The Guide in My Everyday Life,Jeung San Do

One of my friends Ria Villaflor had already become a practit-ioner of Jeung San Do when we met. I still remember when we were studying in university, she often talked about energy and the auras of people. Since we both hated to see people at schoolㅡwhose faces seemed to show they were having difficultiesㅡinexplicably move away, we sometimes discussed the possible reasons why and how they accumulated those issues, and why they suffered so much. We tried to analyze the root causes of their sadness but the discussion did not get very far because we had different class schedules and each of us became very busy.

　Soon it was graduation time, and it was sad to say farewell to each other. We departed, moved to different places, and began to manage our own lifestyles. Personally, I went back to my home province and we continued to communicate only by sending greeting messages from time to time to ask how each other was doing. We didn’t seem to have time to discuss deeper things anymore. Almost two years passed, and finally we had a chance to meet and talk more again. Ria called me almost two to three times a week. She knew that my contract in the company where I was working was already finished and that I didn’t have another job yet, so she invited me to Manila to visit her at the Jeung San Do Manila Dojang.
　
　When I visited the dojang for the first time, I didn’t really have any interest in what they were doing. But later I opened my mind about what they believed in. One day, Ria convinced me to attend the dojang’s group meditation session, if only to try to experience the power of meditation. Actually I looked and felt very haggard, dry, weak and ignorant at that time in my life, and so in order to change my energy, I decided to join their meditation. The first time I heard the mantra sound, I was so surprised because the rhythm was so strange and the mantra was not written in English, nor in Pilipino. To be honest, I didn’t feel comfortable at first about using a language of which I could not understand the meaning, but I stayed with it. From that day on, I bombarded my friend with so many questions about Jeung San Do, and she explained the teachings to me very well. They sounded very interesting. To help me understand more she lent me her Dojeon, followed by Gae-byuk Magazine, and The Dance of the Dragon and Phoenix. I became fascinated in reading the story and other verses, and I’m still reading these wonderful books now. These books have become a great source of my strength, my weapon, and a powerful guide in my everyday life.

　After almost exactly one month of studying, I realized that this world needs the Autumn Gae-byuk. As Sahng-jeh-nim said, this whole world is so sick. Without gae-byuk, I feel that it will be difficult for humanity to survive any longer. There are so many symptoms of gae-byuk. In the environment: natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanos, famines, pollution, etc. For civilization: war, terrorism, industrial accidents, and uncontrolled, unsustainable development. And finally in respect to humanity: the growing numbers of wicked people, people without morals, the lack of justice, and the growing inequality between rich and poor. I strongly feel that we have to change our mind and body using meditation. Then we can change our society and world. As my teacher, Lee Sang-gyu Po-jung-nim, noticed, I have a lack of energy, so he suggested that I meditate with him and offer one hundred bows for seven days every morning. Following him, I finished the week-long meditation and I felt so great. I regained much of the energy that I had lost before, feeling much better and stronger now also with a great boost to my confidence.

It has taken such a long time to find the way that will enlighten me. As far as I understand, we really need gae-byukㅡthe great change. I do believe the teachings of Sahng-jeh-nim and Tae-mo-nim. After reading many verses in the Dojeon, meditating, attending chee-sung, and chanting mantras, I can now control my mind better, and I feel more energy circulating in my body. I am sure that when gae-byuk comes, I know what I will have to do. I find it so very unbelievable that this could happen to someone like me who had lost so much of their strength and hope in life.

As a beginner, I realize that I have to gain more experience, facts, and learn more of the teachings. I am very willing to study and very sincere to follow the teachings of Sahng-jeh-nim and Tae-mo-nim because these are the teachings that will save humanity at the time of the coming Autumn Gae-byuk. Thank you!