Chapter Five : Cause and Effect 15

While the Founding Master was overseeing the construction of the Seoul Temple, several of the workers said to each other that no matter how hard a person tries one cannot prosper by one’s own effort alone but must absolutely have some sort of unexpected hidden help.
Hearing this, the Founding Master later said to his disciples, “Generally speaking, as we human beings live our lives in this world, there is bound to be unexpected hidden help and harm that come inadvertently. Those without understanding presume that these are managed by gods, buddhas, ancestors, or ghosts and bestowed on us, but those with understanding know that everything is the result of the workings of each person’s mind and body: what one has created in the past, one receives in the present; what one creates in the present, one will also receive in the future; and there is nothing one receives that one has not made previously. Therefore, foolish people willfully seek wealth and glory in inappropriate places, and willfully try to avoid poverty and hardship. Wise people, however, while tranquilly accepting their previously created transgressions and merits, continue to make steadfast effort toward future merits and happiness. Also, while creating these same merits, they plant infinite beneficent merit among the public, thereby ensuring that the source of blessings and fortune never becomes dry regardless of time or place.”

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