Deepest Gratitude to Namo Shakyamuni Buddha!
Deepest Gratitude to the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva!
Deepest Gratitude to all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Dharma Protectors!
Deepest Gratitude to Master Jun Hong Lu!
Good afternoon to all Buddhist friends.
It’s been more than four years since I embarked on my spiritual cultivation journey with Guan Yin Citta at the age of 15. Throughout these years, I would seize every opportunity to drop by the Singapore Practice Centre after school to pay respect to Bodhisattvas and perform recitation.
I would stay till the end and join the volunteers, performing end-of-the-day cleaning routine at the Practice Centre. Be it mopping the floor, sanitising the tables and chairs or cleaning the toilet, I would take the task seriously and do it to my best capacity. It has never crossed my mind of receiving anything in return. To me, nothing beats the inner gratitude of being able to chip in in whatever way possible to keep the Practice Centre spick and span.
Some months ago, I dreamed of myself standing atop a mountain. Darkness enveloped the entire vast space. I had the hunch that I was in the underworld.
Out of the blue, a young-looking official from the underworld stepped forward. In no uncertain terms, he said sternly, “By right, a calamity would befall you causing you to lose one of your eyes. Thanks to your regular upkeep of the Practice Centre, the merits accrued have helped you dodge your karmic pass, allowing you to avert losing one of your eyeballs”.
The official pressed on and said, “Quickly! Quickly!”. In the dream, I knew that I should step up my pace of performing more meritorious deeds.
Truth be told, I developed far-sightedness (老花眼) – a gradual loss of the ability for one’s eyes to focus on nearby objects due to ageing – in my early childhood. I started wearing eyeglasses as early as 5 years old. To make matters worse, my eyes would easily tire out.
If not for the innumerable oil offerings at the Practice Centre, my eyesight would not have made a marked improvement as it did in recent years. I can now complete my chores at home without eyeglasses.
The dream struck me in a very profound way. First and foremost, we need to have a sense of crisis in life because impermanence is a constant in life. After all, calamity does not discriminate between the young and the old. I remember what Master Lu once said, “The greatest crisis faced by humanity in the 21st century is having no sense of crisis, thinking that calamities that befell others will not happen to them”.
Secondly, the dream could have turned out very differently if I had not persevered in my spiritual cultivation and taken the extra mile to perform meritorious deeds on a daily basis. This reminds me of what Master Lu once said, “With perseverance, change is possible. One will not succeed in this journey without perseverance”.
Last but not least, as long as we pour our heart and soul in performing every little virtuous deed, it will all add up. Echoing one of the oft-cited phrases of Master Lu, “Accumulation is key to gaining merits. Everyone should grab every opportunity to perform meritorious deeds”.
If my sharing is improper in any way, I would like to seek forgiveness from Namo Shakyamuni Buddha, the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva, all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Dharma Protectors and Master Jun Hong Lu.
By: A young Buddhist friend from Singapore