Chapter Twelve: Exemplary Acts 14

Among the new indigenous religions at the time in Korea, there were quite a few incidents that attracted the attention of government officials and society due to scandals involving money and sex. As a consequence, the authorities frequently interfered with and investigated all religious orders. However, they were never able to find even a hair’s breadth of irregularity in our order, so they went back to their office and said to each other, “The organization, plan, and practice of the Society for the Study of the Buddhadharma 「viz. Won-Buddhism」 are such that, even if the whole country were entrusted to them, they would be able to govern it competently.” When these comments were related to the Founding Master, he said, “The authentic Way and its virtue is the great dharma that helps everyone to live well, from the individual and the family up to the nation and the world. Thus, even if the whole world were entrusted to us, why couldn’t we govern it well?”