- Healing a Leper
- 1 While passing through Wun-pyung Village with His disciples, Sahng-jeh-nim saw an ailing man in the street whose body was covered with leprous sores. The poor man was so gruesome it was difficult to look at him.
- 2 Seeing Sahng-jeh-nim, the leper rushed over. Crying, he pleaded, “I have done nothing wrong in my life, yet I suffer this punishment. Is it because of what I did in previous lives?
- 3 I beg of You, please forgive the grave misdeeds of my previous lives. If they are too great to be forgiven, then I would rather You grant me death.” Wailing, he followed Sahng-jeh-nim.
- 4 There was not a single person in the street who did not shed tears at the sight.
- 5 Sahng-jeh-nim looked down at the man sadly for a moment, then said, “I will heal you. Sit down here.”
- 6 Sahng-jeh-nim said to the disciples, “Sit in the street in a circle around this man.”
- 7 He continued, “Now chant these words: ‘The dao of great learning is to renew people (大學之道在新民).’”
- 8 They closed their eyes and chanted the words. After a short time, Sahng-jeh-nim said, “That is good enough. Now stop and open your eyes.”
- 9 The disciples opened their eyes and to their amazement saw that the man’s body had been renewed.
- Sahng-jeh-nim’s Dao Renews Humanity
- 10 The healed man danced and jumped for joy, crying out, “Heavenly God, Heavenly God, You have pardoned my grave transgressions and given me a new life.”
- 11 All those who witnessed the healing said that it could not have been done without the power of God.
- 12 “Go north ten lee,” Sahng-jeh-nim said to the healed man. “There, you will find a livelihood.”
- 13 A disciple said to Sahng-jeh-nim, “Leprosy is known as a punishment from heaven. There is no known cure in this world. Yet, You had us recite a phrase and he was healed in an instant. How is it possible?”
- 14 “My dao is the great dao of the world,” Sahng-jeh-nim answered. “All people will be made anew.”
- (JSD Dojeon 2,59)
