蓮生活佛英文文集＿咒的魔力
■Book 148─Power of Mantra
■Written by Master Sheng-yen Lu
■Chapter Two 1/3
A man by the name of Shen Ding was a chief engineer on a deep sea fishing ship.
When he was in Hong Kong, a friend invited him to consult a very famous fortune-teller, who was skilled in the art of Chinese divination known as “Tie Ban Shen Shu.”
This form of Chinese divination requires the information of one's birth date and time, right down to the exact minute of birth. If the information is accurate, the divination will reveal the most accurate details of one's life.
Shen Ding felt that this art of divination, which was first revealed by Shao Kangjie in ancient China, was indeed remarkably accurate.
The fortune-teller revealed Shen Ding's destiny. He stated that his father was born in the year of the dragon and his mother was born in the year of the monkey. The information was correct.
He also mentioned that Shen Ding had three elder brothers and one younger sister. This was also correct.
The fortune-teller revealed that Shen Ding's mother passed away when he was ten years old. This astonished Shen Ding because what he said was indeed true. His mother died of a certain illness when he was only ten.
The fortune-teller proceeded to describe Shen Ding's destiny:
Shen Ding's livelihood was connected with water (Shen Ding worked on a deep sea fishing ship).
When he turned thirty, he met a friend by the last name Xie and lost his money (at age thirty, a friend with the last name Xie borrowed seven hundred thousand Taiwanese dollars and then disappeared).
The divination also revealed that Shen Ding had a girlfriend with the last name Zhang and disclosed exactly how much he earned per month. This was most astonishing to Shen Ding, leaving him dumbfounded.
Finally, when the fortune-teller came to Shen Ding's life span, he fell silent.
Shen Ding was eager to know how long he was going to live.
“It is best that you do not know,” replied the fortune-teller.
“Whether my life will be long or short is not important. I can handle it,” Shen Ding said.
The fortune-teller insisted on keeping quiet about his time left on earth.
Shen Ding exploded and said, “Look! I told you I can take it. People live and die. Whether life is long or short, so be it. Having a long life may not be a good thing. I want to find out how long I am going to live. If you don't tell me, I'm not going to leave.”
The fortune-teller was in a very difficult position, as Shen Ding demanded to know.
Finally, the fortune-teller picked up one of the books on divination, flipped to the respective page and showed Shen Ding what was written on it. The respective sentence stated, “You will die at age thirty seven.”
“Thirty seven! Thirty seven!” Shen Ding was shocked to learn of his life span.
Damn! Shen Ding was thirty five and that meant another two years before he left the world for good. Judging from the accuracy of this fortune-teller, it seemed that his life would surely come to an end at that age. Shen Ding claimed that he did not mind, but his heart was pounding.
Shen Ding asked, “Is there a way to change it?”
“Everything is destined by divine will. You can change your destiny through gathering good merits. I can't help you.”
“Doing good deeds?”
“Yes.”
“Just like Liao Fan's Four Essays on Karma,” Shen Ding said. He has read that book.
“Pretty much,” said the fortune-teller.
“But are two years enough time to change my destiny?” asked a worried Shen Ding.
The fortune-teller smiled and refused to comment.
“Is there someone on earth who can help change my destiny?”
The fortune-teller said, “To my knowledge, this form of divination is extremely accurate. I am aware that one can change his destiny, but this is rarely possible. There is one person you can talk to and see if he can help you.”
“Which person?”
“Living Buddha Lian-sheng, Sheng-yen Lu.”
“Can he really change my destiny?”
“Why not give it a try?”
×××××××××
When Shen Ding came to me, he did not mention his consultation with the fortune-teller in Hong Kong. He only forwarded a note stating that he wanted to know how long he had to live.
I said to him, “I never do readings to determine the length of one's life.”
“Why not? Isn't it possible that we can find out about our marriage, our wealth, our children, and our state of prosperity?”
“Well, you're right in a way. But if I determine your life span and it turns out to be a short life, you'll become frightened. To avoid unnecessary complications, I avoid going into it.”
“Can you make an exception?” Shen Ding requested.
“No,” I replied. -To be continued-
