T269 蓮生活佛英文文集148－咒的魔力 Grandfather's Prayer Beads 2
- 詳細內容
- 分類：大燈新書上市
■Book 148─Power of Mantra
■Written by Master Sheng-yen Lu
■Chapter Three
The old man wrote down his name, birthday and address.
I made a quick spiritual observation and sensed the sound of a mantra filling the atmosphere, accompanied by the scent of sandalwood. I also saw circles of light radiating and within each circle stood a fortune deity. This was most astonishing.
“Do you know how to recite any mantras?” I asked.
“Nope!” Pan Ji, the old man, replied.
“I heard the sound of a mantra and smelled the scent of sandalwood. I saw fortune deities by your side.”
“Impossible!”
I had helped many in my consultations and had a good track record of accuracy. It was rare to hear someone remark “impossible.” Rather, it was impossible for my divine eye and divine ear to make a wrong observation. If there was ever any mistake in my observation, I was always able to pinpoint the cause of it.
“Does anyone at your home know how to chant any mantras?” I asked him.
“Neither my wife nor my kids know how to chant any mantras,” Pan Ji replied.
“Do any of your other relatives know how to chant any mantras?” I asked.
“Do the deceased count?”
“Yes,” I replied.
Pan Ji proceeded to tell me, “In my family, only my grandfather, Pan Li, knew how to chant a mantra. He held great respect for the God of Fortune and Virtue, and had built a temple for him. Subsequently, He also became the temple's guardian. Once, a monk gave my grandfather a string of prayer beads and taught him how to chant the Earth Deity Mantra. My grandfather recited the mantra his entire life using the prayer beads. He chanted with the prayer beads so much that it eventually turned black and became shiny.”
“Where are the prayer beads now?” I believed I had found the answer.
“My grandfather passed them down to my father, and my father gave it to me, but I don't know where I put them. I think I'll ask my wife to help me find them.”
Pan Ji returned home and asked his wife about the prayer beads. She told him, “They are tucked away inside a hidden crack at your vendor. Nobody knows about it.”
Pan Ji searched for and found them in the vendor. He then took the darkened prayer beads and showed them to me. He did not know the value of the prayer beads.
I told Pan Ji, “Your grandfather, Pan Li, received protection from the Earth Deity. This is the result of reciting the Earth Deity Mantra, showing the Earth Deity respect, visualizing the Earth Deity and praising the Earth Deity.”
The Earth Deity Mantra is as follows:
[transliteration:] Namo san-man-doh, moo-toh-nam, om, doo-loo-doo-loo, dei-wei, so-ha
[Sanskrit: NAMO SAMANTA BUDDHANAM OM DURU DURU DEVI SVAHA].
The Earth Deity Mantra is usually chanted before reciting a sutra. This is to summon the Earth Deities of the Four Directions to guard over you while you recite sutras.
Pan Li spent his entire life reciting this mantra. His sincerity moved the Earth Deities 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 spiritual entities and recites this mantra, the spirits will retreat and respect you.
If anyone contracts a serious illness and recites this mantra, the illness will vanish. All pain will disappear and one's good 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 Deity devours the bacteria on the skin.
If one recites this mantra diligently, abides by the Five Precepts and carries out the Ten Good Deeds, then one will not fall into the three lower realms and hell. In fact, one will be reborn in the heavenly realms and enjoy utmost bliss and joy. The Earth Deity Mantra is also extremely effective in terms of accumulating wealth because the Earth Deities and their spiritual attendants will help those who recite the mantra to receive measureless fortune.
Pan Li devoted his life to chanting this mantra and achieved great results with it. The prayer beads were passed down from grandfather to father, then from father to son, and the blessings were passed down as well. This was simply incredible.
-To be continued-
T268 蓮生活佛英文文集148－咒的魔力 Grandfather's Prayer Beads 1
- 詳細內容
- 分類：大燈新書上市
■Book 148─Power of Mantra
■Written by Master Sheng-yen Lu
■Chapter Three
In the past, whenever I read the feng shui of a person's home, I observed both the visible and invisible worlds. The invisible world refers to the realm of spirits.
I will divulge a great secret.
I was once invited to do a feng shui consultation for a certain wealthy and powerful family in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Once I entered the house, I saw many “ghosts of poverty” occupying the place. These ghosts had all come to collect debts [from the owner]. I instantly knew that this prestigious person would soon lose his wealth altogether. Indeed, soon afterwards, his business failed miserably.
On another occasion, I visited the home of a poor man in a village to read the feng shui of his house. His house was in the typical style of a Chinese village courtyard. I saw lots of spirits, like an army of ants, carrying sacks of golden sand on their backs marching to his house. One by one they entered his house to deliver the golden sand. I knew right away that the family would soon possess great wealth. Eventually, his name became well known and he held a position in government. His wealth increased astronomically and he became the country's wealthiest man.
These are my experiences of reading feng shui:
If “ghosts of poverty” demanding payment surround the individual, he is doomed to be a failure in life. If wealth deities surround the individual, he is destined to prosper. Thus, the invisible hand of spirits affects everything.
I once went to a night market in front of a temple for a late-night snack. In front of the temple was an empty lot with a small food vendor. The vendor only sold four items, which were herbal soup, noodles, rice flour rolls, and boiled vegetables.
There were many tables around the vendor and they were all occupied with customers who were eager to taste the food. It was very similar to ants going after cookies. I opened my divine eye to examine the man running the vendor, and what I witnessed was frightening. The open field was filled with more than a hundred patrons visiting the vendor, and an equal number of spirits roaming the area. These spirits had swayed the customers to patronize this vendor. When the spirits lured someone in, the person couldn’t help but go in.
The vendor was famous for its herbal soup, and it was delicious. Every night, customers flowed in and out like an ocean tide. His business was so good that the money flowed in like running tap water. Some people said that the vendor owner laughed with delight while counting his money at home. Others said that the vendor owner owned a few apartments and his wealth was measured in the hundreds of millions.
I paid close attention to the vendor owner's facial features. I observed that his face was dark and gloomy, with a sunken nose, tiny mouth, small eyes and hardly any flesh on his face. He certainly did not look like he was a man of great wealth but instead resembled an old homeless man.
I felt there was nothing remarkable about this old man, but the fact that he was so prosperous was really strange! Besides being rich, he had so many spirits helping lure customers to his vendor. The spirits also attended to the customers and cleaned up their tables - this was quite perplexing.
I suspected that the old man learned how to use spirits to help him. However, upon closer observation, although he looked unpleasant, he did not have any negative energy lingering around his body.
From a distance, I looked at the vendor and the piece of land it was on and observed some glowing beams of red light emerging from the ground, and a red cloud quietly covered the area. This might have explained why the vendor was so prosperous. Perhaps it was due to the auspicious feng shui of the location. The other vendors did not enjoy the same kind of customer traffic that this vendor did. They were barely making ends meet. This was indeed interesting.
* * *
One day, a certain individual came to seek my consultation. He wanted to find a name for his grandson, and when I looked at him, I realized he was the same old man who ran the vendor.
I said to him, “Your business is doing very well!”
“It's nothing, nothing at all,” the old man said modestly.
“How come your business is doing so well?” I asked curiously.
“Luck is on my side,” the old man grinned, exposing his two rows of black teeth.
“I believe there is more than just luck,” I said.
“Would you do a divination for me?” he requested.
-To be continuedcontinued-
T268 蓮生活佛英文文集148－咒的魔力 Eradicating All Disasters3
- 詳細內容
- 分類：大燈新書上市
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 3/3end
(This chapter takes up where the last one left off.)
When Shen Ding returned home, he hung his painting of the Bodhisattva on the wall and worshipped it with much reverence. In preparation for his daily chanting, he would clean his hands, light incense and prostrate before the image of the Bodhisattva before chanting the mantra. After completing his chanting, he would recite the dedication verse:
May karmic hindrances and defilements be removed
May wisdom and true realization be attained
May all transgressions be eradicated completely
May I follow the path of a bodhisattva life after life
Shen Ding added, “Guanyin Bodhisattva, please protect me when I am in danger, and grant me longevity.”
At home, he could keep to the routine of his practice. But Shen Ding was, after all, a traveling chief engineer with his deep sea fishing ship. He spent most of his time away from home. Nonetheless, he taped a photo of the White Robed Guanyin at a corner of his cabin onboard his ship. He did not stop his daily practice.
His friends sneered at him and thought he was superstitious, crazy, and had lost his mind, but Shen Ding ignored them.
Besides chanting the mantra, Shen Ding committed himself to doing charity work whenever possible.
×××
When he was thirty-seven, Shen Ding’s fishing ship anchored at Hawaii before sailing to Guam the following day. That very night, Shen Ding had a bad stomach ache and was in great pain.
After being rushed to the emergency room in the hospital, he was diagnosed with acute appendicitis and needed an operation right away. Under these circumstances, Shen Ding had to stay behind at the Hawaiian hospital.
However, the ship was scheduled to leave for Guam and could not wait for him. Thus the ship sailed on without Shen Ding and arranged to meet with him again after his surgery.
Sadly, the ship sank on its journey to Guam when it encountered a heavy storm. None of the crew survived the tragedy. The ship and crew sank without a trace. Despite rescue attempts from the shipping company to search the area with helicopters and other rescue ships, they could not locate the missing crew. It was as if they had all vanished into thin air.
Because his acute appendicitis required him to stay behind in Hawaii for surgery, Shen Ding became the sole survivor of this tragedy.
Shen Ding later returned to Hong Kong and met up with the fortune-teller.
He told the fortune-teller, “Your divination was not accurate!”
The fortune-teller was astonished and exclaimed, “What happened?”
“I chanted the mantra of the White Robed Guanyin, that’s all!”
The fortune-teller marveled and said, “The mantra has such miraculous power. It is indeed rare. I would like to chant it too.”
Since then, Shen Ding has developed a deep faith in the White Robed Guanyin, and knew that the compassionate Bodhisattva would certainly answer the cries of all. He knew he must trust the Bodhisattva completely and be sincere; only then could a miracle be evoked. Shen Ding later took refuge in True Buddha School.
I taught Shen Ding how to practice the Four Preliminary Practices and the Guru Yoga. Eventually, he regarded the White Robed Guanyin as his personal deity [Tibetan: yidam] during his cultivation.
Shen Ding felt sorry for the shipmates and crew who had perished in the ocean. He decided to chant the mantra of the White Robed Guanyin one hundred two thousand times. He would then dedicate the merits of the mantra chanting to their spirits.
After the dedication of merits, Shen Ding had a dream. He dreamed of sailing in the ocean and his ship being surrounded by about fifty white birds. The circling birds seemed to come to say thank you to Shen Ding, and one by one, they each flew away. When he woke up from his dream, he realized that the spirits of his friends had all been liberated by the White Robed Guanyin and had left the sea of suffering.
Thus:
From dust to dawn he chants diligently
The White Robed Guanyin enters his dream frequently
The shipmates of the boat have been delivered
Bonded by a great affinity of old friendship
