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BOOK 2 - The Birth of True Parents
Chapter 3 True Father's Childhood and Youth
Section 3. School Days
1) Primary schools
From the age of seven to 13, True Father studied at the village school. There he learned Chinese characters and read the Confucian Classics. His memory was excellent, and his calligraphy was so superb that his teacher used the characters he wrote as models for other students to copy. At that time, his dream was to acquire at least three doctoral degrees, and for this he knew he needed a broader education. So he enrolled at the Won-bong Preparatory School to prepare for the entrance examination for a primary school with a modern curriculum. In 1934 he entered the third grade at Osan Primary School. In April 1935 he transferred to the 4th grade at Jeongju Public Primary School, mainly in order to study Japanese.
On March 25, 1938, at the graduation ceremony for the school's 29th class, he volunteered to speak at the podium. Although the ceremony was nearing its end, he gave a long speech to express his views in front of all the people who were gathered there. One by one he pointed out the wrongs of Japanese colonial educational policy and its hypocrisy. He also pointed out the problems of each individual teacher. Because of this incident, the Japanese police added his name to their list as a person to be watched.
1 I am also talented in drawing; I am good at it. In the village school that taught Chinese characters, classics and calligraphy, there were people of many age groups—from nine and ten-year-olds to grown-ups in their twenties and thirties. To improve our skill at writing we practiced writing Chinese characters every day. The teacher used the characters I wrote as models for other students to follow and copy. This was before I was even 12. The other students would practice by copying my characters over and over, hundreds of times.
When they had done it so many times that it became a habit, I could tell that they had reached a new level. I could see by glancing at the character which direction to move my calligraphy brush—where to place the top of the first stroke and where to end the last stroke. It did not matter how lengthy the phrase; I could write it with ease. My skill was at a different level than that of others.
After studying at the village school, I joined a small private school that specialized in teaching art. There for the first time in my life I learned how to draw and paint pictures. The adults drew pictures on a special drawing paper. As I stood in front of that paper, I contemplated what flowers I was going to draw. Looking at the size of the paper, I calculated their sizes and locations in my mind. With this plan in mind I made a rough sketch of the flowers, the images forming from the simple lines I drew. Next I completed the coloring, and there it was, my first picture. They hung that picture on the wall at the school. (349-056, 2001/07/14)
2 The village school where I went when I was young required us to finish one page a day from the book that we were studying. But it did not take me even 30 minutes to do it. Once I focused, I memorized its entire content within 30 minutes. Then I would recite it from memory in front of my teacher. So having finished the day's lesson, I would go up to the mountain while the teacher was taking his afternoon nap. Since teaching was so difficult at his age, he often took afternoon naps. On the mountain I would study where the frogs were, where the bird nests were, where the coyotes were, where the mushrooms were growing, and so on. I would explore everywhere. No wonder my mother was never able to find me. (204-249, 1990/07/11)
3 After I reached the age of ten, I was sent to a school called a geulbang, meaning "a room for learning Chinese characters," that was in my village. This was because any member of the Moon clan who studied in a distant location ended up dying far from home. Even from a providential perspective we understand that for the sake of God's Will, second sons face great difficulties in their lives. Thus it was that a notion circulated in the Moon clan that any second son who is sent to school away from home will die away from home. That is why I was not allowed to travel and go to a public school but instead had to attend a local village school.
My whole life has been about pioneering and transformation, and this is where it began. While I was attending the village school, God called me and I came to know His Will. As I began to think about the path I was destined to walk, I realized that I should not be cooped up inside a village school. I clearly understood that I was living in an age when a new scientific civilization was expanding. Airplanes were flying in the sky, trains were traveling overland, and I was supposed to prepare myself to lead humanity into a new future. I thought to myself, "I cannot just stay here in a village school." That was the point where a transformation began in my life. So I went to a preparatory school and then entered primary school. Back then, that school was called the Osan Primary School. I took the transfer test and entered the third grade. I studied there for one year. During that time, I concentrated on studying hard. (211-133, 1990/12/30)
4 The Osan Primary School did not allow students to speak Japanese. As you may have heard, it was the school founded by Lee Seung-hoon, a prominent figure in Korean society who fought hard against the Japanese and whom they regarded as their enemy. He was also one of the 33 people who led the Mansei Demonstrations for Korean independence. Due to that background, the tradition of the Osan School was that students were not allowed to speak Japanese. However, I believed that we must know our enemies. I thought that we cannot devise a proper strategy to defeat our enemies if we do not know about them in detail. That is why I took another test and transferred to the Jeongju Primary School as a 4th grader. By the time I graduated, I had learned to speak fluent Japanese. All along the way I was deeply contemplating the difficult issues in my life of faith and other fundamental questions about life. (211-133, 1990/12/30)
5 After I transferred to the Jeongju Primary School, I learned Japanese. It feels as if it were yesterday that I studied katakana and hiragana, the Japanese syllabaries. I memorized all of them in just one night. I had to, because in that school the 3rd-, 4lh- and 5lh-graders all conversed in Japanese. Even though I was a lot taller than most of the students, having entered the school at an older age, I was unable to speak even a single word of Japanese.
I felt ashamed, as if I were just a spectator in their midst, watching them having fun, dancing and singing, but not knowing what to do to be part of their group. You cannot understand how embarrassed and uncomfortable I was unless you have experienced it yourself. So in 15 days 1 memorized all the books that the students in first, second, third and fourth grades were studying. Then my ears were opened, and I could at least comprehend what they were talking about. (171-258, 1988/01/02)
6 I was born with a pretty good brain. I am sure that I could have become a renowned scholar in any field I chose to pursue. But I began to question seriously: What good is it to study hard and become a world-renowned scholar? If 1 become a famous scholar, my life will inevitably take a predictable course: I will study and teach my students in front of a blackboard, breathing in chalk dust and holding a stub of chalk in my hand until my bones creak from old age and I eventually die. Living that sort of life, will I resolve the ultimate problems of the world? Absolutely not. I asked myself, "What is the most difficult path a human being can choose?" I wanted to walk the most difficult path possible, or the one that everyone thinks is the hardest. I thought of accomplishing something that no one in history—past, present or future—has been able to accomplish. (090-044, 1976/12/)
7 When I studied, I studied like lightning. In no time I finished materials that would take years for an ordinary person. My hometown is a small farming village located eight kilometers northeast of Jeongju. It seems like just yesterday that I was studying there, at night under a kerosene lamp. When I stayed up at night studying until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m., my mother and father would tell me, "Go to bed, or you will lose your strength!" This happened all the time at home. I made friends with the insects that came out at night. Especially in summer I made many such friends as I sat still and studied until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. Nighttime in the countryside is very tranquil. The sounds of the insects on such moonlit nights are simply mesmerizing. (100-160, 1978/10/09)
2) Study in Seoul
After graduating from Jeongju Public Primary School, True Father went to Seoul. From April 12,1938 to March 8, 1941 he attended the Gyeongseong School of Commerce and Industry, located in Heukseok-dong. He made sure he was always the first to arrive at school in the morning, and he often took responsibility to clean his classroom by himself. Because he was so exemplary, his classmates could not treat him lightly but afforded him respect. He protected the weak and did not hesitate to confront arrogant and strong bullies in order to teach them right from wrong.
Although he had an active personality, Father rarely spoke, being serious and sincere. In order to find the way to heaven and cultivate his character, he was silent much of the time. His report card records that he was "cheerful, active, sincere and serious, strong, healthy-minded, volunteers to do things, and hard-working." It further states, "He is physically fit and strong, has a good attendance record, and likes soccer."
8 Those who are humble are elevated. In school, there are students who just use their fists to bully others without knowing where they stand or what their situations are. However, there are also humble students who, even though they are superior in every way, are not arrogant. When you look at such people you feel small, without knowing why. They have an air of authority and dignity, and although you feel you want to approach them, you sense a certain awe for no reason. You may have known people like that among your friends. I hardly spoke during my student years. I never engaged in idle conversations with other students. There were days I did not utter even one word. This is why my classmates treated me with respect. To them, I was more difficult to approach than the teachers. I do not mean I threatened them or used violence of any kind. Yet they did not relate to me casually. Also, whenever they had personal problems they came to me and discussed them with me. (037-130, 1970/12/23)
9 My school friends regarded me with a certain awe. Whenever my classmates got together they would do all sorts of things to have fun among themselves, but they could not do it with me. I never engaged in their idle games, yet many times I discreetly helped classmates who were in difficult situations. I was athletic. I was good at wrestling and soccer. I was also good at pull-ups. My body was big but I was very agile. When I moved to Heukseok-dong, within a week I met all the neighborhood gang leaders and found out who was the boss. But my thinking was that I should be the one to teach them what it means to be a real boss. (2010/01/28)
10 When I was going to middle school, I used to clean the school by myself. I wanted to be number one in loving my school; and with the heart to represent all the students I cleaned the school. When I first began cleaning my friends helped me, but I did not like their help; I wanted to do it alone. I wanted to make the school really clean, so I often ended up cleaning again the places my friends had already cleaned. After this happened a few times, my friends entrusted me with the entire task. So I naturally ended up doing it alone. (133-182, 1984/07/10)
11. Once I start doing something, I never just let it go. I was like that even when I was young. I never believed anything until I verified it myself, whether in the village or at the school. When a teacher taught me a mathematical formula, I pressured him by asking, "Why is the formula like this?" I investigated it, examined it and dug into it again and again. Doing something only approximately is not my way. Doing things by half measures never works. (162-277, 1987/04/17)
12 During my student days I had a way of knowing ahead of time the questions that would be asked on the examination. When the teacher lectured, I paid attention to how serious he or she was in making the points. I identified the teacher s favorite student by the way he or she looked the student straight in the eye as he sat in the corner of the classroom. I paid attention to which student the teacher was looking at, and then marked the topics with codes, "A, B, C," etc., according to how much the teacher emphasized the topic and how intently he looked at the good student while speaking of it. As long as I studied the contents that I had marked with the codes, I never failed the examination. I would correctly anticipate about 30 to 40 percent of the questions on the test, and I would study for them more than the other materials. I could do that because I was very attentive to the teachers in my classes. (2009/11/17)
3) Lifestyle and prayer
During the almost three years that he attended school in Seoul, True Father engaged in rigorous self-discipline. He lived independently and also at a boarding house where meals were provided. To cultivate his life of faith he engaged in near constant penance and various other activities, all the while keeping up his studies at school. In the beginning and for some time he commuted to his school from Noryangjin, in the Dongjak district. Mostly he lived in Heukseok-dong, first living independently and then for a time at a boarding house. His family sent him sufficient money for his tuition and living expenses, but he slept in a cold, unheated room. In the bitter cold of winter he cooked his food with icy cold water that he drew from a well. It was so cold that sometimes the chain on the bucket in the well stuck to his hands. He voluntarily lived this way because he wanted to personally experience the situation of those who live in hardship.
From that time on, Father fasted during lunch every day. Morning and evening his food was always the same, a meal consisting of one bowl of rice and a side dish. He willingly went hungry because that way he could feel closer to God's heart. Also, he prayed more than 12 hours a day. His long and fervent prayers gave him calluses on his knees and elbows. Most notably he had serious, desperate showdown prayers in the pine forest near his school, at a rock on the side of Mt. Seodal behind a church, or at the foot of that mountain on the Dongjak district side. Through these prayers, he experienced God's heart and made oneness with Him in heart.
13 When I was living alone and studying at school in Seoul, one winter was particularly cold. The average temperature was around minus 17 to minus 21 degrees Celsius (about 0 to minus 5 degrees Fahrenheit). The weather was that cold. During December and January of that cold winter, I lived in a cold room and I cooked for myself with icy cold water. I had an experience that I cannot forget: I used to draw really pure and tasty water from a well on a mountain ridge. That well was more than ten feet deep; it had a bucket attached to a chain, not to a rope that could be easily cut. It was so cold that when I grasped the chain my hands stuck to it, and I had to blow my hands to warm them enough to get them free. That feels like yesterday. Those were my circumstances when I began living independently from my family. (139-050, 1986/01/26)
14 1 wanted to do everything necessary to live by myself without having to depend on women. Since I had made the fulfillment of the Will my lifetime quest, I was determined to do it even if I had to live as a single man. Therefore, I learned how to take care of myself. That is why I can do everything myself. I can handle whatever I need for my life without being indebted to others. That is why I can cook rice well on a wood or charcoal fire. When it comes to cooking, I can quickly tell if people are amateurs by observing their cutting skills. I can also tell if they are good at cooking by observing the way they prepare side dishes. That is because during the more than seven years that I lived a single life, I prepared my own food and everything else I needed.
I do not need to eat many side dishes. Whenever I visit local churches, they make elaborate preparations and serve many side dishes on the table. However, I do not like that. To me, a single side dish is enough if it is something I like. By nature, I am the kind of person who likes to finish whatever I start. It is the same when it comes to food. Although there may be many dishes on the table, usually I pick one that suits my taste and finish it completely, although I also taste the others. (050-296, 1971/11/08)
15 In the future, anyone who wants to know the history of the Unification Church will have to visit Heukseok-dong, this place where I lived as a young man. One day Heukseok-dong, which means blackstone neighborhood, will be transformed into Baekseok-dong, whitestone neighborhood. This pitch-dark valley where I lived long ago must become the base of a tradition that shines like sunlight to all the people of the world. Nodeul Riverside Park used to be there too, but I cannot find any traces of it now. Although today I cannot meet the people whom I knew when I lived in Heukseok-dong, they must have produced many descendants who still live there. I would be so overwhelmed to meet those people, whose parents or grandparents knew me in those days! I imagine what it would be like if that happened; we could resurrect the history of that time. We would talk about that history and recall those past relationships, and they would blossom anew in this era. (187-255, 1989/02/11)
16 When I was living in Heukseok-dong I had an experience that I still cannot forget. On the road to Sangdo-dong there was a Japanese-style house with flowers growing next to a forest of pine trees. Behind that house was a rice field, and beyond that there was a village. In that village was a home that I used to visit when I was doing pioneer evangelizing.
One day I saw a sick stranger lying on that road. I had never met him before. It must have been around the end of March, since the new semester had just started, and I was carrying with me the money for my school tuition and other expenses. This pitiful man had no son, but he said he had a daughter living in Cheonan. So I gave him all my money so that he could travel to her place and get medical treatment. He must have had good ancestors, because the moment I saw him I could not just continue on my way and turn my back on him. That is why I gave him all the money in my wallet, including the money for my textbooks and the rent money for my boarding house. Moreover, I carried him on my back for about three kilometers. I still vividly remember this; it is as if it happened the day before yesterday.
When heaven leads you to meet someone, you should love that person more than heaven expects you to. Then you will never suffer damage. For example, if heaven asks you to give 10 but instead you give 100 instead, 90 will be considered your offering for the public purpose before heaven. On the other hand, you should never give 5 when heaven hopes you will give 10. When heaven hopes you will give 10, you should give more than 10. If you give less than heaven hoped you would, God's grace will be blocked from reaching your path. This is a law. It is a formula of the Principle. (056-039, 1972/05/10)
17 In those days I was hungry every day. It was not from lack of money. Early in April my parents would send me money for my tuition, but by May it was gone. I would give it all to people who were poor and destitute. I have many stories about this. How, then, did I cover my tuition? I delivered newspapers, sold things and did various odd jobs. I needed to take the path of indemnity. When I first moved to Seoul from my hometown in Pyeongan Province, I was not used to the language and customs there. I missed my hometown very much, particularly during my first school vacation. You cannot imagine how much my mother loved me. But after I came to know God's Will, I had to separate from her. I also had to distance myself from my sisters who loved me dearly.
I had to take the opposite way from what my mother and father expected me to do, from their point of view. That is why on the first day of the vacation, when my neighborhood and school were hustling and bustling with students preparing to return to their hometowns, I closed the door and locked myself in my room. I spent the first day of my vacation thinking, "I have many things to do before my friends come back." (187-250, 1989/02/11)
18 All people desire to have mastery over the universe, but they cannot even master themselves. That is why I declare, "Before you desire to rule over the universe, you must first rule over yourself." Self-control begins with the desire for food. You can master the desire to eat by fasting. A one-week fast should be no problem. You must go through training that would bring an ordinary person to the brink of death. You must overcome hunger. When I was living independently as a student, Korea was under Japanese occupation, and rice was scarce. My friends fought over who would take the largest portion of rice from the pot, but not I. The person who puts down his spoon first is the master of those who put it down later. That is a rule and a principle. My life is renewed every day. Tomorrow must be better than today. I believe heaven wants something new from me, and that is what I put into practice. Because I did this, I could reach the worldwide level, something no one has ever been able to do. (249-204, 1993/10/10)
19 During the years I was growing up in Seoul, I did not eat lunch. I thought, "As long as we don't have an independent nation, how can I be worthy to eat three meals a day?" I missed meals many times in my life, but I missed my people more than food. This is the path I chose. I continually resolved, "I will love my people and my country more than food." So after I left my hometown and moved to Seoul I did not eat lunch. Such was the life I led. It was not because I could not afford to buy lunch. It was because whenever I had money I gave it to the poor. (049-074, 1971/10/03)
20 I do not sleep more than four hours a day. I trained myself until it became my habit. When I am busy, I can go with only one hour of sleep daily. I think I am the person who has slept the fewest hours of anyone in history. I lived my whole life that way. Also, there is no one who has been hungrier than me. I had food to eat, but I could hear the cries of hungry people wishing to be fed. That is why I could not eat three meals a day. Until I became 30 years old I practiced a discipline of having only two meals a day, skipping lunch. I spent my youth eating less than two bowls a day, even though I was healthy and big enough to digest five bowls a day. I trained myself to love people more than I loved food, and I strove to make my life a tower of loving God and loving my nation. (197-163, 1990/01/13)
21 Wherever I was, I always prayed in tears. People who happened to see me in tears felt sympathy for me without knowing why. Wherever I went, many people treated me as well as you do. For example, my landlady would bring me some of the food she had prepared for her husband or for a holiday celebration, food she had prepared all through the night without sleeping. She could not go into her room otherwise. She told me that whenever she went into her room without first bringing me food, suddenly everything turned to darkness and she could not see anything. She did not know why that happened.
When women prepared food with sincerity, God wanted them to give it to me and moved their hearts to do so. Many such spiritual events took place. That is why I can never forget God's love for me, not even for one moment. I can never forget God's love, even if my body is crushed to pieces and my bones are turned into powder thousands upon thousands of times. Throughout my life God was with me wherever I was, and He toiled so hard for me. (022-122, 1969/02/02)
22 When you pray, you need to pray to the extent that your back becomes bent and the skin of your knees becomes calused. My knees are still callused from my prayers in the olden days. You should pray on a wooden floor. And you should shed tears when you pray. I experienced several occasions when I prayed so tearfully and for such a long time that the floor became soaked with tears and still had not dried out by the next prayer time. I am not a man who will just drift away. (025-334, 1969/10/12)
23 The path of restoration is never easy. Do you think I could ever feel at ease if I ate and slept as you do? The Principle itself is so serious. My knees are callused from countless prayers. I do not know how many tears I shed. I knew people were dying every day with the fundamental problems of their lives unresolved. Therefore, my eyes were always swollen and red with tears as I tried to find solutions for them. Sometimes I shed so many tears in prayer that when I opened my eyes I could not see the sunlight. Yet this was how I had to seek for the path. (143-331, 1986/03/21)
24 You should pray every day. Even your prayer life should be a tithe. That means you should pray two hours and 24 minutes every day—one tenth of each day. When my prayer life was at its peak, I prayed 17 to 18 hours per day. I usually prayed for 12 hours straight, bending down on my hands and knees. I never ate lunch. In my prayers I wept bitterly. Without such prayers, I could not live. Every direction was blocked, and there was no hole through which to escape. Only when I prayed could 1 see a pinhole of light. Passing through these ordeals I discovered the Principle. Did you ever weep while holding the Divine Principle book? Have you ever been that serious? Your lifetime is precious. Once your life is gone, it will never return. Usually people marry and give birth to children; then they end up finishing their life while struggling with all kinds of burdens. It is a serious problem. If this pattern continues, we can never bring about the world of goodness. (199-190, 1990/02/16)
4) The Myeongsudae church
During the time True Father was living in Heukseok-dong, Seoul, he stood against the self-righteous churches that were administered under the system of Japanese rule. He opposed their way of doctrine-based faith. Instead he connected to the Pentecostal church that was leading the movement of the Holy Spirit in Korea. After attending that church in Seobinggo, he played a pivotal role in founding the Myeongsudae New Jesus Church in Heukseok-dong in the autumn of 1939.
Rev. Lee Ho-bin and Rev. Pak Jae-bong from the Pyongyang New Jesus Church frequently visited the New Jesus Church in Heukseok-dong and held revivals and Bible study classes. Whenever they visited, True Father attended them and deepened his relationship with them. True Father taught the students at the Sunday school, giving them his special love. Further, whenever he went to Pyongyang during summer vacation, he spoke to the Sunday school students at the Pyongyang New Jesus Church.
25 While attending school, I taught the students who went to the Myeongsudae Church in Heukseok-dong; I also did the same at the Seobinggo Church. At that time it was very cold, and at night as we crossed the frozen Han River we could hear the plates of ice cracking. It was a frightening sound to hear when I was on the river all alone. Nevertheless, I would cross the Han River in order to teach the Sunday School students of Seobinggo Church. I taught them about the Bible with much animation, so that it would be interesting. I even shed tears. I thought that the students might not like to see me crying, and that they might ask me to stop teaching them. Yet they did not want me to stop; instead, they followed me around and begged me to teach them more. (187-307, 1989/02/12)
26 When I was a student, three of my friends and I started the Myeongsudae New Jesus Church in Heukseok-dong. I invested every penny of my tuition. There is still a trace of that church even now. I remember my evangelizing activities to bring many people to that church, before a new church opened in Seobinggo. At the peak of winter the Han River was frozen over, and the cracking sound of its ice was loud and terrifying. I have many memories about what 1 did during that period of Korean history, so filled with bitter sorrows. (543-331, 2006/11/07)
27 I am someone who has offered bows even to very small children. I have attended three-year-old children with utmost sincerity, as if they were princes and princesses of heaven. I speak to you now only after having made internally and externally a victorious foundation that will be attested to throughout history. Part of that foundation was to win the hearts of children. I had to win the hearts of people from three generations, representing the past, present and future. I had to establish that tradition. I taught the Sunday school students who came to the Myeongsudae New Jesus Church, loving them sincerely and regarding them as the hope of my life. Some of them wanted to skip school and follow me around; this is because my mission was to pioneer the work of loving Cain. (060-200, 1972/08/17)
28 The key leaders at the New Jesus Church in Pyongyang were Rev. Lee Ho-bin, Rev. Pak Jae-bong, and Rev. Han Jun-myeong. That church had a large membership, including several thousand students. It was a beautiful building and was well known. Whenever I came up to Pyongyang and visited that church, I was always welcome to take charge of teaching the students there. I was recognized as a good Sunday School teacher. I knew all the pastors and was popular among the students, so everyone wanted to invite me to their home. (441-271, 2004/03/06)
29 I am well aware of the secrets of Rev. Lee Ho-bin, Rev. Han Jun-myeong and Rev. Pak Jae-bong of the New Jesus Church in Pyongyang. When I admonished them about their calling and their responsibility for God's Will, they could not answer me. I advised them not to do certain things that they were involved with. Hence, they feared me more than anyone. I knew all the hidden truths of the Old and New Testaments even as a high school student. In my visits to the church I became such a famous student leader that its thousands of Sunday school students asked me to give sermons. They were mesmerized by my words. When I left, they made such a crowd at the railroad station that the pastors arrived and formed a line in order to protect me. Therefore, the three pastors always listened to my advice. (463-059, 2004/07/31)
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