¹The lineage of the ‘dao of change,’ which reveals the principle of cosmic change, had been passed down through successive generations of sages and learned ones in the East. ²Near the end of the Joseon Dynasty, the great philosopher Gim Il-bu revealed for the first time both the principle concerning the epochal transition of the universe—the change from the Early Heaven to the Later Heaven—and the principle concerning the arrival of Sangjenim in the Eastern land of Gan.

³Il-bu devoted himself to studying Shuzhuan and the Book of Change and practiced the art of singing-dancing meditation. ⁴Every morning and evening, he visited Gwanchoksa Temple at the foot of Banyasan Mountain and offered his ardent prayers while reverently gazing upon the Maitreya Buddha statue of Eunjin Township.

⁵In 1879 (DG 9), when Il-bu was fifty-four years of age, a brightness came upon his sight and mysterious lines of trigrams began to constantly hover before him whether his eyes were open or closed. ⁶Soon after, he drew the Jeongyeok Eight Trigrams for the first time. Succeeding the Bok-hui Eight Trigrams and the King Wen Eight Trigrams, which represented the Early Heaven, these trigrams constituted the Eight Trigrams of the Later Heaven of right yin and right yang.

⁷Some time after Il-bu had completed drawing the trigrams, Confucius appeared and praised him highly, “In my time, I sought this very accomplishment. Since you have attained what I could not, you are indeed most admirable.”

⁸In 1885 (DG 15), Il-bu finally completed the book Jeongyeok, and the mysterious trigrams that had hovered so vividly before his eyes at long last disappeared from his sight. ⁹Through the principles within Jeongyeok, Il-bu proclaimed the news of the Later Heaven Gaebyeok through which the inharmonious heaven and earth would become harmonious and all the ills of heaven and earth would thus be corrected, ¹⁰and he also sang the joyous news that Sangjenim—the Heavenly Lord Maitreya Buddha—would incarnate into the world at the age of gaebyeok and bring humanity’s profound vision to fulfillment:

¹¹Why has it taken so long for the Dragon Flower Paradise to arrive?

¹²I have beheld in deep serenity the universe’s realm of creation-transformation. Who could have possibly known that the universe has been awaiting Sangjenim’s incarnation into the world as a human being for the fulfillment of its purpose?

¹³Bright and clear are heaven and earth, and the new life of the sun and moon shines forth. In this brightness of the new life of the sun and moon, the world becomes a paradise. Oh, the world of the Later Heaven! A new world! It is Sangjenim himself who now comes, bestowing the radiance of his Holy Spirit upon all the world.