홍익인간, 화랑도, 그리고 지구시민정신 - 한반도 및 세계평화에 주는 함의 - = Hong-Ik-In-Gan, Hwa-Rang-Do, and Earth Citizenship - Implications for Peace on the Korean Peninsula and of the world -

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The most important thing in a nation's life is the view of truth concerning the origin and the operation principle of cosmos, one's identity in the cosmos etc., from which thoughts, spiritual cultures, living cultures originate. We, the Korean people, have had profound Hong-Ik-In-Gan thought from the very start point of national history.
Hong-Ik-In-Gan thought, Dangun Chosun's ruling ideology, was succeeded to Shilla, one of its successor state.
According to Hong-Ik-In-Gan thought, the whole creation originated in Ha-Na(一), which is the fundamental principles of cosmos. This connote that all things in the universe are coordinative members of cosmopolitan community and that the whole creation share the attributes of Ha-Na(一). Especially human shares the attributes in its entirety.
However, the thorough sharing the attributes of Ha-Na(一) by human does not mean that human predominate over the other creation. Rather, it implies that human have the moral duty to maintain harmony in the universe with its shared attributes.
Thus, in case the harmony of community which he belongs to is disturbed seriously or destructed, human should recover harmony with a resoluteness. And human, by training the mind and the body, cultivate 5 virtues(五常 : loyalty, filial duty, fidelity, bravery, and love), the qualifications which are needed for performing the role.
Se-Sog-O-Gye, by Buddhist monk Won-Gwang, sums up the Hwa- Rang-Do spirit of Shilla. Se-Sog-O-Gye's 5 virtues are loyalty, filial duty, fidelity, no retreat at a battlefield, and selective taking of life. In that no retreat at a battlefield coincide with bravery and selective taking of life with love, we know Se-Sog-O-Gye of Shilla is actually identical with Dangun Chosun's 5 virtues(五常) based on Hong-Ik-In-Gan ideal.
What lessons and meanings can we learn from Hwa-Rang-Do spirit of Shilla in the age of global village?
As everyone knows, North Korea affirms that it has no intention to discard its nuclear bombs. North Korea, a virtual nuclear state, became a game changer concerning security paradigm in and around the Northeast Asia. And South Korea is facing serious security reality to deal with a nuclear state.
Of course, another Korean war should not break out on the Korean Peninsula, however, being scared of war does little to contribute to keep and maintain peace. Rather firm stand that we will not hesitate to wage war against any state who attacks our country will be a great help to preserving peace. This kind of decisive attitude is in line with the spirit of 'no retreat at a battlefield' of Se-Sog-O-Gye, which is an acutely needed virtue to us at the very this time.
Meanwhile, the ongoing ecocrisis of planet earth is a critical threat the whole mankind as well as we Korean people in that the crisis may destroy both earth and human civilation.
For overcoming this ecocrisis of earth, the spirit of Hwa-Rang-Do based on Hong-Ik-In-Gan thought, which pursuits co-prosperity and harmony of the whole creation on earth.
Finally, inheriting the tradition of training the mind and the body of Hwa-Rang-Do, it is important to increase the number of human who leads a life with a value of Hong-Ik-In-Gan thought, that is, earth human, to critical mass.