(Everyone can be enlightened. But not everyone can actualize their enlightenment…   ) 

The world is like a picture drawn on a blank sheet of paper.
Looking at that picture, people sometimes are moved
and sometimes argue endlessly:
“The color is beautiful. The shapes are crooked.”
Those with insight are not caught up in this,
For they know that life is a process of continuously adding something
to this blank sheet, of building, of creating shapes.

From the moment we are born,
We color everything and live with the illusion that this is us.
Even as we compare ourselves to innumerable colors and forms,
Creating feelings of guilt and shame,
We struggle to be free of these shackles binding us.
So our souls lack freedom and peace, and our lives are wearisome.
We are beings placed in this contradiction.

But those who pursue truth go the other way.
Peeling off layer after layer of paint and color,
They continue until only a blank sheet of paper remains.
The moment they finally see the blank sheet,
They discover Nothingness; they find the Void.

Two paths are placed before us at the moment of enlightenment.
Finding emptiness, we may fail to perceive the “True Void”
And fall into the “Indeterminate Void.”
Extreme meaninglessness and fear may rush upon us:
“So this is the substance of the world?”
We may color the blank sheet white and deceive ourselves:
White seems so clear, pure, and good.
One and None both exist because “I” remain.

Enlightenment is not the end, but the beginning.
We can transcend the world of the Void the moment we perceive it,
Thinking it of little account: “Now, I can create!”
Marvelous Existence springs from the True Void
When we leap beyond deep emptiness and cynicism to become a creating mind.
From then on, everything in life changes into the joy of creating newness.

From Ilch Lee’s lecture

(Ilchilee.com)

You must trust yourself if you want to develop the good thoughts that you have. “I am a truly valuable and precious being. I am great life. I am a great soul.” Such a realization is needed. “Ah! So my thoughts are extremely important!” This will grow like a seed as you continue to develop it. And, like a continuously spun thread, it can be formed into something useful, like a pair of gloves or socks.

(Nowadays many people they just live without being aware of their trueself. If we trust ourself we will be heapier than now)

From Ilchi Lee’s book Peaceology for Healing Society

 We can use a computer analogy to explain the significance of spiritual growth. A computer process consists of hardware, software, and user.

We can use a computer analogy to explain the significance of spiritual growth. A computer process consists of hardware, software, and user. Your soul is analogous to the user, your body to the hardware, and your mind, with all of your knowledge and information, to the software. Your soul provides the impetus, or desire, for spiritual growth, as the user decides what task to do on the computer. Just as we replace computer hardware when it wears out, our body regenerates on a regular basis. However, this does not mean that the user is changing. No, the user is the same and only the computer is new. As we upgrade software to a newer version, we receive newer and better information. One important distinction to keep in mind here is that as we upgrade the hardware and software, the user is growing and maturing throughout the process.

(Ilchilee.com)

(I hope we will get this book soon in English) 

From a translation of Ilchi Lee’s book The Power of the Brain

To become your child’s teacher, you must discard your bad habits. I want you to correct these one at a time, beginning with those you don’t want your child to imitate. In the course of becoming a good parent, you will gradually be reborn and grow to be a better person. You will taste the joys of growing day by day along with your child.

Ilchi lee was featured as a special guest lecturer on KBS-1 TV, March 13, 2007. He presented an hour-long broadcast lecture about the HSP Youthful Walking Method, titled Walk for a Long Healthy Life. KBS-1 TV’s program Front Yard in the Morning is a one of the major morning programs reaching up to five million people throughout South Korea.

(from ilchi.com)

Prayer of Peace

I offer this prayer of peace
Not to the Christian God
Nor to the Buddhist God
Nor to the Islamic God
Nor to the Jewish God
But to the God of all humanity

For the peace that we wish for
Is Not a Christian peace
Nor a Buddhist peace
Nor an Islamic peace
Nor a Jewish peace
But a human peace
For all of us.

I offer this prayer of peace
To the God that lives within all of us
That fills us with happiness and joy
To make us whole
And help us understand life
As an expression of love for all human beings

For no religion can be better
Than any other religion
For no truth can be truer
Than any other truth
For no nation can be bigger
Than the earth itself.

Help us all go beyond
Our small limits
And realize that we are one
That we are all from the earth.
That we are all earth people
before we are Indians, Koreans, or Americans

God made the earth
We humans have to make it prosper
By realizing that we are of the earth
And not of any nation, race, or religion.
By knowing that we are truly one
In our spiritual heritage.

Let us now apologize
to all humanity
For the hurt that religions have caused
So that we can heal the hurt
Let us now promise to one another
To go beyond egotism and competition
To come together as one in God.

I offer this prayer of peace
To you the almighty
To help us find you within all of us
So that we may stand proudly one day before you
As one humanity.

I offer this prayer of peace
With all my fellow earth people
For a lasting peace on earth.

Ilchi Lee presented this prayer at the Opening Ceremony of the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations on August 28th, 2000

(from Ilchi.com)

From Ilchi Lee’s book The Twelve Enlightenments

The direction that our human civilization has been headed toward until now was always the outside.  “Stronger, higher, and faster” is not an Olympics motto any more than it is a self-declaration of the human civilization.  Such movement toward the external, the outside, is inevitably expressed through activities defined by possession and domination.  And the results are always more land, more money, more power… an inevitable spiral of “better and more” that leads to competition that divides us into winners and losers.  Since sharing the pie would decrease one’s own piece, monopoly and absolute control drives the day.  On the other hand, a direction toward the inside, toward inner civilization, leads us to strengthen our inner powers of love and peace, which are expressed through actions such as forgiveness, reconciliation, and calmness.  Since the destination of this direction is perfect completion instead of absolute victory, sharing does not decrease my own lot.  My perfection of the soul does not prevent others from reaching their own perfection, and my sense of peace does not lessen because I freely share it with others.  Human civilization, until now, expresses our instinctive desire to grow by worshipping the body and pursuing external powers.  We have come to realize that this direction will not take us forever, that it is not sustainable.  This is not a value judgment of good vs. evil on our current civilization: this is an objective and impartial judgment.  The reason we have to effect a shift in our civilization is not that our civilization is evil or weak, but that it is not sustainable.

‘I joined Dahn Yoga about nine months ago. And, two weeks later I commented to the trainer that I had been getting up an hour earlier, for some reason. He laughed and said he beban getting up an hour earlier afterone week in Yoga! That’s 270 hours of time I’ve saved over the past nine months! Then, about three months later, I began hearing better! Iam stronger, I’ve lost weight, My face looks better, less wrinkles!’

 Steve

Illinois