) God originally intended that human beings possess all things of creation on the basis of true love.

When you can rightly proclaim that you are the inheritors of all things because you embody true love while Satan does not, then Satan cannot accuse you. Therefore, you must love material things more than Satan loves them. Taking back the tithe from the satanic world and offering it to Heaven… is the condition to demonstrate that you are better than Satan in loving humankind, loving the world, and loving God. (128:101, June 5, 1983)

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Do you know the story of Ananias and Sapphira in the Bible? After selling their property to offer it to the church, they hid some of the proceeds and donated only half, claiming that it was everything. For this, they were punished. When it comes to making an offering, “everything” means everything. If you hold something back, you will pay a price for it and be punished. You are not permitted to have a lingering attachment to the offering or think of it as your own possession. If you have such an attitude, you should clean it up before the time of judgment arrives. (122:22-23, October 31, 1982) When you make a donation at church, you should not use money left over after buying something to eat. That money is defiled. God is not present with donations given out of the change you received after buying things at the market. (48:86, September 5, 1971) I hear that in some Christian churches, those who make large donations are chosen to be elders and deacons. We should not have such motives. We should give our donations in the spirit of giving our lives for the sake of our nation and the world, and [confirm them] by loving our nation and the world. (166:71, May 25, 1987) Today in Christian churches they circulate baskets for the donation. What would you call this way of collecting donations? Are they beggars? Shall we also receive donations in this fashion? The congregation should make donations in a donation box placed at the entrance door as an expression of sincere gratitude for having offered their utmost devotion and received grace from God. (166:319, June 14, 1987)

❖ 2. Tithes All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord.46

he exchange it; and if he exchanges it, then both it and that for which it is exchanged shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.

Leviticus 27.30

Leviticus 27.32-33

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house; and of all that thou givest me I will give the tenth to thee.”

Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, “How are we robbing thee?” In your tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me; the whole nation of you.

Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house; and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.

Genesis 28.20-22

Malachi 3.8-10

All the tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman’s staff, shall be holy to the Lord. A man shall not inquire whether it is good or bad, neither shall

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“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor?

And if I am a master, where is my fear?” says

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to your governor; will he be pleased with you or show you favor?… Oh, that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire upon my altar in vain!

I have no pleasure in you,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I will not accept an offering from your hand.”

the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. “You say, ‘How have we despised thy name?’ By offering polluted food upon my altar.

And you say, ‘How have we polluted it?’ By thinking that the Lord’s table may be despised.

When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that no evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that no evil? Present that

Malachi 1.6-11

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon By offering a tithe from your possessions, it is as if you offered all that you have. Although you do not offer everything, offering one tenth with all of your heart and mind has the value of the whole.

By offering one part, the other nine parts also come to be considered holy.

The person who tithes will never perish. As days go by, his storeroom will fill with more material blessings. (31:240, June 4, 1970) You should give a tithe of everything you possess, even a tithe of your time. (150:219, April 15, 1961) Just as you pay taxes to your nation, you should pay tithes to Heaven. (150:219, April 15, 1961) Tithing applies in every aspect of life. Even in school, one of ten classrooms should be used for less fortunate children to give them classes free of charge. (166:319) Whenever you raise funds from others, add something of your own; then your offering will be acceptable to God. Do not set aside a portion of the proceeds for yourself; instead, add a tithe from your own possessions. If you earned nine, add one-tenth to make it ten and offer it; then the offering will be accepted. To scrape up the money you can sell your clothes, your watch or even your schoolbooks. Since you and your family are a central family collecting money from the community, nation and world to offer to God, you need to set the example by collecting money from your own possessions. (116:145, December 27, 1981) When you tithe, your offering should be the first and the purest thing, which you have invested with your most sincere heart and mind. Suppose you are going to offer one of your sons. Would you offer a son whom you dislike or who is hopeless? That son is not qualified to be an offering. Rather, you should offer your best son, the one whom you love most. Why? The offering represents your very self. (48:85, September 5, 1971) Offering a fixed portion of your income for the maintenance of the church sounds extremely good, but I think it is extremely bad. Making an offering to God should the first priority in life, before thinking of your life or your possessions. By thinking that it is enough to offer only a small percentage of your income, you are cultivating the habit of putting your life first and putting God second. If you put God in second place, eventually He will end up in last place. (96:101, January 2, 1978)

❖

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Ritual FATHER MOON TEACHES THAT GOD INSTITUTED RITUALS in every faith as a means by which people might approach Him. All rituals, therefore, have value. When performed with pure intention and following precisely their prescribed form, ritual offers respect to heaven and establishes for the believer a “foundation of faith.”

There is no way to do justice in this book to the wide variety of rituals and rites by which the peoples of the world worship God and show their respect to Heaven. Some of the types of rituals included here are: keeping a sacred time—the Sabbath, the Eucharist or sacred meal, circumcision, baptism, worship at holy places, worship by images and symbols, and dietary laws.

1. Liturgy and Worship Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Matthew 18.20

Let us do it the way it is usually done so that we may have the usual result.

Yoruba chant (African Traditional Religions)

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!

Worship the Lord in holy array; tremble before him, all the earth!

Psalm 96.7-9

Those who, knowing my true nature, worship me steadfastly are my true devotees. Worship me in the symbols and images which remind you of me, and also in the hearts of my devotees, where I am most manifest… Observe the forms and rituals set forth in the scriptures, without losing sight of their inner spirit.

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.5 (Hinduism)

The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.

All the Islamic worship practices aim at morality: Prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds; giving alms takes from the wealthy to purify their souls from greed; the fast is a lesson in patience and will; and the pilgrimage is a training course in bearing difficulties and hardships, in equality among all creatures, and in cultivating the roots of peace within the human soul.

Al-Ghazzali, Ihia’ Ulum el-Din 130.1 (Islam)

Wang-sun Chia asked about the saying, Better pay court to the stove Than pay court to the shrine.

Confucius said, “It is not true. He who has put himself in the wrong with Heaven has no means of expiation left.”

Analects 3.13 (Confucianism)

Habakkuk 2.20

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon The worship service is the time when we make an offering. It is the time when we report to Heaven what we have done and repent for our mistakes. Therefore, it is a most serious time, when we are not free to do as we like. (11:163, June 24, 1961)

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We earnestly pray that Thou wilt allow this place, where we bow to Thee with hearts rejoicing and which is guarded by angels and the heavenly hosts, to become an altar of wondrous blessing that can lead our whole lives to victory. (7:12, July 5, 1959) Please let this place become a holy sanctuary where we become one with Thy mind. Please allow it to become a holy place where only Thou canst take dominion, and where we can be close to Thy heart, be moved to tears by Thy situation, and be in harmony with Thy hope. (21:132, November 17, 1968)

❖ 2. The Sabbath And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, You shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you; everyone who profanes it shall be put to death; whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a perpetual covenant.

It is a sign for ever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”47

The function of lighting the Sabbath candles has been entrusted to the women of the holy people… This tabernacle of peace [the divine Shekhinah] is the Matron of the world, and the souls which are the celestial lamp abide in her.

Hence it behooves the matron of the house to kindle the lights, because thereby she is attaching herself to her rightful place and performing her rightful function. A woman should kindle the Sabbath lights with zest and gladness, because it is a great honor for her, and further, she qualifies herself thereby to become the mother of holy offspring who will grow to be shining lights of learning and piety and will spread peace in the world, and she also procures long life for her husband. Hence she should be very careful to observe this ceremony.48 Zohar 1.48b (Judaism)

Exodus 31.12-17

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon The Sabbath day is the day when we return glory to God. (21:76, October 20, 1968) The Sabbath is not a day to rest comfortably and sleep all day. Rather, it is a day to become one with God and rejoice to participate in God’s joy. Then you will be able to enter into God’s eternal Sabbath when you go to the Kingdom of Heaven in the spirit world. You will rejoice in God’s eternal love, in the eternal Sabbath of the eternal God. Yet because of the Human Fall, neither God nor humankind could enjoy this Sabbath. (20:330, July 14, 1968) Once a week Unification church members offer bows and recite the Pledge. That day is a holy day. The breakfast we eat on that holy day is a holy meal. We have to dissolve God’s pain and sorrow caused by the Fall. Because they fell, Adam’s family could not attend God and could not

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share a sacred meal with Him. This became a source of God’s pain and grief. To dissolve this pain, we bow and recite the Pledge and eat the meal with a heart to praise and honor God. (280:289, February 13, 1997)

❖ 3. The Eucharist For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is [broken] for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.

1 Corinthians 11.27-29

1 Corinthians 11.23-25

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon Christianity is based upon the blood of Jesus, which connects us to his lineage. What is the sacrament of the Eucharist for? The wine represents Jesus’ blood and the bread, his body. Partaking of them joins us to his blood and body—to his lineage. But having inherited it, we should love our enemies. Unless you love your enemies, you are not truly of Jesus’ lineage. (May 21, 2000) The Holy Wine Ceremony in the Unification Church has the same meaning as the Christian Holy Communion has for receiving Jesus. At the Holy Communion, you eat bread and drink wine symbolizing Jesus’ flesh and blood. Its meaning is this: since human beings are fallen, they should receive a new body. The Holy Wine Ceremony has a similar significance: Through this rite fallen people reverse the process of the Fall. (Blessing and Ideal Family 4.4.2)

❖ 4. Circumcision This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He that is eight days old among you shall be

circumcised; every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring… shall be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.

Genesis 17.10-14

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon At the time of Adam the blood lineage was stained. That is the reason for the Jewish rite of circumcision. Circumcision is drawing blood from the male sexual organ—the organ through which Satan’s

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blood lineage was transmitted at the Fall. It is cut to indemnify Satan’s invasion of the male sexual organ at the time of Adam. (277:264, April 18, 1996) God gave the Israelites the commandment that all their males be circumcised. Circumcision is done by cutting the tip of the male organ and letting out some blood. Thus sanctified, the Israelites could live in the realm of Abraham’s blessing. Sin infiltrated humankind through the male organ, so circumcision, by letting blood from the male organ, restored the sin by indemnity. It fulfilled the law of indemnity as it was practiced in the Old Testament Age, that is, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a wound for a wound.” Thus, circumcision established the condition to return to God. Now you know why circumcision was necessary: to separate human beings from the blood relationship that was made at the Fall. (54:143, March 22, 1972)

❖ 5. Baptism and Purification by Ritual Bathing Wash away, Waters, whatever sin is in me, what wrong I have done, what imprecation I have uttered, and what untruth I have spoken.49 Rig Veda 10.9.8 (Hinduism)

Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2.38

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised

from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6.3-11

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon By making the indemnity condition of baptism by water, we can be spiritually born anew through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, by taking a piece of bread and a cup of wine at the sacrament of Holy Communion, we receive the precious grace of partaking in Jesus’ body and blood. All these are examples of conditions of lesser indemnity. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Restoration 1.1) Baptism with water is for purifying the body, soiled by sin. It is the next stage after purifying the sexual organ by circumcision. Yet the issue remains, how to connect the people purified in this way to the path of love. (277:265, April 18, 1996)

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Holy water is the water of victory, the water of sanctification. Its sanctifying power removes Satan’s blood and introduces Heaven’s lineage. (215:347, March 1, 1991)50

❖ 6. Pilgrimage and Holy Places Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place which he will choose: at the feast of unleavened bread, at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of booths.51 They shall not appear before the Lord emptyhanded; every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which he has given you.

Deuteronomy 16.16-17

“And proclaim among men the Pilgrimage, and they shall come unto you on foot and upon every lean beast, they shall come from every deep ravine, that they may witness things profitable to them and mention God’s name on days well-known over such beasts of the flocks as He has provided them, ‘So eat thereof, and feed the wretched poor.’ Let them then finish with their self-neglect and let them fulfill their vows, and go about the Ancient House.”53

In those days and in that time, says the Lord, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come; and they shall seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, “Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant which will never be forgotten.”52

Pilgrimage falls during known months. Anyone who undertakes the Pilgrimage during them should commit no sexual intercourse, immorality or quarreling during the Pilgrimage. God knows any good you do. Make provision; yet the best provision is heedfulness.

Jeremiah 50.4-5

Qur’an 2.197

And when We settled for Abraham the place of the House, “You shall not associate with Me anything. And do purify My house for those that shall go about it and those that stand, for those that bow and prostrate themselves;

Though the poorest of mankind come here once for worship, I will surely grant their heart’s desire.

Qur’an 22.26-29

Oracle of Itsukushima in Aki (Shinto)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon Suppose you die amidst tears and suffering… while devoting your life for God. Then even if your grave is at the top of the Himalayas, people from all over the world will visit your tomb and weep in memory of you. The locals might want to discourage them from coming, but no one can stop them.

Isn’t it true? When Jesus was being led to his death on Golgotha, he prayed as the Son of God. Who knows what actually took place? Yet that awesome event [has inspired millions to visit Jerusalem.]

(97:104, March 1, 1978) My hometown is Jeongju in North Korea. Would you like to visit there? Why would you like to go there? When we go there, there are many stories that I would like to tell you. I have many anecdotes about my childhood. Therefore, you should visit there at least once in your lifetime. If you do not,

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it will be your shame in the spirit world. In the future, Unificationists will regard it as Mecca for Muslims or as Jerusalem for Christians. (Way of Unification 8.3.4.3)

❖ 7. Symbols, Images and Relics Worship me in the symbols and images which remind you of me.

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.5 (Hinduism)

Then the Sun Goddess Amaterasu imparted unto the first emperor the myriad Maga-tama beads and the mirror which had been used to lure her out of the cave as well as the sword Kusa-nagi… and said, “This mirror—have it with you as my spirit, and worship it just as you would worship in my very presence.”54 Kojiki 39.2-3 (Shinto)

In due time they purified the bones of the deceased Saint with the finest water, and, placing them in golden pitchers in the city of Mallas, they chanted hymns of praise, “The jars hold great relics, full of virtue, like the jeweled ore of a great mountain, and the relics are unharmed by fire, just as the sphere of Brahma in heaven is unharmed [though the whole earth be burned up]. These bones, pervaded with universal benevolence, and not liable to burning by the fire of passion, are preserved under the influence of devotion; though they are cold, they still warm our hearts.”

The wise know the virtues of the Buddha to be such that, given equal purity of mind, the same fruit will be won either by reverencing the Seer during his worldly existence or by doing obeisance to his relics after his passing into Nirvana.

Ashvaghosha, Buddhacarita 28.69 (Buddhism)

With a love for the happiness of different beings Shiva Puja shall be performed—so say the wise men. The pedestal represents Shiva’s consort Parvati and his phallic emblem represents the sentient being. Just as lord Shiva remains ever in close embrace of the Goddess Parvati, so also the phallic emblem holds on to the pedestal forever… The devotee shall install the phallic emblem and worship it with the sixteen prescribed types of homage and services: invocation, offering the seat, water offering, washing the feet, water for rinsing the mouth as a mystical rite, oil bath, offering of cloth, scents, flowers, incense, lamps, and food, waving of lights, betel leaves, obeisance, and mystical discharge and conclusion… Everywhere Shiva accords benefit as befitting the endeavor put in.55 Shiva Purana, Vidyeshvarasamhita 11.22-35 (Hinduism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon Just as among sinful humanity there are filial children who love their parents, there should be sons and daughters of Heaven who come forward to break away from the history of sin. To demonstrate their dedication people need an object partner representing Heaven; that is why they set up an altar, arrange a place to pray, or erect a statue of Buddha.

Even when you are by yourself, you need to make offerings and to set up an altar or a sacred image where you can offer your devotions. Then, whenever you meet with good fortune, upon your return you should look at the sacred image and present an offering of sincerity in front of Heaven, saying, “I am grateful for today’s good fortune. I offer this gift before Thee, Heavenly Father, as a token of it.” (123:189, January 1, 1983)

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In Buddhism today, many people pray for blessings in front of the Buddha’s statue. The external difference between the worshipper as the object partner and the statue as the subject partner is enormous. However, in the world of the heart, there is no difference. When people believe and relate to the statue as God, moved by the feelings it inspires in them, then God inspires their minds and fulfills their wishes. (6:342, June 28, 1959) By wearing a cross around their neck, people show themselves to be Christians. If you carry a picture of True Parents, it symbolizes that you are their son or daughter. It begins with a symbol, then image, and finally substance. [People who carry the picture] enter the realm of the formation stage—the first of the three stages of formation, growth and completion; hence they are protected. Therefore, as tribal messiahs, you should give True Parents’ pictures to everyone in your clan. (212:109, January 2, 1991)

❖ 8. Dietary Laws—to Sanctify the Food We Eat You shall not eat any abominable thing. These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the hart, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. Every animal that parts the hoof and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat.

Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cloven you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, the rock badger, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, are unclean to you. And the swine, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you.

Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch.

Of all that are in the waters you may eat these: whatever has fins and scales you may eat.

And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the alien who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you are a people holy to the Lord your God… You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.56

What does God care whether a man kills an animal in the proper way and eats it, or whether he strangles the animal and eats it? Or what does God care whether a man eats unclean animals or clean animals? “If you are wise, for yourself you are wise, but if you scorn, you alone shall bear it” [Proverbs 9.12]. So you learn that the Commandments were given only to purify God’s creatures, as it says, “God’s word is purified, it is a protection to those who trust in Him.” [2 Samuel 22.31]57 Tanhuma Leviticus, Shemini 15b (Judaism)

O mankind! Eat of that which is lawful and wholesome in the earth… Allah hath forbidden you only carrion, and blood, and swine’s flesh, and that which has been sacrificed to anything other than Allah. But he who is driven by necessity, neither craving nor transgressing, it is no sin for him. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.58 Qur’an 2.168, 173

Deuteronomy 14.3-21

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon When we eat, we should first offer our food to heaven and then eat. Likewise, when we sit, we should first sanctify the place and then sit. (236:338, November 9, 1992)

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When you sit at the table you may enjoy the food, saying, “These are wonderful dishes you prepared today.” It tastes good, so you eat it. You think you know enough, but you do not know how it was prepared. There could be many stories behind the scenes. You do not know whether the rice was stolen, or from whom was it brought, or what kind of people grew it and prepared it. Maybe the farmer who grew the rice once slept with your wife. Maybe the machinery used to cultivate it was made by a gang of your enemies. If you knew these things, you would not be able to eat.

God knows it all; therefore He instructs us to purify the things we eat. Without cleansing and purifying the things we eat, we who yearn for Heaven while living in the midst of Satan’s world cannot reach Heaven. (138:183, January 21, 1986) We use Holy Salt to sanctify what we eat and wear. Since the land we live in is not God’s nation, God’s sons and daughters should not eat the harvest of the land without first sanctifying it. Would that we lived in a land where we could eat freely of its fruits without needing to sanctify them!

(48:252, September 19, 1971)

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Beyond Ritual WHEN RITUAL IS OVERLY RELIED UPON, it may imbue an aura of sanctity not matched by deeds or wisdom.

Ritual is no substitute for authentic piety, love of one’s neighbor and personal realization of God. Nearly every religion has its own internal critique of ritualism. Even when the founder of one religion is apparently criticizing the ritualism of another religion, the passage was originally a prophetic word to his own people.

Father Moon concurs in these critiques, and adds two more: First, ritual can create a barrier between different denominations and faiths, which runs contrary to the will of God for religious unity. In this time of coming together, the barriers of ritual should be transcended. Second, acts of pious devotion to God and Jesus do not often grant the inner knowledge to know their heart and will. For example, many Christians revere the cross as the sign of salvation, when for Jesus it was the accursed instrument of his death and the source of millennia of grief and frustration that he could not have lived to complete his mission to build God’s Kingdom on earth.

Chief among the religious rituals in ancient times was animal sacrifice, yet, with a few exceptions, animal sacrifice is rare in religion today. Religions have come to regard acts of devotion, study, and charity the essence of the ancient ritual sacrifices that are required by scripture but no longer practiced. Thus, the Talmud regards charity to one’s neighbor as the equivalent of sacrificing a lamb as a sin offering. In a similar vein, the Buddha criticizes animal sacrifice as creating evil karma by killing life, and instead teaches a spiritual meaning of sacrifice as fulfilled in honoring parents, caring for family, and giving charity to monks.

1. Better than Ritual Is a Loving Heart and Righteous Deeds With what shall I come before the Lord? and bow myself before God on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

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Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6.6-8

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Even three times a day to offer Three hundred cooking pots of food Does not match a portion of the merit Acquired in one instant of love.

Nagarjuna, Precious Garland 283 (Buddhism)

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begged there for a place to stay the night. The god of Tsukuba replied, “Tonight we are keeping the abstinence of the first fruits, but we cannot refuse your request.” And so he respectfully provided the visiting deity with food and a place to stay.

Thereupon, the ancestor deity was filled with joy, and said, “How dear, my child, you are to me, and how majestic your shrine. Here, may you prosper forever with the heavens and earth, with the sun and moon, and may people gather here forever to present you with food offerings, so that your generations continue in ease without end.”

As a result, Mount Fuji became covered with snow year-round so that it could not be climbed.

Mount Tsukuba, on the other hand, is a gathering place for many people, who enjoy themselves with singing and dancing to this day.59

One sabbath [Jesus] was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” And he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; so the Son of man is lord even of the sabbath.”

The Master said: A man who is not humane, what can he have to do with ritual?

Mark 2.23-28

Analects 3.3 (Confucianism)

Of old, one of the ancestral gods was roaming through the land of his descendant gods, and he came to Mount Fuji in the province of Suruga, just as it was becoming evening, so he went to the home of the gods of Mount Fuji and begged to be provided with a place to stay for the night. The god of Mount Fuji, however, replied, “Unfortunately, today is the day that the first fruits are being offered to the gods, and all of my family are under taboos of purification and abstinence. As a result, it would not be fitting for us to put up an unknown stranger. On this day of all days, please excuse me from being more courteous to you.”

With this, the other deity was filled with resentment, and said, “I am your ancestor! Even so, will you not put me up? For this I will make it snow both winter and summer on this very mountain in which you live, cover it with mist and cold the year long, so that no person may climb it to give you offerings!”

And with these words, he ascended instead Mount Tsukuba in the province of Hitachi, and

Not by sacred water is one pure, although many folk bathe in it.

In whom is truth and dhamma, he is pure; he is a brahmin.

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Hitachi Fudoki (Shinto)

Udana 6 (Buddhism)

The evildoers who pursue Devotion held sacred by thine initiate, because they have no part in the Good Mind, O Lord, from them she shrinks back, with Righteousness, as far as the wild beasts of prey shrink back from us!

Avesta, Yasna 34.9 (Zoroastrianism)

People under delusion accumulate tainted merits but do not tread the Path. They are under the impression that to accumulate merits and to tread the Path are one and the same thing. Though their merits from alms-giving and offerings are infinite, they do not realize that the ultimate source of sin lies in the three poisons within their own mind.60 Sutra of Hui Neng 6 (Buddhism)

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These men are full of desire, zealous for heaven.

They cling to pleasures and power and are fooled by their own discourses.

They have no knowledge consisting in commitment, fixed in concentration.61

Undiscerning men, theologians preoccupied with scriptural lore, Who claim there is nothing else, utter words with ephemeral results.

Their words promise better births through cultic acts, dwell at length on various rites, And aim at pleasure and power.

Bhagavad-Gita 2.42-44 (Hinduism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon The living God wants to relate with us not merely in the context of scriptures and rituals, but rather dwelling in the hearts of people who keep God’s will in their minds and live it in daily life. (135:222, November 16, 1985) You may gaze adoringly at Jesus’ face and even touch it. You may walk with Jesus and live with Jesus, as you think he would want you to live. But unless your heart is connected with Jesus’ heart, it is of no use. You have to touch Jesus through the connection of heart, and live with Jesus through the heart. (10:200, October 2, 1960) Many people worship Heaven, but few say they will take responsibility for Heaven’s sake.

Many people know that the way of Heaven is good, but want to avoid the thorny path that lies along the way.

Father, you have toiled for our sake through countless ages, but humankind wants to avoid the path of toil which must be traversed along the true way, the way of Heaven.

They even think to entrust the sorrow and suffering of humanity to Thee— Please pardon them. (16:15, December 26, 1965)

❖ 2. With the Changing of the Age, Old Rituals Are Replaced by Purer Forms of Devotion Once, as Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai was coming forth from Jerusalem, Rabbi Joshua followed after him and beheld the Temple in ruins. “Woe unto us,” Rabbi Joshua cried, “that this, the place where the iniquities of Israel were atoned for, is laid waste!”

“My son,” Rabbi Yohanan said to him, “be not grieved. We have another atonement as effective as this. And what is it? It is acts of loving-kindness, as it is said, ‘For I desire mercy and not sacrifice’ [Hosea 6.6].”

Talmud, Abot de Rabbi Nathan 6 (Judaism)

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Once, when the Exalted One dwelt near Savatthi in Anathapindika’s Park at Jeta Grove, a great sacrifice was being prepared for brahmin Uggatasarira: five hundred bulls, five hundred steers, and as many heifers, goats, and rams were brought to the post for sacrifice. Now brahmin Uggatasarira went and visited the Exalted One, greeted him, exchanged the usual polite talk and sat down at one side. He said, “I have heard that the laying of the fire and the setting up of the pillar are very fruitful, very advantageous… I am indeed anxious, Master Gotama, to lay the fire, to set up the pillar;

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let Master Gotama counsel and instruct me for my happiness and welfare for many a day.”

“Brahmin, even before the sacrifice, a man who lays the fire, who sets up the pillar, sets up three swords, evil, ill in yield, ill in fruit. Even before the sacrifice, a man laying a fire, setting up a pillar, causes to rise such thoughts as, ‘Let there be slain for the sacrifice so many bulls, steers, heifers, goats, rams!’ Thinking to make merit, he makes demerit; thinking to do good, he does evil; thinking he seeks a way of happy going, he seeks a way of ill going. He sets up firstly this thoughtsword, which is evil, ill in yield, ill in fruit.

Again, brahmin, even before the sacrifice…he speaks such words as, ‘Let there be slain so many bulls, steers, heifers, goats, rams!’… He sets up secondly this word-sword… Moreover, brahmin, even before the sacrifice, he himself first sets foot on the business, saying, ‘Let them slay.’… He sets up thirdly this deed-sword…

“Brahmin, these three fires, when esteemed, revered, venerated, respected, must bring best happiness. What three? The fires of the venerable, the householder, the gift-worthy. And what is the fire of the venerable? Consider the man who honors his father and mother—this is called the fire of the venerable… Consider, brahmin, the man who honors his sons, womenfolk, slaves, messengers, workmen—this is called the fire of the householder… Consider, brahmin, those recluses and godly men who abstain from pride and indolence, who bear things patiently and meekly, each taming self, each calming self, each cooling self—this is called the fire of the gift-worthy… These three fires, when esteemed, revered, venerated, respected, must bring the best happiness.”62 Anguttara Nikaya 4.41-45: The Great Sacrifice (Buddhism)

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command

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I gave them, ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’ But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.”63 Jeremiah 7.21-24

“And in every place offerings are burnt and presented unto My name” [Malachi 1.11]. “‘In every place!’ Is this possible?” Rabbi Samuel ben Nahmai said in the name of Rabbi Jonathan, “This refers to the scholars who devote themselves to the study of the Torah in whatever place they are: [God says], ‘I account it to them as though they burned and presented offerings to My name.’…”

“Bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand in the house of the Lord in the night seasons” [Psalm 134.1]. “What is the meaning of ‘in the night seasons’?” Rabbi Johanan said, “This refers to the scholars who devote themselves to the study of the Torah at nights: Holy Writ accounts it to them as though they were occupied with the Temple service.”64 Talmud, Menahot 110a (Judaism)

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God… And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, then to wait

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until his enemies should be made a stool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their misdeeds no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

sacrifice to men, sacrifice to the ancestors, sacrifice to the gods, sacrifice to Brahman.

Day by day a man offers sustenance to creatures; that is the sacrifice to beings. Day by day a man gives hospitality to guests, including a glass of water; that is the sacrifice to men. Day by day a man makes funerary offerings, including a glass of water; that is the sacrifice to the ancestors. Day by day a man makes offerings to the gods, including wood for burning; that is the sacrifice to the gods. And the sacrifice to Brahman? The sacrifice to Brahman consists of sacred study.65

Hebrews 9.11-14, 10.11-18

There are five great sacrifices, namely, the great ritual services: the sacrifice to all beings,

Satapatha Brahmana 11.5.6.1-3 (Hinduism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon If people commit sin, they must cleanse themselves of sin with a degree of intensity equal to the sin. To wash off the stains of sin, people must put in their personal effort and offer of their possessions. In particular, people need to make an offering in order to pay indemnity. People of every age have made such offerings, even though they did not clearly understand their function as objects by which to make indemnity conditions. Based on their level of understanding, primitive people sacrificed animals and even human beings as offerings. That was why they did these horrible things.

All the earth’s creatures should be embraced in God’s love and live harmoniously together with God, yet because of the Fall they had to shed blood. They had to shed blood! Because false love, false life and false lineage came into this world, the things of creation had to shed blood. (374:21, April 4, 2002) In prayer, we offer our mind and body before God. Rather than offering material things [animals] before God, we offer our time of devotion, dedicating our mind and my body completely, in prayer.

(28:25, January 1, 1970) Symbolic offerings [animal sacrifices] were objects for the condition made necessary as substitutes for the Word, because after the first human ancestors lost God’s Word at the Fall, people were not able to receive God’s Word directly. Hence, during the Age of the Providence to Lay the Foundation for Restoration (the age from Adam to Abraham), sacrifices had been offered as objects for the condition in laying the foundation of faith. However, by Moses’ time that age had come to a close. Humanity had entered a new era, the Age of the Providence of Restoration (Old Testament Age), when they could once again receive God’s Word directly. Thus, there was no longer any need of a symbolic offering in laying the foundation of faith. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Moses and Jesus 2.1.1.2)66 [In this age] it is a problem that Christianity has so many denominations. It is time for Christians to start a movement to burn their denominational identities, take down their denominational signboards, and remove all their crosses. (399:100-01, December 21, 2002)

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