- A Program for Yin and Yang in the Later Heaven
- 1 At dawn on the twenty-fifth, Sahng-jeh-nim ordered the disciples to sit with their backs straight, handed them a sheet of paper each, and said,
- 2 “I am about to establish a program for yin and yang in the Later Heaven. Each of you, make dots on the paper to express how many wives you wish to have.”
- 3 The disciples did as instructed, and Sahng-jeh-nim had them put their sheets of paper into a box. He then stirred them with His hand and drew them out one at a time.
- 4 Cha Gyung-suk’s paper had twelve dots, Hwahng Eung-johng’s had two, Shin Gyung-su’s had three, Ahn Nae-sung’s had eight, and Moon Gohng-shin’s had one.
- 5 Sahng-jeh-nim said, “Because there is not a paper with nine dots, we cannot understand the expression ‘one man and nine women.’”
- 6 He then asked Gyung-suk, “Why do you want as many as twelve wives?”
- 7 “I think having one wife in each of twelve countries and staying in one country per month would be the ultimate pleasure for a man.”
- 8 “That seems reasonable,” Sahng-jeh-nim said.
- 9 He then asked Gyung-su and Eung-johng, “As old men in your seventies, even one wife would be difficult. How could you manage two or three wives?”
- 10 Eung-johng answered, “In the Later Heaven, an old man becomes young, and there is an expression ‘wife on the left, concubine on the right,’ so I would like two.”
- 11 Gyung-su said, “I would like three because there are three aspects: heaven, earth, and humanity.”
- 12 “What you have said also seems reasonable,” Sahng-jeh-nim replied. He then asked Nae-sung, “Why do you want eight?”
- 13 Ashamed, Nae-sung just smiled. Also smiling, Sahng-jeh-nim said, “They say Sung-jin, a disciple of Monk Yook-gwahn, flirted with eight female immortals. To become an immortal yourself, you also want eight female immortals.”
- Only One Gun (
) and One Gohn (
)
- 14 Sahng-jeh-nim then asked Gohng-shin, “Even these seventy-year-old fellows want two or three wives. Why would a young man like you be satisfied with only one? Is your stamina so lacking that you can only have one?”
- 15 “There is one heaven and one earth,” Gohng-shin answered.
- 16 Slapping His knee, Sahng-jeh-nim said, “Yes, that is so. You are right. There is only one Gun () and one Gohn (). This concludes today’s work.”
- 17 Sahng-jeh-nim then cut a radish in two, carved something into the face of one of the halves, and dyed it with black ink. With it, He stamped each sheet of paper.
- 18 He said, “Since this work of renewal has been done well, prepare plenty to eat and drink. Let us invite everyone to celebrate.”
- 19 After this work of renewal, Gim Gwahng-chahn and Bahk Gohng-ooh were sent to Cha Gyung-suk’s house in Jung-eup County, and Shin Wun-il was sent to Shin Gyung-wun’s house in Tae-in County.
- 20 Sahng-jeh-nim, knowing that the next work of renewal would be a great ordeal, wanted to spare Gohng-ooh, who had suffered several police arrests.
- 21 Because Gwahng-chahn and Wun-il were so hot-tempered, Sahng-jeh-nim also prevented them from participating.
- (JSD Dojeon 5,146)
