GUAN YIN BODHISATTVA GRANTED ME A SECOND CHANCE IN LIFE
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.
I once was an outright ignorant person. I had committed acts of killing, theft, sexual misconduct and speaking ill of others – violating four out of the five Buddhist precepts.
Besides having two abortions, I once operated a restaurant business selling lobsters for a year or so. I was also addicted to playing mahjong – a bad habit that I could not break for the past 20 odd years. Driven by greed of winning at the mahjong table, I played cheat.
My list of sinful acts includes my promiscuous tendencies and my habit of speaking ill of others. I was unkind to everyone including my own family members. I am ashamed to admit that I was to be blamed for breaking up my younger brother’s family.
Alas, how ignorant I once was! Unbeknown to me, through those acts, I was in reality inflicting harm upon myself. Unabashed, my evil inclination was so deeply rooted in me that it all felt so natural and as a matter of fact, I drew immense joy on someone else’s sorrow.
Amid all the grievous harm that I caused others, I was building up negative karma that was sinisterly creeping up on me. Here’s a list of chronological events that subsequently unfolded in my life:
Year 2012: At the age of 46, I started to develop an unexplainable propensity to lose my footing, oblivious to the fast-approaching ill omen.
Year 2013: I was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – a rare neurological disease that primarily disrupts the nerve cells responsible for controlling voluntary muscle movement.
Year 2015 – 2021: Over the span of these six years, I started to lose my bodily functions and eventually had to rely on others to perform even the simplest of daily routines. It seemed like every ounce of energy in my body had diminished, rendering my body to feel weak and flimsy.
My condition deteriorated to a point that my neck was unable to support my head and my speech became impaired. To communicate with others, I was reduced to using my mobile phone to key in words that I wished to express. Even that was hardly an easy task.
To make matters worse, none of the vast array of medications I was prescribed with was able to arrest my fast-deteriorating health issue.
From 2019 onwards, my illness took a turn for the worst. In each of those relapses, I could feel the excruciating pain on my shoulders and neck which was enough to make me choke every time I drank water or swallowed food.
Tormented by the illness, I became abnormally thin and weak, losing well over 10kg of my weight. It really felt like my final life chapter was closing in on me.
Drowned in unspeakable desperation, coincidentally, a Buddhist friend, who is practising Guan Yin Citta, gave me a Buddhist recitation player. That was in May 2020. Looking back, I have to count my blessings because of this pivotal encounter, I entered the gate of dharma, and set foot on my Buddhism practice and from hereon, I could finally see light amid all the gloom and doom.
In May 2021, I made the following great vows:
First: To become a vegetarian for life;
Second: To stop the act of killing for the rest of my life;
Third: To release captive lives in excess of 10,000 (no deadline was set);
Fourth: To recite 1,000 Little Houses in two years; and
Fifth: To share my testimony upon recovery so that many more lives will find salvation.
Every morning, without fail, I will repeat my great vows before Bodhisattva, and supplement them with this statement: “I am determined to mend my old ways and stop creating new negative karma”.
On two occasions, I dreamed of Guan Yin Bodhisattva and in the dreams, She was healing my head and throat, trying to alleviate my suffering.
On a separate occasion, emotionally drained, I went to bed and this phrase appeared vividly in my dream, “Regardless of how afflicted the path ahead is, you must continue to stride forward”. Deep down, I knew that this was divine guidance from Guan Yin Bodhisattva, who was trying to cajole me to plod along so that I wouldn’t get swept away in the sea of suffering.
Deepest gratitude to the Greatly Compassionate and Greatly Merciful Guan Yin Bodhisattva for not forsaking me, and going all out to save both my physical and spiritual lives.
Pleased to say that my ability to recite the Buddhist scriptures has significantly improved. I am now better able to keep pace with the recitation speed in the mobile phone app. That said, I still have problems properly enunciating those Buddhist scriptures. This could be a punishment for committing so much speech karma or perhaps, a present-life retribution for breaking up my young brother’s family. It is a clear validation of the Buddhist teachings – we reap what we sow and retribution is served unfailingly.
Having practised Buddhism in a short span of a year, my health has clearly improved. Besides putting on some weight, I have also regained some of my energy. I am now able to stand on my feet after getting up from a stool. Also, I seem to have better control over my tongue, making it less challenging for me to swallow food and drink water.
These positive developments have strengthened my faith in Buddhism, through which, I strongly believe, I’m capable of transforming the course of my destiny. Deep down, I know that it is just a matter of time before my health makes further improvement, as long as I remain steadfast in my Buddhism practice.
Ironically, I am grateful to have been stricken with this illness, because without it, I would not have embarked on my Buddhism practice with Guan Yin Citta. Looking back, it was a blessing in disguise that, at the depth of my sorrow when my life came crashing down and when I didn’t even have the physical strength to commit suicide, I saw a ray of sunshine.
It’s hard to imagine, in the space of one year of my Buddhism practice, my life has dramatically turned around. My physical and emotional health is on the mend and most importantly, I gain a better understanding of the true meaning of life.
I do not dare to harbour the thought of making an instantaneous recovery and reclaiming life normalcy. After all, how is it possible for the negative karma that I have built up after years of going astray in human wilderness to literally evaporate overnight? Echoing this is the Chinese saying, “It takes more than one cold day for the river to freeze three feet deep”. But, one thing for sure, I am resolute to strive on with the dharma as my guiding light.
With this, I have come to the end of my sharing. If my sharing today is improper in any way, I seek forgiveness from Namo Shakyamuni Buddha, Guan Yin Bodhisattva and Dharma Protectors!
From A Buddhist friend by the name of Wan
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