Q: Dear Master Lu, I heard from your radio program that we can accumulate Little Houses for future use. How should we go about this?
A:
- Little Houses are very useful. They are one of the Three Golden Buddhist Practices given to us by the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva.
- If you are reserving Little Houses for future use, then before you start reciting the Little House, you can say the following prayer: “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva be my witness, I, <your full name>, now recite the scriptures contained in this Little House (the Great Compassion Mantra, the Heart Sutra, the Amitabha Pure Land Rebirth Mantra, and the Qi Fo Mie Zui Zhen Yan).”
If you are certain that these reserved Little Houses will be addressed only to your own karmic creditors, you may add “…and grant me good health” to the above prayer. Do not make this addition to your prayer if you are unsure about whether you want to address them to your own karmic creditors. For example, you may want to give these reserved Little Houses to those in need. If that is the case, you must not pray for anything in relation to yourself. You can only say the following prayer: “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva be my witness, I, <your full name>, now recite the scriptures contained in this Little House (the Great Compassion Mantra, the Heart Sutra, the Amitabha Pure Land Rebirth Mantra, and the Qi Fo Mie Zui Zhen Yan).” - Before you start performing recitations, you need to fill in the name of the reciter on the Little House. Note that the name must be filled in by the reciter himself/herself. The recipient field (under “Offer To”) and the date can be left blank. The Great Compassion Mantra, the Heart Sutra, the Amitabha Pure Land Rebirth Mantra, and the Qi Fo Mie Zui Zhen Yan that you recite can be recorded on the Little House.
- Generally, once you finish reciting the sutras and mantras for a Little House, you should record them as soon as possible (best within seven days) by filling in the red dots on the Little House.
- When the time comes for you to use the Little Houses that you have reserved, you can then address them accordingly. You can address them to your karmic creditor, or your deceased relatives, etc. Fill in the date on which you burn the Little Houses.
- This way, you can accumulate spare Little Houses for your own convenience. In case of an emergency, you can immediately burn them to solve the problem.
- It is best to preserve Little Houses that you have recited and filled in by wrapping them with red paper or red fabric. Red is a colour that has a protective effect, and can prevent foreign spirits from stealing the Little Houses.
- Every seven years, you can take out the Little Houses from the red envelop and put them on the Buddhist altar while making incense offering. Then pray to Guan Yin Bodhisattva to have compassion on you and bless the energy of the scriptures. This procedure can be done once every seven years.