• Even a Joke Gets Embedded in the Program
  • One day in February 1908, Sahng-jeh-nim passed by a barley field with His disciples.
  • Discussing the great disparity between the rich and the poor, the disciples concluded that barley, the only crop accessible to the poor, was so difficult to eat that the poor always suffered from it; and, therefore, barley should be gotten rid of entirely so that there would no longer be such discrimination.
  • Having heard this, Sahng-jeh-nim said, “That sounds logical. Let there be no barley.”
  • In April, a terrible drought shriveled the barley crop. The farmers were greatly troubled.
  • “If the barley crop fails,” a disciple said to Sahng-jeh-nim, “many people will die of starvation.”
  • Sahng-jeh-nim rebuked the disciples. “In the past, you insisted it would be right to get rid of barley. Now you are pleading with Me because the barley crop is failing!
  • In My work, even a joke gets embedded into the program for the future, and it resounds through heaven and earth. Avoid speaking insincerely in any matter from now on.”
  • Sahng-jeh-nim went to Yohng-muh-ree Hill and said to Gim Nahk-bum, “Bring Me a dish of cooked barley and a bowl of soybean paste soup.”
  • With the food in front of Him, He said, “This is the food of the poor.” He put the barley in the soup and ate it. Suddenly, black clouds gathered and rain poured down. The barley crop was revived and yielded a plentiful harvest.
  • How to Attain Virtue
  • 10 “To be a great person, you must embrace the mind of heaven and earth as your own mind and master the principle of yin and yang circulation in the four seasons, to take part in heaven and earth’s birthing and nurturing of all things.
  • 11 When you have carefully studied the principle of heaven and earth, and your words and silence are united with dao, you have attained virtue.
  • 12 If you are self-interested, possessed by desire, or if you act flippantly, impatiently, or crudely, you cannot attain great virtue.”

  • (JSD Dojeon 4,74)




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