07-015
The Eight Great Textbooks, and their Chinese translations
Devoted
Christians will complain on my previous posts for calling those later
revelations as “inspired”. This is true. Not everyone accept the revelations
received by Ellen White, Mary Baker Eddy or Joseph Smith as authentic. But
those denominations have churches in my city. As I mentioned earlier, this blog
is about culture. Putting them here does not mean that I agree with them. I am
a Protestant Christian. My Bible only got 66 books. And I am happy with that.
Just want to
make myself clear because in this post, I will go even further, even crossing
the red line in some people’s eyes.
I am going to
talk about the very controversial church led by Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, the
Unification Church.
The True Parents
When talked
about the Unification Church, people immediately think about its mass marriage,
forced donation, and its involvement in politics. It is a church full of
controversies, especially after the assassination of the former prime minister
of Japan, Abe Shinzo, in July, 2022, and the airing of the Netflix documentary In
the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal earlier this year. [Note: The 2023 Netflix
documentary is not about the Unification Church but JMS. Nevertheless, people
just mix both religions together.]
Japanese
government is now seeking for the church’s dissolution. The church is listed as
one of the 14 evil cults by the Chinese government. Hongkong does not fully
follow the law of China, however. We have our own law. The Unification Church
is a legal entity in the city. They have a church here, in Tsimshatsui, very
close to where the Korean community lives. The Unification Church also operates
in Taiwan, with quite a number of followers.
The Scriptures
of the Unification Church
According to the website Sun Myung Moon Archive, “Prior to his death on September 2, 2012, Sun Myung Moon organized his ‘last words I will give to humankind,’ into eight textbooks which he believed captured the essence of his teachings. He believed and stated that these eight ‘textbooks’ constituted the official cannon of his life’s work and admonished his followers that by studying the collection the will of God would be realized on the Earth.” Called The Eight Great Textbooks (八大教材教本), these texts have become the official scriptures of the Unification Church for some years. The Eight Great Textbooks contain the following books:
- The Sermons of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon;
- Exposition of the Divine Principle;
- Cheon Seong Gyeong: The Holy Scripture of Cheon Il Guk;
- Pyeong Hwa Shin Gyeong;
- The Cheon Il Guk Family Pledge — Nation of cosmic peace and unity pledge;
- True Family—Gateway to Heaven;
- Owner of Peace and Owner of Lineage; &
- World Scripture and the Teachings of Sun Myung Moon II.
The Eight Great Textbooks, what are they?
Except the Exposition of the Divine Principle & The Cheon Il Guk Family Pledge, all ‘textbooks’ are excerpts of Moon’s sermons and speeches, categorized into different themes.
The Sermons of
the Rev. Sun Myung Moon / 문선명선생말씀선집
/ 文鮮明先生聖言選集 1200卷 is a collection of Sun Myung Moon's
sermons. It comes in a huge amount of texts. The original Korean version
consists of 622 volumes. It is a collection of Moon’s sermons from 1957 till
2010.
A small portion of The Sermons of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon
The complete collection would take up a whole bookshelf!
Exposition of
the Divine Principle, or simply the Divine Principle / 원리강론 / 原理講論, is the core of The
Eight Textbooks. It is the main theological textbook of the Unification
Church. The text presents itself as a new revelation from
God, given through the Sun Myung Moon. Divine Principle follows the
format of systematic theology, basing its insights on exegesis of the Bible.
The content starts with God's purpose in creating human beings, the Fall of
man, and redemption—the process through history by which God is working to
remove the ill effects of the human fall and restore humanity back to the
relationship and position that God originally intended.
The Divine Principle
Cheon Seong
Gyeong: The Holy Scripture of Cheon Il Guk, or simply Cheon Seong
Gyeong / 천성경 / 天聖經 is an anthology
of selected remarks taken from speeches by Sun Myung Moon. Cheon Seong
Gyeong is about 4 times the length of the Divine Principle. Physical
copy of the English translation contains more than 1600 pages. The e-book
version, with bigger font sizes, contains more than 2500 pages.
Cheon Seong Gyeong
Pyeong Hwa Shin
Gyeong
/ 평화신경 / 和平神經 is a series
of 17 'Peace Messages' delivered on world tours by Sun Myung Moon shortly
before his death and which he believed summarize the main content of his
teachings. English translation of Pyeong Hwa Shin Gyeong contains 312 pages.
Pyeong Hwa Shin Gyeong [Japanese translation]
The Cheon Il
Guk Family Pledge — Nation of
cosmic peace and unity pledge, or simply the Family Pledge / 가정맹세 / 家庭誓盟, is an 8
paragraph covenant recited by Unification Church members daily. The Family
Pledge is normally presented on a piece of card in postcard size. The opposite
side of the card normally shows the image of Moon and his wife, Dr. Hak Ja Han.
The Family Pledge [Japanese translation]
True
Family—Gateway to Heaven / 천국을 여는문,참가정 / 打開天國的門是真家庭
contains excerpts from the Cheon Seong Gyeong focuses
on the theme of family. English translation of True Family—Gateway to Heaven
contains 120 pages.
True Family—Gateway to Heaven [Japanese translation]
Owner of Peace
and Owner of Lineage / 평화의주인,혈통의주인 / 和平的主人 血統的主人 is a
long summary of the message given out by Moon on the 233rd anniversary
of the independence of the United States of America. The English translation of
the book consists of 64 pages.
Owner of Peace and Owner of Lineage
World Scripture
and the Teachings of Sun Myung Moon II, or simply the World
Scripture / 세계경전 / 世界經典, is an anthology of commentary by world religions on a series
of common topics highlights the doctrines of the Unification Church. There are
2 versions. The original version titled World
Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts was published in 1991.
The one in The Eight Textbooks is the revised version published in 2007.
It is a long document containing more than a thousand pages of texts.
World Scripture [Japanese translation]
Most parts of The
Eight Great Textbooks were translated into English. Electronic copies of
the ‘textbooks’ are available on the website Sun Myung Moon Archive. Physical
copies of The Eight Great Textbooks can be purchased from the Family FED Store.
Chinese translations of the Divine Principle, Cheon Seong Gyeong, Pyeong Hwa Shin Gyeong, the Family Pledge, True Family—Gateway to Heaven, & Owner of Peace and Owner of Lineage were completed. The Divine Principle and the Family Pledge are available on the official website of the Unification Church of Taiwan. I also found a blog that shares the translations of Cheon Seong Gyeong and Pyeong Hwa Shin Gyeong. I personally owned the physical copies of True Family—Gateway to Heaven, & Owner of Peace and Owner of Lineage. I bought these books from the Taiwanese church during a business trip. Chinese translation of the World Scripture was never completed.
For The Sermons of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, translating all 622 volumes into other languages would take a very long time and efforts. At present, only the first 7 volumes of the sermons were translated into English. Therefore, non-Korean speaking followers would use Moon’s autobiography As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen / 평화를 사랑하는 세계인으로 / 熱愛和平的世界公民 to substitute. This autobiography is available in Chinese language. There is also a DVD inside the book.
Moon’s autobiography
The church members considered The Eight Great Textbooks as scriptures inspired by God. As for non-Korean speakers, Moon’s autobiography replaced the 622 volumes of The Sermons of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Is the DVD also inspired then?
The Holy
Scriptures 三大經典
Shortly after
his death, Moon’s wife Hak Ja Han directed church historians to undertake a
massive editing of The Eight Great Textbooks into 3 volumes of The
Holy Scriptures (三大經典) – the Cheon Seong Gyeong (2014 edition) /천성경 / 天聖經增補版 , the Pyeong
Hwa Gyeong / 평화경 / 平和經 & the
Cham Bumo Gyeong / 참부모경 / 真父母經. Each volume consists
of more than 1600 pages of texts. The works were completed in early 2014.
The Holy Scriptures
The Cheon
Seong Gyeong (2104 edition) is a collection of internal guidance given by
True Parents (Moon and Han). It is a revised version of the previous Cheon
Seong Gyeong of The Eight Great Textbooks, including some new
messages delivered by the True Parents from year 2000 to 2012.
The Cheon Seong Gyeong (2014 edition)
The Pyeong
Hwa Gyeong is a compilation of their messages on world peace given around
the globe throughout their ministry. It is a
collection of 178 representative speeches from more than 370 speeches by the
True Parents.
Pyeong Hwa Gyeong
The Cham
Bumo Gyeong details their life course in their own words, going deeper into
the meaning of ‘True Parents' work and vision’.
Cham Bumo Gyeong [Japanese translation]
However, Han’s
editorial decision has led to schisms in the church. ‘The True Mother’ is
heavily criticized by his own son Hyun Jin Moon, the supposed successor of the
Unification Church. Technically, the Unification church is now separated into two.
The Taiwan church still follows the leadership of ‘The True Mother’. While the
new church led by Hyun Jin Moon sticks to The Eight Great Textbooks and
would not accept The Holy Scriptures.
I have
contacted the Taiwanese church. This is their comments on the revision.
“… the announcements of the Word of the True Parents are time-based. Although the principle is absolute, because people have not yet grown to the level of accepting the Holy Word, a more complete and in-depth explanation needs to follow the foundation of the victory of the true parents.
For example: The modern Holy Word was very difficult for people in the 1960s to accept. It was difficult for people at that time to accept the need to maintain absolute purity...etc.”
Chinese translations of The Holy Scriptures were completed. I hope I can get a copy of The Holy Scriptures and can share some of the contents here.
Go back to the Lobby ...
No comments:
Post a Comment