【Description】
When we cross paths with people, seeds of causality are sown. These seeds grow and show themselves when the karma is ripe, affecting our lives in various ways.
If we have already planted negative karma unintentionally and now face the consequences, how should we deal with it? Find out from Grandmaster JinBodhi.
【You will learn】
- The definition causality
- l The significance of repentance
- l Ways to resolve karmic conflict
【Featured Aphorism】
- Chanting blesses you with Buddha’s illumination, Divine protection and auspiciousness.
【Content】
In Vancouver, there was a practitioner who was very thin. When we wore only one T-shirt, she would wear three. She was thin. Her hands were always cold and her face looked pale and green. She had purplish lips. She had no heart disease. She was always in a bad mood due to insomnia and neurasthenia.
She felt no changes despite having practiced for a month. She asked me why. She let me feel her hands; they were cold. She’d been like that for more than a decade. So I closed my eyes and examined her. I told her she was surrounded by dark shadows. I wasn’t trying to scare her. I seldom say that to people. She panicked and asked, “What dark shadows?”
I continued examining and I saw her dad. “My dad? He passed away a few years ago.” I asked her how close she was with her dad. “Because he didn’t love me, I didn’t talk to him. I didn’t even see him in his final hours. He was not a loving father.” Everything made sense to me at that moment. So, I continued looking.
I told that lady about her family history. Her dad was actually a kind intellectual. He came from Zhejiang and was assigned to Xinjiang. In Xinjiang, he worked at a brick furnace. It was a tough job. That was no place for little girls. So he placed his daughter with his cousin. The lady, as a little girl, was mad. She didn’t understand, and nobody explained to her. She thought her dad didn’t love her. Her mom passed away so she was all alone. This turned into hatred.
I was speaking to her departed father. Her dad was weeping when he spoke to me. “I loved my daughter very much. I couldn’t bring her along to suffer in the harsh environment. I didn’t know what would happen if I did. I couldn’t even take care of myself. How could I have brought my beloved daughter along? Her mom was also gone. It took a lot of courage and effort for me to put her at my cousin’s place. This relative of mine was very kind.”
When he talked about his final years, he felt really let down by his daughter. He told me, “My daughter didn’t understand. Then I could only wish her well.” But he was still quite disappointed in his daughter. This explained the lady’s insomnia, thin figure and cold hands. Often at night, before she fell asleep, she always felt a spooky shadow lingering in her room. I told the lady to offer lights for her dad. “Otherwise, no deities could help you. You should repent. Your father loved you.”
I told her the reason and what to do. She asked, “Really?” “Of course. Just do what I tell you.” Her doctor had warned her before because she took too many sleeping pills. She came to me when her pills couldn’t help her. She believed my words. She decided to give it a try for her health. She wanted to believe that her dad loved her. After repenting as I said, her condition improved a lot. She began to sleep well.
3 months later, she told me that she could sleep without her pills. However, she still saw spooky shadows at night. For this, I told her to chant before going to bed. “Just visualize yourself surrounded by the Buddha’s illumination.” She did as I said. After that, she never saw the shadow again. Her facial complexion returned to normal. She finally slept well.
This is my advice for those who have nightmares: Chant before you go to bed. It can be the holy name of Amitabha, Sakyamuni Buddha, the Medicine Buddha or Guanyin Bodhisattva. All these are okay. Just chant whatever you know. You can even chant mantras if you know them. Do this and you will be surrounded by the Buddha’s illumination. You will become very auspicious.