On Spreading Virtue

Podeokmun, "On Spreading Virtue," is one of the earliest core writings of Donghak, the Korean religious movement founded by Choe Je-u in 1860. It gives the movement's founding pattern in miniature: the visible order of Heaven, the crisis of the age, doubt about Western Learning, the sudden revelation of Sangje, the spiritual talisman, the incantation, healing, sincerity, and the duty to spread virtue under Heaven.

This Good Works Translation was made from the Literary Chinese text of 布德文 as presented by the Cheondogyo Central Headquarters. The official page's Korean reading and modern Korean explanation were used as controls, but the English below is a fresh source-language translation and no modern English translation is reproduced.

Translation

From high antiquity onward,
spring and autumn have taken each other's place,
and the four seasons have flourished and declined.

They do not shift.
They do not alter.

This too is the trace of the Lord of Heaven's creation and transformation,
plainly displayed beneath Heaven.

Foolish men and foolish people
do not know the kindness of rain and dew.

They only know that it is transformed without action.

After the Five Emperors,
sages arose.

They brought forth writings from the sun, moon, stars, and constellations,
and from the measures of Heaven and earth,
so as to establish the constant order of the Heavenly Way.

Movement and stillness,
flourishing and defeat:
they entrusted all of these to Heaven's decree.

This is what it means
to revere Heaven's decree
and follow Heaven's pattern.

Therefore a person becomes a noble person,
and learning completes Way and virtue.

The Way is Heaven's Way.
Virtue is Heaven's virtue.

By making that Way bright
and cultivating that virtue,
one becomes a noble person
and reaches even to utmost sagehood.

How could this not be admired with reverence?

And yet, in these latter days,
the people of the whole age
each make a heart for themselves.

They do not follow Heaven's pattern.
They do not look back to Heaven's decree.

Their hearts are always fearful,
and they do not know where to turn.

When it came to the year Gyeongsin,
I heard tell of the people of the West.

They said they acted by the will of the Lord of Heaven.
They said they did not take wealth and rank.

Yet they attacked and took the world,
set up their halls,
and carried out their Way.

So I too had this doubt:
is it so?
Can it truly be so?

Unexpectedly, in the fourth month,
my heart grew cold
and my body trembled.

It was an illness whose symptoms could not be grasped,
and a condition whose form could not be described in words.

At that moment,
a voice like an immortal's speech
suddenly entered my ear.

Startled, I rose and asked.

It said:

"Do not be afraid.
Do not fear.

People of the world call me Sangje.
Do you not know Sangje?"

I asked the reason.

It said:

"Because I also have no accomplished work,
I have brought you forth into the world
to teach people this Dharma.

Do not doubt.
Do not doubt."

I asked:

"Then should I teach people by the Western Way?"

It said:

"Not so.

I have a spiritual talisman.
Its name is immortal medicine.
Its form is the Great Ultimate,
and its other form is bow-bow.

Receive this talisman from me
and save people from sickness.

Receive my incantation
and teach people to serve me,
and you too will live long
and spread virtue throughout the world."

I too was moved by those words.

I received the talisman,
wrote it,
mixed it with water,
and swallowed it.

My body became moist and full,
and the illness was healed.

Only then did I know it was immortal medicine.

When I came to use it for illness,
some were healed
and some were not healed,
so I did not know its principle.

When I examined why this was so,
I found that those who were sincere,
and sincerely again,
who were utterly devoted to the Lord of Heaven,
were answered every time.

Those who did not follow Way and virtue
had no effect at all.

Was this not because of the sincerity
and reverence of the one receiving it?

Therefore our country is filled with evil disease.
The people have no season of peace.

This too is the number of injury and harm.

The West wins in battle
and takes by attack.
There is nothing it does not accomplish.

If all under Heaven is destroyed,
how could there not also be
the grief of the lips after the teeth are gone?

Where, then,
will a plan arise
to uphold the country
and bring peace to the people?

Alas.

The people of this age
do not know the season and its movement.

When they hear these words of mine,
they enter and reject them in the heart;
they go out and gossip in the lanes.

They do not follow Way and virtue.
This is deeply fearful.

Even when worthy people hear it,
some may still say that it is not so.

I am moved to lament,
but the world cannot be helped.

So I have roughly remembered and written it down,
instructing and showing it to them.

Receive this writing with reverence.
Honor these words of instruction.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was made from the official Cheondogyo Central Headquarters page for 布德文 / 포덕문 in the Donggyeong Daejeon. The source text is a nineteenth-century Donghak writing attributed to Choe Je-u (Suun, 1824-1864). The Literary Chinese source text is public domain; the official site's modern Korean explanatory layer was used only as a checking aid and is not reproduced here.

Source route: Cheondogyo Central Headquarters, 포덕문.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Works Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: 布德文

Source text follows the public Cheondogyo Central Headquarters page for 布德文. Korean reading and modern Korean explanatory notes from that page are not reproduced.

布德文

1. 盖自上古以來 春秋迭代 四時盛衰 不遷不易 是亦 天主造化之迹 昭然于天下也

2. 愚夫愚民 未知雨露之澤 知其無爲而化矣

3. 自五帝之後 聖人以生 日月星辰 天地度數 成出文卷而以定天道之常然 一動一靜 一盛一敗 付之於天命 是 敬天命而順天理者也 故 人成君子 學成道德 道則天道 德則天德 明其道而 修其德 故 乃成君子 至於至聖 豈不欽歎哉

4. 又此挽近以來 一世之人 各自爲心 不順天理 不顧天命 心常悚然 莫知所向矣

5. 至於庚申 傳聞西洋之人 以爲天主之意 不取富貴 攻取天下 立其堂 行其道 故 吾亦有其然 豈其然之疑

6. 不意四月 心寒身戰 疾不得執症 言不得難狀之際 有何仙語 忽入耳中 驚起探問則 曰勿懼勿恐 世人 謂我上帝 汝不知上帝耶 問其所然 曰余亦無功故 生汝世間 敎人此法 勿疑勿疑 曰然則 西道以敎人乎 曰不然 吾有靈符 其名 仙藥 其形 太極 又形 弓弓 受我此符 濟人疾病 受我呪文 敎人爲我則 汝亦長生 布德天下矣

7. 吾亦感其言 受其符 書以呑服則 潤身差病 方乃知仙藥矣 到此用病則 或有差不差故 莫知其端 察其所然則 誠之又誠 至爲天主者 每每有中 不順道德者 一一無驗 此非受人之誠敬耶

8. 是故 我國 惡疾滿世 民無四時之安 是亦 傷害之數也 西洋 戰勝攻取 無事不成而 天下盡滅 亦不無脣亡之歎 輔國安民 計將安出

9. 惜哉 於今世人 未知時運 聞我斯言則 入則心非 出則巷議 不順道德 甚可畏也 賢者聞之 其或不然而 吾將慨歎 世則無奈 忘略記出 諭以示之 敬受此書 欽哉訓辭

Source Colophon

The source text follows the official Cheondogyo Central Headquarters public page for 포덕문 / 布德文, accessed in July 2026. The source is a nineteenth-century Donghak text attributed to Choe Je-u; modern Korean explanatory material on the official page was used as an internal check only and is not reproduced.

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