PureInsight | October 24, 2005
[PureInsight.org] What does it feel like when your Ren and Du meridians are open? [Note: Ren and Du – the Du channel, or "Governing Vessel," begins in the pelvic cavity and travels upward along the middle of the back. The Ren channel, or "Conception Vessel," travels upward from the pelvic cavity along the middle of the body's front side.]
Mr. Hong Jihong was the Assistant Executive Secretary of Yangjia Taichi Association in Taiwan. According to Mr. Hong Jihong, "When my Ren and Du meridians were opened, I felt my body became very light and weightless. All the pores in my skin were opened. I sweated over each inch of my body. In addition, I felt very energetic. The energy flowed incredibly smoothly in my body." However, it was not until Mr. Hong started practicing Falun Gong that he realized that this was no more than a cultivation of qi. [Qi: in Chinese thought, this substance/energy is said to assume many forms in the body and environment. Usually translated as "vital energy," qi is thought to determine a person's health. "Qi" can also be used in a much broader sense to describe substances that are invisible and amorphous, such as air, odor, anger, etc.]
Distinguished Among Martial Art Masters
After 20 years of Taichi practice, Mr. Hong has a voice loud and clear as a tolling bell and a rosy complexion. Since he was little, he has been practicing Shaolin boxing, Lubu boxing, Chenshi Taichi, Yangjia Taichi, Zehnzi Taichi and many other type of internal cultivation practices. Genuine martial arts masters know Mr. Hong is a seasoned master by just looking at him. One day while Mr. Hong was practicing Taichi, his Ren and Du meridians were surprisingly opened. He was so accomplished in Taichi that he was able to manipulate qi at will.
One year an international Chinese boxing tournament was held in Taiwan. Mr. Hong attended its celebration banquet at their invitation. When a martial arts coach introduced Mr. Hong to the guests, he boasted broadly about Mr. Hong's accomplishment in Taichi. Naturally more than a dozen of martial art masters from around the world gathered around Mr. Hong, eager to compare notes with him. Two Korean Taekwondo masters asked Mr. Hong for his views on the principles of combating dynamic attacks. Mr. Hong asked the two to give him straight punches as hard as they could. Everyone saw that Mr. Hong shook his body slightly and the two Korean Taikwondo masters were thrown backwards for over two meters. A lot of competitors immediately swarmed around Mr. Hong, asking for his telephone number.
However, Mr. Hong knew that Taichi was vastly modified after Zhang Sanfeng created it. The true essence of Taichi was its Fa of mind cultivation, which was not made public or passed on. Mr. Hong regretted very much not being able to obtain its Fa of mind cultivation.
Seeking the Fa of Mind Cultivation
Later on predestined opportunities led Mr. Hong to Falun Gong. He discovered that Zhuan Falun, Falun Gong's main study text, contains the Fa of mind cultivation that had been looking for when he was practicing martial arts. According to Mr. Hong, "Everything I have been pursuing is in Zhuan Falun." People conventionally believe that it is quite admirable achievement to be able to open up Ren and Du meridians, but Mr. Hong realized that it was no more than the level of qi after he started practicing Falun Gong.
According to Mr. Hong, Falun Gong uses the energy from the universe to transform its cultivators' bodies. Such energy is powerful and comes quickly. It transcends the level of qi. He feels that he is now truly practicing Gong at high levels. Based on his own experience, Mr. Hong experienced the supernormal phenomenon of opening "the great heavenly circuit" after practicing Falun Gong for only two months. In the past, he spent many years practicing martial arts to open up his Ren and Du meridians and move the eight Extra Meridians. In comparison to what he has quickly achieved in Falun Gong, Mr. Hong realized that Falun Gong has brought him more than he ever aspired to achieve in his life.
Mr. Hong practiced a type of qigong for two months. In order to validate the result of his practice, he hit the top of his head with a steel bar, half an inch in diameter. The steel bar was bent instantly. Although the top of his head did not bleed or bruise, a soft bump with fluid inside appeared in the top of his head and did not go away. After he started practicing Falun Gong, one day the soft bump miraculously slit open, the fluid inside came out slowly, and then the opening closed up on its own. His personal experience has validated the claim in Zhuan Falun that Falun Gong will automatically purify its practitioners' bodies.
Falun Gong Vastly Increases Mr. Hong's Gong Potency
After he started practicing Falun Gong, Mr. Hong became even more tolerant and forgiving. Before he retired, Mr. Hong was the Assistant General Manager at a very famous large corporation in Taiwan. He was also the Head of the Construction Division for the corporation's real estate development investments. He was once assigned to settle a dispute over a real estate project. Two different Division Heads were assigned to handle the dispute before he came along, but they both failed to persuade the clients to complete the project. On the very first day of his new function, Mr. Hong met the most tenacious client, but he welcomed him in a pleasant manner. All other employees took great pleasure in expecting him to fail and be terribly insulted by the tough client! Yet the client felt Mr. Hong was unlike any field expert he had met who would handle clients with their expertise, experiences and eloquence. Instead, Mr. Hong patiently listened to his complaints and communicated with him with sincerity. In addition, Mr. Hong opened a special window of time after work for the clients to come in and make their complaints. In the end, the clients finished the project without making a fuss. Thus Mr. Hong completed what was expected to be "Mission Impossible." He also made a lot of friends. Before he retired, Mr. Hong got exceptional performance reviews from his supervisors every year. It was an extremely rare honor among the high-level management at the large corporation!
Mr. Hong has a lot of experiences of life. He contacted all the cultivation schools in attempts to find a high-level cultivation practice. Finally he found Falun Gong and realized that everything he has been seeking is in Zhuan Falun. He believes that the book expounds the truth of the universe and truly enables its cultivators to return to their true selves.
There is a master of a cultivation school who claims that he has reached Consummation. He became good friends with Mr. Hong as soon as they met. He often helped Mr. Hong solve his problems. Before he practiced Falun Gong, Mr. Hong thought he was behind the master for 40 years of cultivation. After having practiced Falun Gong for just eight months, the master told him, "Your gong potency is already higher than mine."
It has been over nine years since Mr. Hong started practicing Falun Gong. According to Mr. Hong, "Everything Teacher says in his books is true!"
The Other Side of Mr. Hong at Home
Mr. Hong said, "My eldest son recently got married. When he was about five or six years old, he asked me to go to the mountain and put him under the tutelage of an elderly monk for cultivation practice." At first, he didn't take his son's words seriously. Instead, he took him to church often. In the church, Mr. Hong was a highly admirable Elder. He was generally perceived as a man without any temper, but he was actually a very strict father at home who believed that "sparing the rod will spoil the child." He would sometimes discipline his child by spanking him, but he would tell his wife secretly afterwards, "I have just spanked our kid. Hurry up and give him some medicine."
It was not until he read Zhuan Falun that Mr. Hong finally understood the doctrines he had failed to understand thoroughly. For example, he learned from the Bible that one should be thankful for everything and be tolerant at all times, that one should offer one's right side of the face when someone hits the left side, and that one should not hate people who bully him and should be thankful to them. He knew their superficial meanings, but he found it impossible to follow these doctrines. After he started practicing Falun Gong, he realized that there was no such a thing as a coincidence and that the law of cause and effect applies to everyone and everything. Everything happens to him is an opportunity to improve his mind nature or morality. The law that requires Falun Gong practitioners to search inward for attachments and cultivate their hearts prompts Mr. Hong to search inward for everything he faces. As a result, Mr. Hong began to improve himself from the bottom of his heart. This is beyond the capability of any self help or mind improvement theories.
After witnessing the incredible transformation of his father and after much deliberation, Mr. Hong's eldest son finally became the fifth Falun Gong practitioner in Mr. Hong's family.
My Father, a Chivalrous Cavalier
According to Mr. Hong's oldest son:
Since I was little, I considered my father a very austere man. When I had a conflict with another kid, I would always be reprimanded or spanked no matter which one was in the wrong. I didn't understand my father's reasons. When I faced punishment at school, other students' parents would take them to school and fight for their rights. But my father would ask me to search inward. It was not until I started practicing Falun Gong that I realized that he had been nurturing my habit of self-examination. In other words, he expected me to search inward for everything I encounter in order to identify if I have done anything wrong.
The other impression I had about my father is that my father was like a chivalrous cavalier. Since I was little, he has been telling me stories about his martial arts practice when he was young. These stories were as incredible as episodes in the Chinese martial arts novels. For example, in the middle of night, this older fellow martial arts student, who was as strong as Hercules, fought with him in the moonlight. They crouched solidly, staring at each other and watching each other's slightest movement. Usually my father would win the fight because the older disciple lost patience and showed his weaknesses. When my father served in the military, he once had a hawk as a pet. He would find leftover meat from the kitchen to feed the hawk with and sometimes he would go hunting in the mountain to offer his pet hawk a feast! (Chinese readers are very likely to be reminded of scenes from a famous Chinese martial art novel, The Legends of the Heroes in the Great Desert or 大漠英雄傳.) I also heard that my father could have nine bowls of rice or 11 bowls of noodles in a meal when he was young. It sounds incredible for modern people! But compared to Xue Rengui, the famous military general in the Tang Dynasty who ate a bucket of food for each meal, my father's appetite was quite moderate.
The most obvious improvement in my father is that he has stopped being chauvinistic! Before he practiced Falun Gong, he would not lift a finger for housework, such as cooking, doing dishes, doing laundry and taking care of domestic affairs. He would leave them to my mother and us children. Now he will volunteer to help with these chores. In addition, he has become a lot more tolerant. Naturally, he has stopped the spanking and other physical punishment. I think Falun Gong's cultivation principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance have truly touched my father's soul. Our entire family has benefited a lot from these principles!
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2005/10/19/34253.html
