Vol. 67 Finding the Traces of Sangje (3)

The Development of Western Civilization and Its Evils after the Death of Matteo Ricci and Jinmook

All things in the universe were governed by mutual conflicts in the Former World. Accordingly, heaven, the earth, and the human world became full of deep-rooted resentments as time went by, and lost moral ethics. Instead, all kinds of calamities occurred, making the world harsh and cruel. The civilization developed in the West after the modern times was inclined to materialism, fostered the arrogance of humans, and confused the Three Realms. Regarding this, Sangje said as follows.

→In the Former World, all things in the universe were governed by mutual conflicts. Accordingly, as time went by, Heaven, Earth, and Human world became full of deep-rooted resentments and lost their common ways, which resulted in all kinds of calamities making the world harsh and cruel. After the modern times, the civilization developed in the West was inclined to materialism, fostered the arrogance of humans, and made confusion in the Three Realms. Regarding this, Sangje said as follows.

“After he was dead, Matteo Ricci went to the West with the deities of Eastern civilization and opened the era of new civilization. At that time the deities of underworld emulated all excellent means of Heaven and generously shared them with the human world. All Western culture was modeled after heaven… The civilization was inclined to materialism, promoted the arrogance of humanity, and continuously committed sins by eventually shaking the reasons of Heaven and trying to conquer the nature, thereby demeaning the divine authority that led to the collapse of the relation(common way) between Heavenly Way and Human Affairs. As a result, the Three Realms fell into chaos and the source of Dao was being disconnected, so all the divine sages, buddhas and bodhisattvas gathered and petitioned to the Ninth Heaven, saying: "Heaven and Earth in the state of catastrophe cannot be rectified by anyone but Sangje.“ … (Kyowoon 1-9)

In the history of humanity, the Western civilization developed rapidly over only a few hundreds of years thanks to Matteo Ricci (1552~1610), a ``esterner who came to the East in the 16thcentury. Matteo Ricci was a Jesuit missionary who came to China at the age of 31 for overseas missionary work of Catholicism, stayed in China for almost 30 years. He was a pioneer who strived for the mutual understanding between China and the West and devoted all his life for Catholic missionary work while embracing both Buddhism and Confucianism, but he could not fulfill his will. However, Sangje clarified to us that after his death, Matteo Ricci went to the West with the deities of Eastern civilization and opened the era of new civilization. Sangje said “Matteo Ricci came to the East and tried to build an Earthly Paradise, but could not achieve his goal because he could not easily make reforms due to the evil customs of Confucianism that were deeply rooted for a long time.” (Kyowoon Chapter 1 Verse 9). Then to console Matteo Ricci, Sangje invoked his spirits and held a funeral for him in the Sangje Bongjo of Mudeungsan Mountain, Gwangju (Yesi, Verse 66), and erected him as the religious leader of Christianity. (Gyowoon 1-65)

There is another person who contributed to the development of western civilization: Jinmook (1562~1633).

Jinmook went up to Heaven, learned all kinds of excellent means, and sought to spread them in the human world, but he was killed cruelly by Bong-gok Kim, bore a grudge, and went to the West with the Eastern deities of enlightenment and devoted himself to cultural development. (Kwonji Chapter 2, Verse 37)

→ Jinmook went up to Heaven, learned all kinds of excellent means, and sought to spread them in the human world. But after he was killed cruelly by Bong-gok Kim, Jinmook bore a grudge and went to the West with the Eastern Deities of Enlightenment and devoted himself to cultural development. (Gwonji 2-37)

Jinmook was a high priest of mid-Chosun dynasty who was called the incarnation of Gautama Siddhartha by leaving many eccentric miracles, but was unjustly killed by Bong-gok Kim (1573~1661) and went to the West, where he devoted himself to its cultural development. To clear his grudge, Sangje summoned Jinmook back to the motherland, had him participate in the building of the civilization of the Later World civilization, and made him become the religious leader of Buddhism. (Kyowoon Chapter 1, Verse65)

→Jinmook was a high priest of mid-Chosun dynasty who was even called the incarnation of Sakyamuni (Gautama Siddhartha) for his many eccentric miracles. But after he was unjustly killed by Bong-gok Kim (1573~1661), he went to the West and devoted himself to its cultural development. To resolve his grudge, Sangje summoned Jinmook back to the motherland, had him participate in the building of the civilization of the Later World, and made him become the religious leader of Buddhism. (Gyowoon 1-65)

It is assumed that Matteo Ricci went to the West with the deities of civilization of the East after around 1610, and Jinmook crossed into the West with the deities of enlightenmentof the East after around1633. From then, the West experienced rapid scientific development. Boil opened a new chapter of chemistry (1627∼1691), Hook strengthened the basis of mechanical engineering and solid state physics (1635∼1703), Huygens advocated the undulatory theory of life (1629∼1695), and Newton completed historical mechanics (1642∼1727). By these numerous scientists who appeared one after another, new scientific knowledge and technology were developed in Europe during the 17thcentury,whichwascalledthe‘centuryofscientificrevolution’ and the ‘century of geniuses.’ With such development of scientific knowledge and technology, the industrial revolution occurred from the U.K. around 1760 andthe Western civilization had an opportunity of huge epoch-making development.

→It is assumed that it was after around 1610 when Matteo Ricci went to the West with the Deities of Civilization of the East, and around 1633 when Jinmook crossed into the West with the Deities of Enlightenment of the East. From then, the West experienced rapid scientific development. Boil(1627∼1691) opened a new chapter of chemistry, Hook(1635∼1703) strengthened the basis of mechanical engineering and solid state physics, Huygens(1629∼1695) advocated the wave theory of light, and Newton(1642∼1727) completed classical mechanics. By these numerous scientists who appeared one after another, new scientific knowledge and technology were developed in Europe during the 17thcentury, which was called the ‘century of scientific revolution’ and the ‘century of geniuses.’ With such development of scientific knowledge and technology, the industrial revolution occurred from the U.K. in around 1760 and the Western civilization had an opportunity of huge epoch-making development.

Technological advancement at a tremendous speed influenced the thoughts of westerners and caused a trend of the Enlightenment around France. By doing so, the era of only valuing obedience to the will of god while ignoring rational reason of human was gone, and it was replaced by an ideological trend of seeking to reform society by applying objective and ‘scientific’ methods on the problem that society faced. The French Revolution that declared human rights began based on this Enlightenment, and after then the European community achieved many developments in its consciousness and systems.

On the other hand, the West continued the tradition of dichotomous thinking of viewing all objects from two separate perspectives. Due to its influence, the Western civilization perceived the physical and mental fields separately which caused the development of civilization to focus more on physical matters rather than mentality. Also, nature was regarded as a separate world to be conquered by humanity instead of harmonizing with humans. As a result, the Western civilization justified the destruction of nature in the name of development. Based on their blind faith and indulgence in scientific technology, humans became arrogant while ignoring gods, and became frantic about wars and mass murder using the conveniences of civilization to gratify their physical avarice.

This led to the decline of divine authority and the collapse of moral ethics and heavenly way, making the Three Realms to fall in chaos with the end to the source of way. All the divine sages, buddhas, and bodhisattvas could not help but plead to Sangje to rectify and save humanity and the celestial realm that fell into the state of annihilation beyond their control. Thus, Sangje, who was the Gucheon Daewon Johwa Jushin in the Ninth Heaven, the highest place in heaven, listened to their petition and exercise his Great Authority on the whole world.  Authorityan

→This led to the decline of divine authority and the collapse of Normal Ways of Heaven and People, making the Three Realms to fall in chaos and being disconnected from the source of Dao. All the divine sages, buddhas, and bodhisattvas could not help but plead to Sangje to rectify and save humanity and the celestial realm that fell into the state of annihilation beyond their control. Thus, Sangje, who was the Gucheon Daewon Johwa Jushin in the Ninth Heaven, the highest place in heaven, listened to their petition and began His Great Itineration throughout the whole world.