Sun Myung Moon
April 13, 2008
FFWPU International
Translation of notes taken by the UC History Committee
Peace Palace, Chung Pyung, Korea
Note: True Father's comment during the HDH gives his life testimony. He doesn't usually talk about his life.
This morning's hoondok reading was read by Professor Lan Young Moon. Professor Moon read chapter two from Cheon Seong Gyeong. After the hoondok reading a number of women came up to give their reflections on their activities. True Father commented intermittently.
Summary of notes from True Father's comments:
I've come this far against countless opposition. Donga Ilbo and Chosun Ilbo have opposed me so often. Yet, I have sheltered these newspaper companies.
When I was young I began going to school at the request of my grandfather. I began third grade at Osan elementary school without even taking an entrance exam. My grandfather was on the school board. This school was famous as it taught about all sorts of academic theories ranging from traditional Korean philosophy to the communist theory. After I started going to school I found it problematic that communists were positioned in the school.
At school they only taught us about how to oppose Japan; they did not teach us Japanese. Students were prevented from using Japanese. I started school from the third grade but as I did well in my studies I skipped a grade and entered the fifth grade the next year. Yet, at this rate I was unable to learn Japanese. So I took an exam to enter the Jungju School and began fifth grade in that school. I had to learn Japanese. I memorized the entire Japanese alphabet in one day.
The members in my family were quite good at writing. Our letters were neater than the printed letters in a book.
The ideology of Christianity cannot surpass that of Confucianism in terms of the principles of moral justice. The three bonds and the five moral rules in human relations cannot be explained by Christian teachings.
In elementary school we were taught the Myungshimbogam. This was something that was no less than that of the Bible. I had memorized it all but I've forgotten it now. After studying theology I did not quote from Confucian teachings ever again.
You have to pave the path that you take. Nobody else can do it for you.
My granduncle prevented my elder brother from going to school. He stopped his relatives to the third, fourth, and sixth-degree from going to school. He firmly believed that the only thing they would learn was becoming a traitor to our country. The people from the Moon clan are quite stubborn. Once they decided to do something they either end up dying in prison or survive in prison. That's the kind of lineage we're from. That's why my granduncle prevented all of us from going to the village school. Instead he made us farm.
My elder brother was smart so was my father. If my father had gotten a proper education he would have become an internationally renowned scholar. He only needed to hear something ONCE to memorize it. My grandfather never had an education; yet he knew everything about Chinese history which he heard from his brother.
There is not a single place in the mountains or field in Jungju that I don't know. You have to know everything about your hometown; you should know what kind of fish live in your area or what kind of creatures lives in that area. I could easily catch any snake or viper. There was a cave where the vipers lived. I knew where the birds nested. Whenever I went to a village that was within a 30 ri radius of my neighborhood I instructed the young people there where to find the river, what kind of fish or bird they could catch. I knew how to gather the young people in those villages and trained them.
I recently came back from Las Vegas. I do not gamble with cards. Yet, you are unqualified if you do not know about that world. If you are ignorant you will be dominated wherever you go. If you don't know how to wrestle when placed in a ring or if you don't know how to compete in sports when placed in that situation, you will be driven away. I am talented in many ways.
I am a good wrestler and very athletic. I'm intelligent to a certain degree. That's why everybody in our village, all those who respected my grandfather, wanted me to be the husband of their daughters or granddaughters. That's the kind of fellow I was. That's why all of you in the Unification Church adore me.
After Father's speech, Dr. Chung Hwan Kwak offered a prayer. The Hoon Dok Hae this day lasted for five and a half hours.