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April 2005
Chung Pyung - Heaven and Earth Training Center, page 2

The main activity in Chung Pyung ‘Heaven and Earth Training Center’ are liberation workshops. Some last 3 days, some up to 40 days. I heard something of a 120 day workshop. The schedule is so simple, that investments in terms of staff is virtually zero. Participants self-organize and when in doubt, follow the crowd.

One session of liberating spirits is followed by two sessions of readings, three runs like this per day, breakfast, lunch and dinner in between. The food is okay, nothing more. The menu: rice and kim chee (spicy Korean salad) + something else. You can eat as much as you want, but to eat 10 dollars worth of kim chee and rice is a challenge for normal people. The cost is minimal: 10 USD per day including two square meters for the sleeping bag. Floor overheated in winter, showers if you can wait long enough.

For some extra money there is a real nice bath house. Koreans know how to do that.

The spiritual background – why these liberations take place and how and what happens - fits into the general teaching of the movement about the spirit world. It’s actually an extension of the ‘Principles of Resurrection”.

According to Chung Pyung theory not all spirits go to spirit world when their body dies. For a number of reasons they stay on earth and attach themselves to living people interacting with their bodies and spirit. Earthly people are entirely unaware of this and apparently also the spirits, most of which are not very developed, don’t see their situation clearly. Many actually think they are still alive or just don’t want to go away from the body because they are afraid of death.

The ‘Principles of Resurrection’ explain that spirits need to cooperate with human beings on earth in order to develop. This is called ‘returning resurrection’. But the phenomenon of spirits, which don’t go into the spirit world at all, staying attached to the physical plane due to fear and confusion, is different. This uncoordinated act, ignorant of the principles of spiritual growth, does not benefit either side. The spirits are still unaware of the principles that govern eternal life and cannot really help the people on earth. On the other hand they interact with the spirits of their hosts causing all kind of interference, diseases and mental problems.

These are very subtle influences, different from what other people might call possession. They are so subtle that people on earth are not aware of what’s going on and thus believe that they themselves or the physical environment are the source of problems. Consequently they will only treat the symptoms, often without success.

That’s the general idea. I’ll provide some more details of what the movement says about all this on a separate page later (not yet): Chung Pyung and the Principles of Resurrection.

Obviously, this could border on other-worldliness in the negative sense. Indeed, connections to reality are difficult to make unless oneself has experienced miraculous healing. I haven’t and am not aware of any need for that. Some people I know have traveled to Chung Pyung after they had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and went back to the doctor after a few days of An Soo sessions – that’s what the liberation sessions are called. The cancer had disappeared. There are more stories like that.

But it’s still hearsay. That doesn’t make it wrong, but I’d like to see some more effort from the Chung Pyung side to provide statistics, document healings etc. The movement usually sees little need to proof anything – at least not to its members. But as its goal is to build heaven on earth, may be somebody could warm up to earthly things like scientific proof. The teaching at least is not fundamentally opposed to science, rather the opposite. May be I’ll see unity of thought and action sometime – in unification lingo that’s mind-body unity.

The newly constructed hospital, which recently opened its doors to the public, might help in that direction. What I saw looks like a professional environment. I’m not a doctor, though. Some friends of mine underwent operations there and I have no reason to question the professionalism of the medical staff. For Koreans the treatment is covered by national health insurance. That builds confidence.

At some point the ‘Heaven and Earth Training Center’ may even compete with the secular Chung Pyung tourist industry. Chung Pyung city is a famous tourist spot. Tens of thousands of visitors every month is a number to be reckoned with – and these are mostly members and mainly from Asia.

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the old man