Years ago I read a book about the most wonderful lady called "Peace Pilgrim" in America. She walked 25,000 Miles on Foot for Peace. She said, "I shall remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace, walking until I am given shelter and fasting until I am given food." Likewise, thousands of years ago in China, my Heavenly Master "JiGong" when he was a man, did the same thing, without a penny in his pocket and a shelter over his head, walking and preaching the Truth. Today, millions bow down before him daily for blessing and wisdom. I would like to relate this wonderful real experience by Peace Pilgrim called "The Change Called Death" in her own words below: "Life is a series of tests, but if you pass your tests you'll look back upon them as good experiences." I look back on all my tests as good experiences, including the night I faced death in a blinding snowstorm. It was the first year of my pilgrimage and the most beautiful experience I ever had. I was walking in a very isolated section of the high mountains of Arizona where there was no human habitation for many miles. That afternoon there came a surprising snowstorm, out of season. I have never seen such a storm. If the snow had been rain you would have called it a cloudburst. Never had I seen snow dumped down like that! All of a sudden I was walking in deep snow and was unable to see through what was falling. Suddenly I realized that the cars had stopped running. I supposed they were getting stuck on the highway and unable to pass. Then it got dark. There must have been a heavy cloud cover. I could not see my hand before my face, and the snow was blowing into my face and closing my eyes. It was getting cold. It was the kind of cold that penetrates into the marrow of the bone. If ever I were to lose faith and feel fear, this would have been the time, because I knew there was no human help at hand. Instead, the whole experience of the cold and the snow and the darkness seemed unreal. Only God seemed real.....nothing else. I made a complete identification - not with my body, but the reality which activates the body and is indestructible. I felt so free; I felt that everything would be all right, whether I remained to serve in this earth life or if I went on to serve in another freer life beyond. I felt guided to keep on walking along the highway or out into some field. I couldn't see anything. My feet in my low canvas shoes were like lumps of ice. They felt so heavy as I plodded along. My body began to turn numb with cold. After there was more numbness than pain, there came what some would call a hallucination - and what some would call vision. It was as though I became aware, not only of the embodied side of life where everything was black darkness, bitter cold and swirling snow - but also so close it seemed I could step right into it, of the unembodied side of life where everything was warmth and light. There was such great beauty. It began with familar color, but transcend familiar color. It began with familar music, but transcend familiar music. Then I saw beings. They were very far away. One of them moved toward me very quickly. When she came close enough, I reconized her. She looked much younger then she had looked when she passed over. I believe that at the time of the beginning of the change called death, those nearest and dearest come to welcome us. I have been with dying friends who have stepped over and I remember well how they talked to their loved ones on both sides....as though they were all right there in the room together. So I thought my time had come to step over, and I greeted her. I either said or thought, 'You have come for me?' But she shook her head! She motioned for me to go back! And just at that exact moment I ran into the railing of a bridge. The vision was gone. Because I felt guided to do so, I groped my way down that snowy embankment and got under the bridge. There I found a large cardboard packing box with wrapping paper in it. Very slowly and clumsily in my numb condition, I managed to get myself into that packing box, and somehow with my numbed fingers managed to pull the wrapping paper around me. There under the bridge, during the snowstorm, I slept. Even there shelter had been provided - but provided also was this experince. Had you looked at me in the midst of the snowstorm, you might have said, 'What a terrible experience that poor woman is going through.' But looking back on it I can only say: What a wonderful experience in which I faced death, feeling not fear, but the constant awareness of the presence of God, which is what you take right over with you. I believe I had the great privilege of experiencing the beginning of the change called death." What a wonderful and great lady! In life nobody can escape death. My Master JiGong said, "Learn life through your personal experience! Nobody can escape birth, aging, sickness and death! A mature man must take on reponsibilities throughout his life. Without taking on responsibilities, he would not have a career in the society. Similarly a sensible, wise and far-sighted person must be good at casting off attachments. Don't wait until impermanence (death) comes." Author: T.A Chew
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