Q: I came across one of Master Lu’s discourses on reciting Little Houses for eliminating karmic obstacles. May I know under what circumstances we should recite these Little Houses? What is its significance in comparison with the Little House that we commonly offer to our karmic creditors?
A:
- The type of Little House that is commonly addressed to the karmic creditor of a person is used to repay karmic debts, help the karmic creditor to ascend to a higher spiritual realm and also quell one’s karmic obstacles. However, when the “Offer To:” field of a Little House is written as “<name of the person> eliminates karmic obstacles”, its focus is to quell a specific karmic obstacle.
- For example, let’s assume you have recently been entangled in a lawsuit, encountered serious problems in career or marriage, or met with sudden activation of karmic retributions in a particular aspect of your life. When these issues are unresolvable after offering the Little Houses for karmic creditors, or when you are burdened with the heavy karma of others, you can recite the Little Houses that are targeted at quelling the specific karmic obstacles of a person.
- For Buddhist practitioners who are suffering from cancer, critical illnesses, mental disorders or foreign spirits occupying their body, after having offered a substantial number of the Little Houses for karmic creditors, it would be more effective if they start reciting the Little Houses specifically targeted at quelling karmic obstacles.
- Before offering these Little Houses, you may pray to the Bodhisattva to bless and help you eliminate a specific karmic obstacle, and you may even state the issue that has been troubling you recently.
- This Little House serves a specific purpose; hence it is not recommended for people who have just started practising Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door. For beginners or those with heavy karmic obstacles, if they have not offered sufficient Little Houses for their karmic creditors, using this method to eliminate karmic obstacles may lead to the activation of them. Under such circumstances, they will run into trouble if they do not have reserved Little Houses.
- For Little Houses to eliminate karmic obstacles, you should offer no more than five per day. The focus should remain on the Little Houses for your karmic creditor.
- If karmic obstacles are activated after offering these Little Houses, you may temporarily stop this practice and quickly recite the Little Houses for your karmic creditor instead.
- You may vow to recite a specific number of the Little Houses to eliminate specific karmic obstacles and offer them in batches.
- This Little House can help to resolve and eliminate a specific negative karmic force, but it cannot be used to replace the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance. Recitation of the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance helps to eliminate the karmic obstacle to its roots through penitence. If you do not repent piously, it will not be effective. Therefore, for the Little Houses used to quell karmic obstacles to achieve optimal effect, they need to be combined with recitation of the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance and the offering of Little Houses for karmic creditors.