Letter from a Headmaster

Translation of the letter which Headmaster Dong Hoon Cha sent to a student of the Mesa Dahn Tao Institute

June 21, 1998
By Headmaster Dong Hoon Cha

Student! I wish my story could help you. My story - is not about an individual, but is about overall problems.

There is a psychological reason behind why Koreans do not work as a unity. We, Koreans are scattered all over the world because we were invaded by Japanese. Everybody has lost hope, can not trust the government, religions, and others. What can we do? One can only trust oneself now.

Even though we want to trust ourselves, we don't have the confidence to trust ourselves. We have trusted our kings, governments with blinded mind in the past history--just trusting seemed to work before. But we can not just trust them now.

The only way for Korean's to survive is to trust in you. You can only be responsible for yourself by trusting yourself, by loving yourself and by finding your true self. Nobody will save you, your country, or the world. You can not save anybody if you don't realize that. This is the situation we are faced with.

How can I save my country and myself? It is the enlightenment of the true self that can save myself, my country and the whole world. It can be realized in the "Shin Myung" period. For the past ten years of Dahnhak we call it "Jung Chung" period. We are in the "Ki Jang" period. The "Shin Myung" period comes when "Ki Jang" period passes.

We have people practice "Ki" during "Jang Chung" period. As we are in "Ki Jang" period, we introduce the "true self" and educate people for finding their true self. Moreover, we have people practice for "self realization" and "self-enlightenment". Many people have enlightened and found new vision and are working towards the ideal world, the unified one world. "Devotion to the welfare of mankind" is the vision of Dahnhak-- Korea is established with this vision.

It is the time for the people who have found the true self. This cultural movement can come this far only with desire and destiny. It can only be destiny because I wish, my country wishes, the world wishes and the cosmic heaven wishes. It is not a wish for an individual. We are ready for the big quest. We need participation from the people with enlightenment. It can only be powered by people with high purpose.

We wish for the unity of South and North Korea. But, there is a huge difference of ideology between the South and the North. Our country is absorbed by so many kinds of religion. It is the "Mall of Religion". Each religion is separated from another and is in distrust with each other. The purpose of the religion is Humanitarianism--to "love your neighbor" is the humanity. This is also our country-established ideology.

Therefore, our country's established ideology is the religion itself. However, we, Koreans have not recognized our own Saint "Dan Gun". All Christians vetoed building of the Church of Dan Gun. What has the religion done for us? Politics criticize and are criticized by people, but religion has never been criticized by anybody.

During the World War II the German and the French were faced with war. "God will protect the French"--a priest said to the soldiers. Another priest said the same thing to the Germans. It eventually became a war between God against God. The West no longer believed in religion. Their religion should have told people that war is committing a sin as well as killing people--so we should not start a war. Religion has always been manipulated by politics.

Many people are confusing reason. People believe when your loved one says--"I would die with you" or " I will love you forever". It becomes believable when you truly believe in a religion. If you truly believe in it, you will go to the Heaven. Most religions only concern is individual salvation. National religion concerns the entire salvation of a whole country. Our national religion, "Dae Jong Kyo", has became extinct. It is the time for us to figure out our priorities. This quest can only accomplished with help from the power of "the cosmic heaven". A realization and enlightenment movement is now active. Our purpose of a unified world has come true through a Korean cultural movement.

My student, this road we have chosen has not been easy. We have had much misunderstanding from people. Many fingers have pointed at us. Parents, families have sometimes disowned us. However, I believe that all those obstacles would help you to overcome and empower you.

What is the meaning of my life at this time? What do I really want? What kind of life have I wanted? It is a time for me to wake up from a long sleep?

I can no longer disregard heaven's will. I cannot indulge in my own emotion. I hear heaven calling me. I can hear the voice of heaven calling my name. I feel heaven's broken heart. Heaven is looking for a person who understands.

Heaven is calling you. You cannot hear the voice of Heaven if you selfishly indulge in individual emotion. Heaven is crying for you. Heaven has been waiting for so long.

What should I do when I hear the crying voice of the Heaven? It is the time to wake up. We can no longer live like this.

I do not fully understand your heart. However, I wish that this letter could help you. Many small worries and problems will go away when you see the real purpose.