Chapter Two : Doctrine 29

The Founding Master asked the congregation at a meditation hall,
“If someone were to ask you what you are learning here, how would you answer?”
A member of the congregation said,
“I would answer that we are learning the ‘three great powers.’”
Another member said,
“I would answer that we are learning the ‘essential Way of human life.’”
After hearing conflicting answers from several other people, the Founding Master said,
“Although all your answers are applicable, I will elaborate a bit, so listen carefully! As a rule, whatever answer one gives should be appropriate to the questioner’s character and attitude at the time, but to answer in general terms, I would say that I am teaching about the dharma of the mind’s functioning. To answer more specifically, I teach the knowledgeable how to use knowledge; the powerful how to use power; the wealthy how to use wealth; the resentful how to live a life of gratitude; those who lack merit how to make merit; those who live a life dependent on other-power to rely on self-power; the reluctant to learn how to learn; those reluctant to teach how to teach; those lacking public spirit how to be motivated to have public spirit. In brief, I teach others to make the most of all their talents, material wealth, and surroundings, in accordance with the right Way.”

The Threefold Study

[ Section One : Cultivating the Spirit (Chŏngsin Suyang) ]

A. The Essential Purport of Cultivating the Spirit
“Spirit” (chŏngsin) means that state in which the mind, being clear and round, calm and tranquil, is free from a tendency toward discrimination and a penchant toward attachment. “Cultivating” (suyang) means nourishing that spirit which is clear and round, calm and tranquil, by internally letting go of a tendency toward discrimination and a penchant toward attachment and externally not being enticed by distracting sensory conditions.

B. The Objective of Cultivating the Spirit
Sentient creatures instinctively have a congenital ability to know and a desire to do certain things. Humans, the most intelligent of beings, have a tendency to know in their seeing, hearing, and learning and a desire to do certain things that is many times greater than that of other animals. So, if they decide to seek out those things they know and want to do, then, while satisfying themselves through their own prerogatives, skills, and might, regardless of etiquette, shame, and just laws, they ultimately will destroy their families and ruin themselves; they may feel a pessimistic disgust toward the world, through their distress and idle thoughts and their wrath and anxiety; they may become weak of nerve, lose touch with reality, or, in the most extreme of cases, some might even commit suicide. Therefore, our aim is to engage in cultivation that nurtures our autonomous power by removing this desire that spreads its tendrils widely and attaining a sound spirit.

C. The Consequences of Cultivating the Spirit
If we continue for a long time with the work of Cultivating the Spirit, our spirit will become as solid as iron or stone, and, in applying ourselves to the myriad sensory conditions, autonomous power will arise in the mind, and ultimately we will gain the power of Cultivation.

[ Section Two : Inquiry into Human Affairs and Universal Principles (Sari Yŏn’gu) ]

A. The Essential Purport of Inquiry into Human Affairs and Universal Principles
“Human affairs” (sa) means the right and wrong, benefit and harm, among human beings. “Universal principles” (ri) means the great and small, being and nonbeing, of heavenly creation. “Great” means the original essence of all things in the universe. “Small” means that the myriad phenomena are distinguished by their shapes and forms. “Being and nonbeing” means the cycle of nature’s four seasons of spring, summer, fall, and winter, as well as wind, clouds, rains, dew, frost, and snow; the birth, aging, sickness, and death of all things; and the transformations of creation and destruction, prosperity and decay. “Inquiry” (yŏn’gu) means studying and mastering human affairs and universal principles.

B. The Objective of Inquiry into Human Affairs and Universal Principles
This world is constructed through the principles of great and small, being and nonbeing, and is driven by the affairs of right and wrong, benefit and harm. Therefore, as the world is vast, there are infinite types of principles; as there are many people, there are limitless types of human affairs. However, the suffering and happiness that might inadvertently occur and the suffering and happiness that we create for ourselves are the consequences of our own making through the operation of the six sense organs. If we act whenever we please and stop whenever we please, ignorant of the right and wrong, benefit and harm, of our actions, then the activities of our six sense organs at every instant will turn into transgressions and suffering, so that our future will become a boundless sea of suffering.
If we live ignorant of the principles of great and small, being and nonbeing, we will not understand the causes of the suffering and happiness that might inadvertently occur; our thoughts being myopic and precipitous, and our minds being biased and narrow, we will not understand the principles of birth, aging, illness, and death and the retribution and response of cause and effect; unable to distinguish the factual and true from the false and spurious, we constantly would fall into falsity and wishful thinking, until ultimately we face the destruction of our families and the ruin of ourselves. Therefore, our aim is, by inquiring in advance into the unfathomable principles of heavenly creation and the multifarious affairs of humanity, to know them through clear analysis and quick adjudication when confronted by them in real life.

C. The Consequences of Inquiry into Human Affairs and Universal Principles
If we continue for a long time with the work of Inquiry into Human Affairs and Universal Principles, we will generate the power of wisdom that knows without obstructions in analyzing and adjudicating the myriad human affairs and universal principles, and ultimately will gain the power of Inquiry.

The Essential Ways of Human Life and of Practice
The Fourfold Grace and the Four Essentials are the essential Way of human life; the Threefold Study and the Eight Articles are the essential Way of practice. As for the essential Way of human life, people would not be able to follow it without the essential Way of practice. As for the essential Way of practice, people would not be able to manifest fully the efficacious power of that practice without the essential Way of human life. To explain their connection through an analogy, the essential Way of practice is like the medical arts by which a physician cures a patient, while the essential Way of human life is like the medicine that cures the patient.

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