Grandfather`s Mala
■Book 148 - The Power of Mantra
■Written by master Sheng-yen Lu
The Earth God Mantra is as follows:
Namo Samanta Buddanam Om Duru Duru Devi Svaha.
The Earth God Mantra is usually chanted before reciting a sutra. This is to summon the Earth Gods from the Four Directions to guard over you while you recite the sutra.
Pan Li spent his entire life reciting this mantra. His sincerity attracted the Earth God to protect him. This mantra is neither from the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas nor the Vajra Protectors. It is not a major mantra, yet it should not be underestimated as it contains amazing power.
If anyone is troubled by spirit entities and recites this mantra, the spirits will retreat and give you their respect.
If anyone contracts illness and recites this mantra, the illness will leave. All pain will disappear and one`s health will return.
In the past, I had taught people how to chant this mantra as it is especially helpful for curing several forms of dermatitis such as athlete`s foot, chronic dermatitis, discoid eczema, etc. By chanting the mantra, those who have skin-related illnesses should be cured because the Earth God devours the bacteria on the skin.
If one recites this mantra diligently and upholds the Five Precepts and Ten Wholesome Deeds, then one will not fall in to the Three Lower Realms and hell. In fact, one will be reborn in the earth and heavenly realms and enjoy utmost bliss and pleasure. The Earth God Mantra is also most effective in terms of accumulating wealth because the Earth Gods and their attendant ghosts will help those who recite the mantra to receive countless fortunes.
Pan Li devoted his life to chanting this mantra and achieved great results with it. The mala had been passed down from grandfather to father, and from father to son. Nonetheless, the blessings followed and were passed down as well. This was simply incredible.
Thus, I wrote a verse:
Filled with pleasure while reciting Buddha`s epithet and mantra.
Now then, one has found the heritage in samsara.
Continue to recite sincerely and respectfully.
The blessing of Gods and Ghosts will be with one perpetually.
There is another story related to the Earth God Mantra.
There was a period when an epidemic swept over Taiwan, and many livestock were killed. I observed many plague ghosts roaming in the wild and biting the animals to death.
Owners of many farms had approached me for help.
I studied the constellation of the stars and noted that the Five Plague Gods had descended from the southeastern area of the sky. This meant that an epidemic would sweep the world, resulting in the death of many chickens, ducks, cattle, sheep and pigs.
I was worried.
I approached Cheng Huang Bodhisattva, the City Patron Bodhisattva, for help and he said, `This is fate, it is not my demand!`
`Even if it is the will of the Heaven, I can not just watch people suffer.`
`Don`t interfere. People`s hearts are too corrupted.`
`How can I have peace in my mind? I have to save the poor Souls!` I uttered.
Cheng Huang Bodhisattva said to me, `You, Sheng-yen Lu try to help people everyday, but their suffering is due to their wrong doing. They deserve it! If one day someone hurts you, I wonder if anyone will save you.`
I answered, `If someone hurts me, that`s my own karma??ut looking at all these suffering Souls, I really feel for them in my heart.`
Cheng Huang Bodhisattva then taught me a method.
Take four sticks of bamboo and chip away the green outer layer. Each stick must be one foot six inches long. On the lunar calendar day, the Accomplishment Day, chop the bamboo sticks. On each stick, inscribe the letters of the Earth God Mantra in either Chinese or Sanskrit.
In the afternoon of the lunar Removal Day, consecrate the bamboo sticks. Recite the Earth God Mantra, 108 times for each stick. The more you recite, the merrier.
On the lunar Stability Day, hammer the bamboo sticks on the four corners of the ground of the respective farm.
When this is completed, plague will not touch the respective farm. I taught this method to the farm owners and it worked! Each farm that was lined with the mantra-empowered bamboo sticks was protected from plague. Not even one livestock was killed.
However, many other farmers were unaware of this method and during that year when the epidemic occurred, many livestock died. There was hardly enough time to bury every dead chicken or cattle, and the carcasses piled up high like a hill.
One farm owner relayed this incident to me.
One night, he overheard some conversation that took place outside his farm. However, it was not human beings but plague ghosts who were speaking. A wave of them arrived outside the farm.
One ghost exclaimed, `The light of mantra emanates from this farm. We cannot enter.`
`What mantra?` another asked.
`The Earth God Mantra.`
`That mantra is no big deal. It cannot stop us. Let`s go!`
`No way!`
`Why not?`
`The Earth God is after all a righteous god.`
`We have our orders by the heavenly decree!` the ghost shouted.
`But this mantra is empowered by the Living Buddha, Lian-sheng, Sheng-yen Lu himself.`
`Really!`
The ghosts fell silent. One of them suggested, `Let`s leave this place! We can feed ourselves elsewhere. Besides the small Earth God Mantra, there`s also the Buddha`s edict. It`s better to leave it alone.`
Thus, this bunch of ghosts left the farm.
Let me share this with you. Many wealthy men owe their riches to the help of spirits. Many disasters are the result of mischief from spirits. You see the hand of these entities at work in all of these incidents.
Confucius once said, `Respect the spirit world but keep your distance.` This means that the spirit world does exist, but we hardly pay attention to it.
In the Bible, Jesus once expelled spirits and exorcised demons. In the Catholic`s instruction for the Exorcistate, the 3rd of the Minor Orders, it outlines the rite of exorcism. The 75 year-old Father Amorth is himself a famous Catholic exorcism priest!
The invisible spirits are worthy of our attention!
