Cheon Seong Gyeong – Sun Myung Moon

Book Seven - Etiquette And Ceremonies
Chapter Four - Tradition and Daily Etiquette of Blessed Families
Section 14. Blessed Family Ceremonies

14.1. Birth

Your beloved sons and daughters are undeniably precious. They are the precious treasures of heaven and earth, treasures that you can neither buy nor exchange for the entire world. They are that precious to God and to their parents as well. Would anyone trade their children for anything else in this world? Children are God's precious gift. (165-100, 1967.5.20)

Babies are very mysterious. If you think about them, they are intriguing. We almost want to ask one, "Hey, you! How were you born?" Try to think how unfathomable it is. If you were to try to create human beings like that, could you succeed? You could not be able to do it in a thousand years. (118-289, 1982.6.20)

Do you recall how difficult it was when you were coming out of your mother's womb? Why did God make birth like this? How easy would it be if giving birth were as simple as talking, as easy as eating good food or smelling the scent of perfume or opening your mouth and laughing "Ha ha ha." Why is it that giving birth is not simple like that? Giving birth produces perspiration in situations that border on life-and-death. Why was it made like that? Why? It is in order for us to experience a brilliantly shining love. (107-43, 1980.1.20)

In such a state of near death, when your eyeballs pop out, when everything is destroyed and heaven and earth are in chaos, then if a child cries its first cry and is born, your eyes open wide. All pain disappears in an instant. Since you gave birth with such difficulty, you can love more than the difficulty you have experienced. You will say, "Aigoo!" Do you understand what that means? (107-43, 1980.1.10)

You should hold a ceremony of dedication to heaven for daughters on the seventh day alter their birth and on the eighth day for sons. (11-82, 1961.2.2)

14.2. The Blessing

You have not been able to establish a complete bond with True Parents. Consequently, the Blessing allows you to establish this bond. (23-332, 1969.6.15)

The Blessing is about becoming one with God. When you become one with God, you obtain everything. You receive everything belonging to God, the subject partner. (Tongil Segye - November 1982)

What is the occasion of the Blessing? It is the very best place in the entire world. With whom should you establish a relationship at the place of Blessing? You cannot perfect yourself on your own; you are perfected through True Parents' love. When a child is born from his parents' bosom, regardless of whether he is good-looking or not, the child takes after its parents. In the same way, Unification Church members are taught the way of the true parent. For you, that is the blessing of all blessings. (35-236, 1970.10.19)

Bestowing the Blessing signifies passing on the full authority of Heaven. (17-328, 1967.4.16)

The Blessing is the most precious thing in heaven and earth. At the same time it is the most fearsome. If blessed spouses think about others besides their spouse, they are emotionally violating each other. (l3-67, 1963.10.17)

Good ancestors, territory, and a nation will emerge from you. Therefore, you who have received the Blessing must always think about heaven and earth from the minute you open your eyes. The Blessing is for the sake of your sharing blessings with others. You need to convert the lineage that was defiled by the Fall. Without accomplishing this, you cannot remove Original Sin. Without removing Original Sin, you cannot rise to the level of receiving the Blessing as true children. That is how the Principle works. The Holy Wine Ceremony is a ceremony to convert the lineage that removes Original Sin inherited from the Fall. In other words, it is a ceremony to exchange one's flesh and blood. (35-210, 1970.10.30)

The holy wine contains elements of all the things of creation, which cannot be accused by Satan. After drinking the holy wine and becoming one with True Parents, if you commit any acts that defile your body, you will be worse off than Satan himself. Satan defiled and violated the completion stage of the growing period, but if someone who has received the Blessing commits a sin, he defiles the substantial body of God in the perfection level of the completion stage and so cannot ever be forgiven. This is a truly a terrifying thought. (God's Will - 543)

A wedding ceremony is none other than the bequeathal of love. The wedding ceremony is the bequeathal ceremony that tells you to live in such a way that you become parents in place of God's love, in the same way as your parents lived under the love of God. (96-236, 1978.1.22)

I take complete and eternal responsibility for those who have received the Blessing, even in the spirit world. I will directly guide them and lead them. The Blessing establishes an eternal relationship between the True Parents and those who receive it. (God's Will - 533)

If you deviate after having received the Blessing, there will inevitably be an indemnity condition. it will be there for sure. There is no forgiveness. Thus, the Unification Church is a fearful place. That is how the Principle works. (God's Will - 27)

I have enabled you to establish the indemnity condition to receive this new Blessing and create a new family and have tried to take responsibility for your heavy burden. But if you transgress the heavenly law even after I carried out my responsibility, that constitutes the most fearful sin -- one that will be transmitted down to dozens of generations. (22-211.1969.2.4)

What is the difference in value between a person who has passed through the course of the Blessing and the many people who have already gone to the spirit world? In terms of the standard of faith, there can be no comparison. If you abandon this heavenly grace, Satan will accuse you. The archangel became Satan at the level of the growth stage. but if you fall at the completion stage, Satan will judge you. (God's Will - 59)

14.3. The Sunghwa Ceremony

People today do not know what it means to die. It is not a sorrowful occasion. You should see it as a transition from a lower dimensional world to a higher dimensional world, through the bridge of love. That is why the Unification Church does not call it death but Sunghwa. It is ascending to a higher dimension. This is only possible through love. (137-316, 1986.15)

If human beings had not fallen, death would have been a happy occasion. That is why I have taught the Unification Church members that they should not greet death with sorrow. That is why it is called the Sunghwa (199-353, 1990.1.11)

A funeral in the Unification Church is called a Sunghwa Ceremony. The spirit of a dead person will lament if he sees people holding on to his dead body and crying. He would say, "The ignorance of these people is a rope that ties me down and prevents me from going on my way." Since we know these things, we call a funeral a Sunghwa Ceremony.

Sunghwa means a sacred ascension to heaven. You have to push the dead person to the spirit world with the power of love. Do not hold them back but push them forward. (199-130.1990.1.16)

The Sunghwa Ceremony began with Heung-jin, did it not? What is the meaning of "victory of love" in the "Day of the Victory of Love"? It means victory over death. If it had been any other person, the mother would have been writhing in sorrow, crying and wailing from deep within. Yet, True Mother should not shed even one tear. We had to hold this ceremony within three days. I had to proclaim that death had been overcome. This is the way that the Sunghwa Ceremony came to be held in the Unification Church. It is a ceremony of going beyond death and onward to joy. Those who go through the Sunghwa Ceremony can easily go beyond all the valleys in the spirit world. Of course, there will be some who fail to do so and remain in between. You have to know this. The Sunghwa Ceremony began with Heung-jin. (212-96, 1991.1.2)

Heung-jin's ascension brought down the walls of death. That is why it is called the Sunghwa Ceremony. Death should not bring dejection or despair. It is not a fall from life but a leap into a new world. It is ascending to a new world. For that reason, Unification Church members should not fear death. Death comes in accordance with the natural order of things. It is just a process of moving on to a better world. (196-270, 1996.1.1)

I did not cry even when my son Heung-jin passed away. Our departure for the spirit world is not a sad occasion. You should raise the flag of heaven amid the trumpet call for liberation. Go on boldly, unbeaten, while raising the flag that signals your glorious return to your homeland. This is the path that lets you proudly enter your hometown, where the nation and all of humanity will welcome you with cheers. It is not a sorrowful occasion. We do not shed tears in the Unification Church. What do we call this? We call it the Sunghwa Ceremony. (227-460, 1992.2.14)

Even though my mother-in-law passed away, we do not call it a funeral in the Unification Church. What do we call it? A Sunghwa Ceremony! We call it a Sunghwa It is moving on to the stage of activity in the vertical spirit world, the infinite world, after having lived in the horizontal earthly world. In the satanic world, if you cry aloud, evil spirits will come to you, but evil spirits cannot find their way to a Sunghwa Ceremony. (195-160, 1989.11.15)

What do we call funerals in the Unification Church? What is a Sunghwa Ceremony? It means to be transformed and go up to a higher stage. I did not cry when grandmother Hong passed away. I did not cry because I was busy paving the way for her to ascend. Where else can you find a greater filial son than this? (196-55, 1989.12.24)

In the Unification Church, we do not hold funerals in the usual way after a person's death. Instead, we hold a Sunghwa Ceremony. We live our lives knowing where we are heading. Is there anything to fear in this world? Is there anything to fear in the universe? From this world of sin and chaos, we should take the form of an autonomous center, aligned with the standard of heaven and earth, and thus enter into an upright position within the realm of God's love. Why do we need to enter the vertical position? It is because it creates no shadow in relation to God's love. Everything is perfected. Consequently, the entire environment will rotate around the vertical axis. When a woman unites centering on a man, the realm of happiness emerges throughout the environment, centering on that man and woman. (198-124, 1990.1.25) 

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