The Sixty-Year Devotion and Virtue of Ancestral Spirits

The Sixty-Year Devotion and Virtue of Ancestral Spirits *Dojeon 2:101

1 “It takes infinite dedication for heaven to beget a human being,

2 and thus ancestral spirits devote more than sixty years to the receiving of a single worthy descendant from heaven, yet many spirits still do not succeed in begetting any descendants

3 How can you—the culmination of such arduous labors—spend your fleeting dream of a life in vain?

4 You must cherish the devotion and virtue of your ancestral spirits.”

 

Descendants are the ‘breathing holes’ of their ancestors! Just as a thousand-year-old tree will regain life if a single sprout survives and grows, a primogenitor forefather lives onward if even one of his descendants survives. As long as that descendant can produce at least a single child through sexual union, his countless ancestors spanning hundreds of generations will live onward in the realm of spirits.

For everyone, what is most precious in the world is none other than ourselves. Who, then, gave birth to me, the most precious being? My parents, of course—my ancestors. I was born into the world through my ancestors, and so, for me, my ancestors are my foremost God, taking precedence even over Okhwang-Sangjenim.