What Is a Mantra?

According to His Holiness the Jongdosanim of Jeung San Do,
“A mantra is a holy instrument that connects my mind and body with the universe, allowing me to become one with the universe.
It is the language of God.”
When you repeatedly chant a mantra, the vibrations within the mantra connect you to the corresponding sacred energy of the universe, allowing you to absorb this energy.
The Sanskrit word mantra literally means "instrument of thought".
Thus, a mantra can be considered to be a linguistic device for deepening one’s thought, or for developing the enlightened mind.

Meditation and Water-Ascent-Fire-Descent

Dialogue 1
A: Human life is sustained through the interaction of fire qi and water qi.
B: Fire qi and water qi?

A: Yes. Just as water flows downward, water qi tends to stay in the lower part of our body. Just as fire rises, fire qi tends to rise to the upper part of the body. To a healthy state of mind and body, fire qi should descend and water qi should rise. It’s also known as water-ascent-fire-descent.

Dialogue 2
A: How is the dynamic of ‘water-ascent-fire-descent’ brought on by meditation?
B: When a person practices meditation in a sitting position for a long enough time, fire qi sinks, while water qi rises. If you practice this long enough, your physical constitution becomes completely changed.

A: How does the body change?
B: As you get rid of the impure energy in your body, your skin becomes clear and your eyes shine brighter than glass. The mind becomes clear, as if the bright moon is shedding light inside your head.

Qi, Energy of Life

Qi literally translates as “breath” or “air”, and figuratively as “material energy”, “life force”, or “energy flow”.
Ancient people believed qi permeated everything and linked their surroundings together.
It is the flow of energy around and through the body, forming a cohesive and functioning unit.
By understanding its rhythm and flow they believed they could guide exercises and treatments to provide stability and longevity.
Eastern medicine believes that an illness occurs when the flow of qi is impeded.
Meditation helps qi circulation in the body, improving both physical and mental health.

Meditation: A Path to Eternal Life

Dialogue 1
A: What are the two kinds of death you’ve mentioned earlier?
B: It’s the death of the physical body and death of the spiritual body.

A: Spiritual bodies die, too?
B: Of course! After death, people live onward as spirits. But if you do not cultivate yourself with dao, you soul will eventually die and your very existence disappears like a smoke into thin air forever.

Dialogue 2
A: I want to find the meaning of life.
B: Rather than giving you the answer, I’d like to suggest that you meditate with the Taeeulju Mantra first.

A: Meditation? Why should one meditate?
B: You meditate to harmonize your life with the everlasting universe and to be reborn as the human of the cosmic autumn. Only through meditation, can your life extend forever.

Why Must We Meditate?

When you meditate, the first thing you experience is a sense of calm.
When your meditation advances well, your mind feels purified and you feel waves of peace wash over you, regardless of what besets you from the outside, physical world.
Meditation brings you rest.
This is not ordinary rest.
When you meditate, you sever your sensory connection to the world and achieve complete rest.
Yet, during meditation, your consciousness is wide awake, and your inner being is completely aware.
Your whole being experiences a flawless rest, a state of perfection.
This is the realm of the Middle Way.

Spiritual Maturation Continues After Death

Dialogue 1
A: What are the different kinds of spirits that interact with us?
B: There are guardian spirits who protect you. Oftentimes, they are your ancestral spirits. And then there are guidance spirits. Their guidance is related to your talent, interest, or career field.

A: That's it?
B: No. There are numerous kinds of spirits. But the spirits you must be aware of are spirits who try to cast revenge on you and spirits who seek to repay your benevolence.

Dialogue 2
A: What kind of relationship does the spirit realm have with the human world on earth?
B: The spirit realm and the human world are like the two sides of a coin. What occurs in the spirit realm affects the human world, and vice versa.

A: Do people continue their journey of spiritual maturation as spirits even after death?
B: Yes. Of course! People repeat numerous cycles of birth and death in their journey of self-maturation. Those who reach maturation will survive the Autumn Gaebyeok, and those who fail to do so will die.

Major and Minor Calamities Are the Retribution of Vengeful Spirits

By nature, humans wish, hope, and desire. 
However, few fulfill all of their wishes, hopes, and desires. 
And everyone who has lived in this world died harboring bitterness and grief, major and minor. 
Beneath all suffering and tragedy lies untold bitterness and grief accumulated over for a long time.
When one carries out malevolent deeds throughout their lifetime, they open a path of ill fortune for their descendants.
To exact revenge for their bitterness and grief, vengeful spirits torment the descendants of those who wronged them.

The Offering Ritual of Delivering the Soul of the Deceased

Dialogue 1
A: Sometimes, souls bearing immense grudges cannot settle in the spirit realm and wander between the spirit realm and the human world.
B: How can we help them to find peace and comfort?

A: By holding an ‘offering ritual of delivering the soul of the deceased.’ Through this ritual, the deceased are guided to a new path of life in the spirit realm, under Sangjenim’s supreme dao.

Dialogue 2
A: The offering ritual of delivering the soul of the deceased is conducted to help the deceased resolve their bitterness and grief.
B: Are you only allowed to offer the rituals for your ancestors?

A: No. Those who have died tragically or who have no surviving descendants may be included. Also, a special ritual is hold for the spirits of the aborted babies who were killed in their mothers’ wombs.

Revere Your Ancestors like Heaven and Earth

The heavenly bond between ancestors and descendants do not end with death. 
This bond endures even after death. 
Ancestral spirits in the spirit realm constantly watch over their descendants on earth, like a mother looking after her child.
Ancestors are  the root of their descendants, and descendants are the fruit of their ancestors. 
And so, if descendants die  during the Autumn Gaebyeok, their ancestors in heaven will die as well.
If descendants survive, their ancestors in heaven will survive.

Do Spirits Exist?

Dialogue 1
A: What happens after we die?
B: After people die, they are born as spirits.

A: Born as spirits? I don’t understand.
B: Taesang Jongdosanim said humans are humans with physical bodies, and spirits are humans without physical bodies. Spirits interact with each other just as we interact in the human world and, further, their actions affect the human world.

Dialogue 2
A: Countless groups and communities exist in the spirit realm as spirits generally associate with those who have similar traits and interests.
B: Then spirits who were Buddhists on earth must be living among other Buddhist spirits, and spirits of Christians live among other Christian spirits!

A: How did you know that? Yes. After people shed their physical bodies upon death, they are born as spirits and begin their lives in different heavens, depending upon their spiritual development and their virtue they have accumulated during their lifetimes on earth.