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!
Thank you to all Buddhist friends.
The year 2020 was my zodiac year of birth, and it also marked a conflict with Tai Sui Bodhisattva. Master Lu advised that during such years, one should exercise extra caution, as they tend to be more prone to misfortune. We were encouraged to step up our recitation of Buddhist scriptures — with a particular emphasis on the Mantra to Disperse Calamities — to help avert karmic obstacles before they manifest.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I was working from home. However, it was not long before I became absorbed in watching short online videos, and gradually, I began to backslide in my Buddhist practice. I did not listen to Master Lu’s teaching anymore, the number of Little Houses I recited dwindled, and the urgency to do the necessary slowly faded from my awareness which led to the eruption of my karmic obstacles.
On April Fools’ Day, a single phone call was all it took for me to transfer my hard-earned savings, amounting to SGD70,000, to a third party. Yes, I had been scammed. As I reflect on the details of that experience, I have come to better understand the terrifying power of karmic force. It felt as though an invisible force was driving me to act completely out of character. In the end, it was I—and no one else—who had to face the consequences.
On that fateful morning, I was on my way to the office when the call came. After confirming my personal details, the caller claimed that I had a package arriving from overseas—one that allegedly contained illegal drugs. The caller sternly warned me that I had violated the law and that my family could also be implicated. Coincidentally, I did have an online order pending delivery. I began to panic.
The call spanned over eight hours with three individuals pressuring me, leaving me barely any space to think. I was desperately struggling to break free, silently pleading for Bodhisattva’s help—yet I just could not pull myself back.
I remember vividly, while taking a cab home, I was still on the call and kept telling myself that I needed to go to the police station for help. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, I entered my home address as the drop-off point instead. Even after arriving, I could have easily walked to the police station, which was just one street away, but I did not. Clearly that was karmic force was at work.
Looking back, I was completely engulfed by the negative energy and fear. I fell completely under the control of the perpetrators. In the end, I disclosed my personal banking details to them, allowing them to transfer SGD70,000 from my account.
That night, in a complete daze, I clutched Master’s Buddhism in Plain Terms as I drifted off to sleep. At around 3 am, I woke up and checked my phone and the truth hit me: I had been scammed! Finally, I came to my senses, but it was already too late. I gently woke my husband and asked him to accompany me to the Jurong East police station.
During my morning prayer, as I knelt before the Buddhist altar, tears streamed down my cheeks. No amount of regret could undo what had already happened. Shortly after, I called our fellow Buddhist practitioners at the Sydney office to seek guidance. They reminded me that this was the unfolding of the karmic law, and advised me to make vows, perform repentance, and offer Little Houses in order to resolve the karmic debts.
I combed through Master Lu’s blog in search of success stories of those who had managed to recover funds they had been cheated out of. I came across Master Lu’s guidance on cases involving scams, fines, or legal disputes where his advice was to recite more of the Mantra to Disperse Calamities. Master also explained that many scams stem from human greed. It can also be the karmic consequences from past lives, where the current ‘victim’ might have once been the ‘scammer’.
Hence, I decided to make the vow to recite a huge number of times of the Mantra to Disperse Calamities, the Mantra to Untie Karmic Knots, the Cundi Dharani, the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance (LIFO) and Little Houses. I supplemented my recitations with the vows to liberate 10,000 fish, and to recite the Heart Sutra and Little Houses for the other party.
I fell into a state of depression, and my hair began to turn grey. In both my morning and evening prayers, as I knelt before the Buddhist altar, I would ask Bodhisattva the same question: Why did this have to happen to me? On the seventh night, during my evening prayer, as I gazed at Guan Yin Bodhisattva, a sudden, loud and clear voice—likely that of a Dharma Protector—spoke just a few simple words: “You were a man in your past life”. In that moment, vivid flashes of images of me bullying others appeared. Instantly, I understood. This is all retribution.
I was very fixated over recovering my lost funds. I was very frustrated but there was nothing that I could do. This continued over the next few days until one fine day, around 5 am when I had a dream in which I clearly heard Master Lu’s dharma voice, telling me to “Study Buddhism in Plain Terms”. From then on, I started studying Master’s Buddhism in Plain Terms on my own, while I also participated in group online study sessions. Over time, this helped me to regulate my mental state. Master Lu once said, “The money that has left your pocket is no longer yours”. These words helped me learn to let go. Still, I made the vow that if ever I recovered the money, I would make a donation.
During the one year period after the incident, I noticed a lump, measuring the size of a ping pong ball, on the right side of my chest. Clearly, misfortunes often do not come alone. Deeply concerned, I wasted no time in making the vow to recite four batches of 108 times of LIFO and a total of 70 Little Houses. Upon completing my recitations, the lump disappeared without any medical consultation.
Some 14 months into the incident, one day, I received an unexpected call from the police. I was summoned to drop by the police headquarters. The call offered little detail. The following day, I made my way to the police station. As soon as I sat down, the police officer handed me a cheque for SGD70,000 – the exact amount I had been scammed. I was stunned by what I saw but deep down, I was overwhelmed by gratitude, and was moved beyond words.
The police officer revealed to me that the moment the perpetrators moved the money out from my account, it went straight into an overseas bank account. He said that I was incredibly fortunate because the odds of recovering such funds is as low as 1%. In most cases, once the funds cross borders, it becomes nearly impossible to trace. Deep down, I knew that without the blessings of Guan Yin Bodhisattva, it would be impossible to recover the money and what’s more, it happened more than a year ago.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that it is our personal responsibility to protect our private information, and regardless of how troubled the situation we get ourselves into, we should always stay composed and calm. In Buddhism in Plain Terms, Master Lu once said, “Concentration gives rise to wisdom and with wisdom comes spiritual energy. It is necessary for us to have both wisdom and concentration in order to live a peaceful life in the human world. Without these two qualities, a single misstep could lead to a lifetime of regret”.
Guan Yin Bodhisattva has always been by our side, listening to each of our implorations. The problem lies in our hefty karmic obstacles and the karmic force that make it hard for us to gain resonance with Bodhisattva. As long as we sincerely repent and mend our ways, Guan Yin Bodhisattva will never forsake us. Bodhisattva does not intervene in the law of karma, this is why we should diligently perform recitation and meritorious deeds in order for us to be shielded from karmic calamity. I must count my blessings for having encountered Buddhism and started reciting the Buddhist scriptures, and hence, the ability to demagnify major misfortune, and turn small ones into nothingness.
This wraps up my sharing for today.
I would like to seek forgiveness from Guan Yin Bodhisattva and Dharma Protectors if my sharing today is improper in any way.
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!
Thank you to all Buddhist friends.
Source: Fellow Practitioner Yeap from Singapore
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