Jeung San Do-The Truth of Deliverance at the Time of the Autumn Gaebyeok

The name Jeung San Do is now widely known to the public [throughout Korea]. Yet, there are still many who have no idea what Jeung San Do seeks to announce to the world. What is the message that Jeung San Do intends to convey to the public?

Whenever I have a dao talk with those who know little about Jeung San Do, the first questions asked are, ‘What is Jeung San Do? What is its aim? Explain it to me in a few words.’ That is most difficult because few of the world’s truths or religions can be summarized in a single line. Jeung San Do’s truth, in particular, is further complicated by its profound knowledge of topics ranging from cosmology to humanity—clearly, not a truth easily summed in ‘a few words’!

But if you insist, the core is this: ‘The cosmic season is giving way to autumn. The Autumn Gaebyeok is coming. Jeung San Do is a truth which aims to save people by spreading across the world the dao of Gang Jeung-san Sangjenim, who incarnated as a human at this time of the age of the Autumn Gaebyeok. At the time of the Autumn Gaebyeok, when all are faced with inevitable death, what must be done to save others and oneself?’ This is the core message of Jeung San Do’s teachings, which are uniquely different from all the religions and philosophies of the past. Therefore, Jeung San Do can be considered ‘a truth that transcends religion.’

Many people regard Jeung San Do as a religious organization. What are the reasons behind your declaration that ‘Jeung San Do is a truth that transcends religion’?

Existing religions either establish a certain god to whom the faithful dedicate themselves, or they focus upon meditation to awaken the divine nature within the individual. The real truth, however, cannot be obtained by relying solely on a god or spiritual awakening. Let me provide you an example. Let us imagine that we have gained a certain degree of spiritual awakening by praying to a god or by practicing meditation, but then an earthquake abruptly heaves up the ground—what good is any truth then, at that moment that is the end of us all? Or at that moment when a department store building collapses and the people trapped within find themselves helpless to escape disaster?

The greatest overarching order of our existence is heaven and earth. The coming Autumn Gaebyeok will overturn this order of heaven and earth and replace it with a new one. At such a time, one’s spiritual awakening or blind faith in God cannot save one’s life, which is more valuable than heaven and earth. Therefore, the first step in learning the truth is to know how the order of nature, within which you yourself reside, evolves. However strong an individual’s religious faith or spiritual awakening, there is nothing that a person can do when heaven and earth are shaken and the universe itself enters into upheaval. Humanity’s myriad problems cannot be resolved by merely praying to heaven or attaining an awakening of the mind.

Furthermore, the history familiar to us is a product of the spirits’ deeds and humans’ consequent actions within the bounds of heaven and earth’s order of change, the overarching order in which humans reside. Heaven and earth’s order of change, the spirits’ deeds, and human actions—these three elements organically intertwine and interplay. Therefore, a real truth should peer deeply into these three elements and hence provide the framework for a thorough understanding of the relationships between them. To be specific, a real truth should present three answers: first, in terms of cosmology, the truth should explain how the order of heaven and earth originates and operates; second, in terms of spirits, the truth should explain the spirits and their realm; third, in terms of humanity, the truth should explain human beings and the phenomenal world. Jeung San Do’s truth can produce these three answers. The universe’s natural order of change, the roles and power of the spirits laboring in the universe, and their impact on the human world—these three considerations are knitted together into the principle of li-sin-sa. For Jeung San Do, the principle of the world’s change is summarized within these three syllables.

Jeung San Do neither merely trumpets a monotheistic god nor merely emphasizes the awakening of the mind. Instead, Jeung San Do comprehensively examines: under what principle does the universe experience change; how do spirits act and function in the world under this principle; how does the human world evolve in light of this principle and the spirits’ deeds; what must humans do to be saved.

For all of these reasons, Jeung San Do cannot be categorized simply as a religion, but rather as a truth that transcends religion. Of course, we also have religious aspects such as religious services and the spreading of teachings, but these are just a small part of Jeung San Do. Considered as a whole, Jeung San Do is a dao that surpasses any religion.