Jeung San Do's Central Teaching: The Later Heaven Gae-byuk

Just as there is a year on earth, there is also a cosmic year in the universe. Over the course of an earth year, humans farm and harvest in order to survive. Over the course of a cosmic year, the universe with the earth as its focus, nurtures and harvests humanity. This cosmic year comprises 129,600 calendar years.

How do we calculate the cosmic year? 

Well, Earth rotates 360 degrees in one day and orbits the sun 360 degrees in a year. Therefore, earth’s annual cycle of change is expressed as 129,600 degrees (360 degrees x 360 degrees = 129,600 degrees), which spans the four seasons. This is the basis for the cosmic year of 129,600 years.

Within the cosmic year, the period during which life arises and proliferates is called the Early Heaven. The period during which all life reaches completion and rest is called the Later Heaven. The Early Heaven comprises the cosmic seasons of spring and summer, while the Later Heaven encompasses the cosmic seasons of autumn and winter.

The transition to the Early Heaven is called the Spring Gae-byuk, while the transition to the Later Heaven is known as the Autumn Gae-byuk. The period during which humanity can create and advance civilization spans 50,000 years of the Early Heaven and 50,000 years of the Later Heaven, totaling 100,000 years. The remaining thirty thousand or so years is the great ice age.

During the Early Heaven, the dynamic of “mutual conflict” prevails in the world; however, during the Later Heaven, the way of “mutual life-giving” will reign.

In the Early Heaven’s reign of mutual conflict, heaven and earth give birth and nurture humanity. In this era, all beings and things are engaged in conflict and war, but they also strive to overcome these conditions, advancing toward maturation. This has been the process of growth for humanity during the Early Heaven.

After this reign of mutual conflict has been transcended, an era of maturity will commence for nature and civilization. This will be the world of mutual life-giving.

a persimmon tree

The Autumn Gae-byuk is the time when nature’s order brings fruition to all matters. All cultures incomplete in the Early Heaven will return to their roots, and the essence of those cultures that blossomed during the time of proliferation in the cosmic spring and summer will be brought together to begin a new world which is “The Later Heaven’s world of immortality.”

References:

• Jeung  San  Do’s  Main  Teachings  |
  https://www.dojeon.org/?c=dojeon_en/en_intro/1127 
• Fundamental  Principle  of  change  in  Heaven  and  Earth  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJkhVsvmqJc&ab_channel=STBWorld-SangsaengTelevisionBroadcasting
• The  Cosmic  Year  |  https://www.jeungsandousa.org/cosmic-year