Daedong* Education
Mission Statement
by Lee Jong Man(1945)
1.
Only the work of
Ending Wars Completely is Justice and Righteousness
This
most tragic war of all of human history ended on August 14, with Japanese
surrender. The whole world was a battlefield
and all of humanity was the victim. The
total amount of material goods wasted reached trillions, and the number of human
lives lost reached millions. Those crying
out for each other and lost fathers, husbands, sons and homes are in hundreds
of millions. What gruesome poison and crime of a war!
Now
the outcome of the war is clearly drawn. Losers lost their motherland and their
freedom. But what did the winners gain? Territory?
Reparation? The joy of victory? Can any
of that make up for the losses and casualties?
There is only one thing that could compensate the lost human lives and
the grief of survivors. And that is the
single work of making sure that war disappears from the face of the earth.
If this one task is not achieved in the follow up
of this war and there is the use of nuclear bombs again, that responsibility
will lie with the victors of this war.
Eliminating all wars in humanity is the one true
path of righteousness and the foremost goal for humanity.
2. The Cause of War is Selfish Greed – Victor
Nations Too Must Examine Themselves
What is the cause of a war? War is so often rooted in the selfish greed of
participating nations and the judgment of wrong doing by opposing sides in the
conflict. We are well aware that the fuel that ignites a war often arises from
a country’s deliberate mis-education of it’s own people, excessive arming, and it’s
industry centered in military armaments. The policy of a winning nation is
invariably to destroy the losing nation’s armaments and turning their education
and military industries non-competitive.
While this may be reasonable, it is only when a winning nation applies
an equal measure of censorship, penalty and reorganization to itself that wars
will disappear and lasting peace come to humanity.
Countries
initiating a war know clearly the reason why they are initiating the war, and
know clearly, at the same time, the point of view that would cause wars to
disappear altogether. This is revealed in the propaganda they use to justify the
reason for war. It behooves each nation to put each their own sense of justice
forward, respect the freedom of others, and not commit the crime of forcefully
taking others’ possessions, deceiving or cheating. It behooves them to help
each other, and maintain cooperative international relations. The key to world
peace is entirely in this.
3. We Must Win the True, Ideological War for
Justice and Peace
Just as most people have a conscience endowed by
heaven, all nations have sages who communicate heaven’s mandate. Thus, it is
not that there aren’t enough people aware of what is right and wrong or good
and bad. On the contrary, it is rare
that people lack this awareness. In
today's world, when printing, transportation and educational systems are so
well developed, if a country truly wanted to concentrate it’s vision and life upon
the focal goal of justice and peace, this would not be a difficult task to achieve.
I
sincerely hope that the nations that won this world war will set as their concerted
goal the saving of humanity and the ending of wars. May they do major surgery on
the shortcomings of modern civilization, making essential corrections in their governing
and life philosophies. May they do this by rejecting imperialistic and economic
egotism, materialistic greed, and innovating their nations' politics,
industries and education toward a truer humanism and harmonization with truth. In this, it is my hope that they will lead
the nations that lost the war. If the
allied nations’ reason for war was the protection of justice, the victory of
this war was merely a secondary victory, the victory of arms. And this victory
is the beginning, I believe, of the primary battle which is the philosophical
or ideological war.
4. Let Us Build a Moral Nation that Upholds an
Ideal of Frugality and Nobility Rather Than Wealth and Might
As
for our own nation, we came out of the yoke of 39 years of Japanese domination
and we are just about to change our history.
I proclaim that we must build a nation that is unique and different
based on the larger dream of rescuing humanity itself. And as we walk into this
new beginning, we should not fall into the idleness of merely studying old things. Our people have excellent genes and have a
long and noble culture, no less than the culture of China. Already, during the Shilla period, our people
gathered all the thoughts of East Asia into one place. Also, our geographical condition is such that
we are located at the center of exchange of cultural commerce for the many
peoples of East Asia. Our genes, our
history and our geography are not accidental. And it seems impossible to not realize
that there is heaven’s deep will in our country’s establishing of a new nation
now in this time of great world re-examination and reconstruction.
We
should not shrivel because our country is not large in land mass or in
population. Our goal should not be
wealth and might but rather frugality and nobility. And we should pledge
ourselves to be moral and cultural role models for all nations.
The militarism that says "power is
justice" and the exploitative commercialism that says "wealth is justice"
will no longer be tolerated in the future by heaven, nor by the conscience of humanity.
Building a world of co-existence and co-prosperity,
based on a principle of loving one other and helping, is clearly the mission
and action practice for future humanity. Therefore, truly, we who seek to bring
a new history, pledge to step forward to create a new future. So it is that our
people must contribute to the progress of humanity by fully manifesting the
character that heaven has endowed us.
5. The Daily Life Practice of Spiritual Truths is
the Core of World Peace
The
base for carrying out this mission is education and the re-organization of industry. In education, we should discard narrow-minded
and the stifling nationalism and nationalistic prejudices and adopt truths that
have universal validity. Also, it is easy for science dissociated from spirituality
to be become an instrument for material greed at an individual level and
aggressive violence at an international level. So, it is truly a science that
stands upon the foundation of compassion and human affection that will fulfill
it’s original purpose to benefit humanity. Industry, too, bereft of
spirituality, becomes a tool for greed at an individual level and a
motivational force for invasions at international levels. So it is that the tragedy
that the world experienced recently originated in science and industry bereft
of spiritual foundation.
Buddha, Confucius and Jesus are teachers from
different eras, but their teachings of compassion (Buddha), benevolence
(Confucius), and charity (Jesus) are together a true life principle towards
world peace. And it is only the practice of such a principle that is the key to
world peace. World peace will not happen
by supernatural change; it will happen by the ordinary pathway of daily practice
of such truths and principles. Rightly,
science exists to fulfill this goal too, as does industry. A world brought by the fulfilment of such
principles and goals will be a world of justice and fair order. This is not to endorse any religious sectarianism
that occupies itself with hatred, defamation and strife. We hope for the
emergence of authentic religion. Meanwhile, even atrophied sectarian religion
is better than none at all towards world peace.
6. True Industry is Based in Sacred and Joyful
Labor
The
purpose of industry is to create abundance in the standard of living for people,
in food, clothing and housing, for example, not the amassing of wealth for the
businessman. However, industries that were meant to improve the lives of people
grew in pathological ways, bringing suffering and misfortune instead.
Confrontation between workers and owners, discrepancies between the rich and
the poor, and all abhorrent philosophies and actions that worship gold only
became the main causes of domestic political strife and international conflict.
Industries that were meant to be the means for mankind's happiness, instead,
created problems that could only be corrected by major revolutions.
Industries
around the world will one day return to their rightful position. So the work of
cultivating land, excavating minerals and running machines should be allowed to
be the free, sacred and joyful, work that repays the blessings of our lives and
cares for ourselves and our families.
Projecting
demand, producing, and accurately supplying the demand is the coordinating job
of a government, but it is also an important duty of a government to oversee
that all work, such as agriculture, fishery, mining and factories arise from spiritual
freedom and joy, so that people are not working like slaves merely to survive.
7. A Life of Cultivation and Gratitude Arises from
the Unification of the
Workplace and the Learning Place
In
order to ensure the freedom and happiness of work, there must be a social
system in place that provides an environment for people to "learn through
work" and "work through learning". In other words, all places of learning should
also be workplaces of industry, and all workplaces can become places of learning. Traditionally, education was merely school
education, distant from actual living, and traditional production work was just
hard work, disassociated from learning. This
created, not only a separation of learning from work, but also people with no
work and people with no learning, thus deforming the people.
Life should be a lifelong process of learning and of
working. So, there should never be an end to self-cultivation and of repayment
of gifts received from society. Particularly for our nation, whose culture is
lagging behind and our industries are in their beginning stage, spreading the integration
of work and learning and manifesting it as a lifelong process, is absolutely
necessary. This is the reason for
asserting the idea of "learning in the workplace and working in the place
of learning.”
8. Devoted Sacred Labor is a Path to Self-Completion
and of Divine Fulfilment of Humanity
In
addition, there is a deeper meaning to the unifying of labor and learning. That
deeper meaning is the work of making people and things sacred. At the same time
as lifting humanity to the realm of the divine through lifelong learning and
cultivation, the product of his labor are transformed into goods of heaven and
of God. When a man makes a straw shoe
for his parents or children, putting all his love into it, the straw shoe turns
into not a merchandise to make a profit but a sacred object imbued with the
substance of his heart and soul. There
is joy and bliss in such labor, and this is transferred to the person who uses the
product thus created. In this, a subtle
and mysterious path of the soul is opened.
The product of this kind of labor is drastically different in nature
from things produced from slave-like labor. This kind of industry serves to
sanctify and elevate humanity and is a force to bring it together as one
family. Thus, the integrated place of "labor and learning" will
become a training ground for this transforming spirit.
. 9. Only the Cultivation that Makes Human Nature
Upright is the Singular Path to World Peace
Mankind
is in deep grief now; it is in the midst of anxiety, suffering and challenges. However, we have faith in the principles of
heaven and also in the conscience and the ability of mankind. We believe that history is a progress, not a
repetition. As many countries positively agreed at the San Francisco Summit to
end all wars, we have faith that such will certainly be actualized.
However, we know from history that the ending of
war and coming of world peace cannot be guaranteed simply by international
meetings and treaties. It can only happen
as each nation and people integrates education and industry, spirituality and
science, and brings about the cultivation of upright character of the citizens.
We are certain that there is no other way than this.
Dear
compatriots of Korea and the world, for the sake of the joy and happiness of
all our future descendants, and for the honor of mankind, shall we not shed our
old layers and rise to join in the building of a vastly transforming new world.
Shall we not break the old habits of international competition and survival, to
construct a new world order of loving and helping one other? Shall we not break
out of the self-centered, hellish world of material greed that has been
created, and construct instead a heaven on earth where morality shines and people
are loved? That this is what heaven truly desires, we are confident.
:
Main Points of Daedong Philosophy
1. In a spirit of harmonizing all, uphold a vision
of world peace and one family of humanity.
2. Believe in the oneness of all creation and the spiritual
equality of humanity.
3. Innovate education and industry to establish a
system of "learning through work" and "working through learning."
And, thus, hold the goal of renewing people and the things they produce so that
they are sanctified, and are in accordance with the will of the heaven.
4. Harmonize science and religion (spirituality)
and develop science guided by spirituality. Pursue a harmonious integration of
the material and the spiritual aspects human life.
5. Seeing the universe as a training hall, all
things as scripture, and one’s daily life as spiritual cultivation, make one’s
life a continuous path of learning.
6. Make “loving and helping one other and
prospering together”, the basic principle of personal life and national life.
7. Construct Daedong Korea, Daedong world, to actualize
a heaven on earth where all can enjoy happiness.
Motto of Daedong Philosophy
1. Let’s say “we”, not “me”
2. Teach while working; work while learning.
3. Become a human being while working; work while
becoming a human being.
4. Things I produce will be used by my fellowmen.
5. Don’t work in order to live; live in order to
work;.
Four main principles of Daedong Education
1. In a spirit of harmonizing all, pledge to
construct a peaceful human society.
2. Pledge to manifest actual "learning through
work" and "working through learning” education settings through
innovating educational and industrial systems.
3. Pledge to integrate science with religion
(spirituality), so that science does not interfere with the progress of
humanity and its peaceful and integrative cooperation.
4. Pledge to upgrade the living standard of humanity
to the highest level and bring about equality.
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