Based on extracts from his speeches throughout his life
Earlier installments are available for reading.
Father a War Refugee in Busan
Father had arrived in Busan, on Korea’s south coast, on January 27, 1951, in the middle of winter. It was here that, after experiencing the same challenges as every refugee faced, he made a new beginning. In this installment Father relates how he built a small hut on a hillside above the city.
Part 49
Painting portraits for soldiers
When I lived as a refugee in Busan, there were times when I shed many tears. There was no house in the world like mine. The house was built by a bolder. There was a small table inside, and canvasses for painting. The canvasses were for the purpose of painting portraits for American soldiers who were returning to their homes after fighting in the Korean War. These were the only two things inside. It was an impoverished existence.
I wore an American military jacket. It was brown, with four pockets. I also wore traditional Korean pants dyed blue, but I didn’t tie the hems around my ankles. I wore mismatched rubber shoes; one was large and the other was small. In that wretched state I would go and sit alone on a rock, where I would weep as I prayed. That place is the Rock of Tears.
The most pitiable time was when we stayed in the house in Beomnaetgol[1]—the small table, one person drawing portraits, and I was doing all the chores. It was a miserable situation. We painted portraits for U.S. soldiers. Kim Won-pil knew how to paint. We made all the canvases from one sheet of cloth before we actually set out to paint. We made our own paste. We boiled it and plastered the sheet completely so the cloth would fit tight.
The American soldiers we were dealing with were rotating out of Korea after having stayed for a year and a half, or in some cases two and a half years. Busan was their last stop in Korea, and they needed something special to bring back home. They wanted portraits of their wives, and at $4, it was cheap.
How did we paint them quickly? In the beginning, we did just one or two. Because we were in desperate need of money, we needed twenty or even thirty a day. Usually, the men only stayed there for a week. Sometimes, we used to paint nearly thirty portraits. First, I smoothed out all the wrinkles in the canvas. Then, in the right size to fit the frame, Won-pil sketched in faint lines with a pencil.
Once there were lines, all you had to do to form a shape of a person was to draw along the lines, catching the line where the eyes should be, for example. That sped up our work. Won-pil drew the lip lines; then it was my job to apply the paint.
He drew the face nicely and I painted the hair color. I got the hang of it. In the beginning, I was just giving him some advice from behind. Later, having learned bit by bit, I did many parts including the clothes. Using this method, we made quite a bit of money; close to a hundred dollars a day. It was very good pay. We used the money we earned for witnessing and pioneering. We made money through this work, but I didn’t use it for myself.
I think fondly of the time I lived in Beomnaetgol with Kim Won-pil. To me, those were the best of times. We usually think of our preschool and elementary school days as the best times. It is because our mom and dad came to wait for us and bring us home, spending much time with us. That is why we think those days are the best. Likewise, back then, we had such caring hearts for each other. Because we felt each others’ hearts so deeply, it was a good time. I also say it was a good time because we placed God’s Will at the center.
Carpentry work for the U.S. Army
I can make things like picture frames. While I was a refugee, for eight months I made a living as a carpenter for the U.S. Army. I didn’t study carpentry, but a lot of experience is better than any theory. Laymen can catch up with professionals if they make three times as much effort. Professionals do it faster; I did it slowly but paid careful attention.
Because I had watched people doing carpentry in the past, I learned the tasks visually. I worked at anything from the first day on. Once I went to the construction site, I understood quickly how things were done. One can learn things through common sense and by understanding the principles behind them.
Writing the Original Principle text (Wolli Wonbon)
Seven years after the liberation of Korea, I prepared the Original Text of the Principle (Wolli Wonbon), which
was a textbook and teaching material for the sake of fulfilling my mission responsibility.
I wrote a book on the Principle, Wolli Wonbon, in Beomil-dong in Busan, overlooking the harbor. I first noted the main points in outline form, and then started writing. I wrote the ideas in condensed form, like poetry. Since I just wrote the essential points, people could not easily understand it unless I explained the main points to them. This is how I wrote the text, which I completed in May 1952.
No one could understand it well, no matter how much they tried. So I explained it to Eu Hyo-won, and then his mind opened up. From then on he shed tears on reading each page of the manuscript, so much so that it became a “manuscript of tears.” He would say, “How on earth could there be such incredible content! With this understanding, the fundamental teachings of Christianity and communism will be completely overshadowed.”
When I wrote Wolli Wonbon, I sometimes made drastic jumps in logic and wrote the content in a condensed form. Eu Hyo-won was given a copy of the manuscript before he joined the church. As he read it, he cried and cried. I believe that he is the first person in our church’s history who was so moved after reading the Principle that he immediately wanted to become my disciple. This happened when he read Wolli Wonbon, which was before he ever met me in person.
In those days I gave my Original Text of the Divine Principle manuscript to others to transcribe, and some did so. Kim Won-pil directly transcribed my handwritten Original Text, adding my verbal explanations. As he studied it he came to understand, “Ah, this is what God is like!”
The value of the Principle
Centered on the Principle, and with the Principle, I have come this far. I laid its foundation with considerable hardships. I invested my blood, sweat and tears as I was writing the Principle book.
Please understand that my bloody tears are embedded in each and every one of its pages, and that those tears are crying out to you.
I invested my life and sacrificed my youth for the Principle. That is why I am saying that my blood and tears are pleading to you from its very pages. You must never go against the Principle. Do not ever think the Principle I am teaching you is of no value. Even God solemnly bows down and honors it. Such is the value of the Principle. Whenever you carry the Divine Principle book around with you, you must treat it with great reverence. Imagine if you had the only existing copy.
Think about how serious I was to take care of Wolli Wonbon when I was writing the first manuscript. What would have happened if that manuscript had been lost, or I had died? I am telling you that such a serious issue can determine the life or death of the world.
Have you ever considered that whether your tribe, your nation, the world and even heaven and earth will prosper or perish depends upon this book and your attitude toward it?
Have you ever considered that each individual’s eternal life depends upon this?
To be continued…
[1] Bomnaetgol was a small area in the Beomil-dong district of Busan, on the hillside where Father built the hut from cardboard boxes and mud, and where the rock of tears was located, a few hundred yards further up the hill.