I think about my ancestors and relate them to my everyday life.

    My introduction to Jeung San Do came through my grandson. At a business meeting, he met Michelle Syn [pogam, dojang teacher], and they started talking about the world, people’s connections to others, and different theories. Soon, he was attending meditations, and we noticed some positive changes in him, so we asked about these meditations. He would come home and tell us about Sangjenim, the teachings, and of how the world’s changes were going to affect us all. I became interested because of my upbringing, which emphasized caring for family and others. We would go to the cemetery to visit our family and friends, but I did not connect them to my everyday life.

    Now that I have started attending the dojang, I think about my ancestors and relate them to my everyday life. I have joined Jeung San Do and preinitiated, and I look forward to learning more about Sangjenim and Taemonim and spreading the teachings to other people. I hope to prepare as many people as possible for the coming changes of heaven and earth(gaebyeok). Learning to meditate has not been easy; learning to sit still and straight at my age is like learning to walk all over again. Learning the Taeeulju Mantra has been a joy. I chant the mantra day and night. At the dojang, when chanting with the other practitioners and workers of Sangjenim, I find the sound energizing and soothing at the same time.
　

     I have used the Taeeulju Mantra in a couple of my dreams, which were nightmares that within moments transformed into a frightful reality. On one such occasion, I felt a darkness creeping over me, filling me with a feeling of death and anxiety, and I woke up out of fear. When I did so, I saw a dark figure at the foot of my bed; panicking, I began to grab blindly and call out to my husband. He quickly awoke and saw the same thing as I did at the foot of my bed. The dark, shapeless figure quickly vanished from the room.

    I had never before imagined or experienced such an attack, and I was unable to understand it. I told my grandson about it the next morning when he came to see us. He explained how he had fought off the same spirit in his room at around the same time. My grandson told me to use the Unjangju Mantra and that this would quickly defeat it. I had not progressed that far in my memorization of the mantras and I was really only familiar with the Taeeulju Mantra, but the next evening I practiced the Unjangju Mantra before going to bed.

    Early in the morning, just after 3:30 am, I was awoken by the same feeling, but this time the spirit grabbed me by my feet and started pulling me off the bed. I called to my husband, but he was not responding, so without knowing anything else to do, I shouted as loudly as I could Hum-chi Humchi! The spirit released me and fled from the room. I felt fright and anger, but was relieved that I had remembered to use the mantra. It was probably the wrong one to use, but it worked.

    When I told my grandson about the episode that had taken place, he laughed. I asked what was so funny, and he told me that spirits must obey the power of heaven and earth conveyed through the mantra and that using the words of Sangjenim is what gives humans authority to fulfill their wishes. He was happy that I had remembered to use what had been taught to me, and this was why he was laughing.

    Another experience I had with spirits occurred while I was performing an ancestral ritual with my family and Michelle Syn at home. We had left the door slightly open, and it slowly opened wider as if someone were passing through. We also felt contact with something or someone, and so we shifted our bodies. The utensils in the bowls of food rattled as my ancestors helped themselves to the food. We will be doing more such food offerings to keep our ancestors and guardian spirits healthy and happy. From this experience, I have grown stronger, and I will continue learning and working for Jeung San Do and spreading the teachings of Jeung-san Sangjenim, Great Mother Taemonim, Taesabunim, and Sabunim.