Good afternoon Dharma friends.
Thanks for giving me a chance to share with you my experience in practising Guan Yin Citta Dharma door.
I came to know about Guan Yin Citta in the 2012 Singapore Dharma Convention. I started Guan Yin Citta due to my Brain Cancer. Time flies, it’s been 8 years since I started practising Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door. Today, I’m not going to share in detail on how following the teachings of Master Lu has successfully cured my brain cancer but to share more about the importance of perseverance in the path of spiritual cultivation.
Perseverance is the key to success. This applies to everything in our life. Being a Practice Centre volunteer since 2013, I have witnessed the changes of some people, in every 2-3 years. There were some shixiongs who practised diligently at the beginning, they came to the centre everyday, kneeled in front of Guan Yin Bodhisattva and recited the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance during Bodhisattvas’ special days, on the 1st and 15th lunar day…and so forth. However, after 2-3 years, they disappeared completely. There have been recurring cases for many shixiongs.
I got to know one shixiong who disappeared for almost a year and returned. I asked him where he had been? He didn’t share with me in detail but just told me that he regretted stopping the Daily Recitation for the year. In my mind, I was counting how many Little Houses and Lifo I could have recited for a year and how many karmic obstacles I could have eliminated! I could feel his pain deep inside my heart…
I truly understand that at times, when we are praying for something wholeheartedly and the result didn’t turn out as expected, we will feel disappointed. It is normal.
At that point, some people choose to give up, some choose otherwise. Those who persevere understand that everything happens for a reason and there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
Life isn‘t always smooth sailing. Sometimes, thunder and storm come along, and it is by going through the harsh time that we stand firm and grow better! Even Master Lu has his ups and downs. During this Covid-19 period, Master Lu can’t travel to hold any Dharma Conventions to propagate Buddhism. But he adapted to the change and embraced the technology by sharing his Buddhism in Plain Terms videos to us almost everyday.
When we are down, how do we pick ourselves up?
We are very blessed to have the 4 Dharma Gems to help us to solve our problems! But is it true that all our problems will be resolved if we practise diligently? Is it true to say that all our prayers will be answered immediately? The answer is no… not immediately.
It takes time because we don’t know how much karmic obstacles we have. I remember there is one discourse by Master Lu saying all our prayers will be heard by Guan Yin Bodhisattva and recorded in a queue. Only when a certain karmic obstacle is being eliminated, will our request be granted.
So, what does that tell us? As long as we practice diligently, day by day, our karmic obstacles will be eliminated and our life will become better and better, given that we do not commit more sins. And it’s true. There were a few incidents that happened to me, which I still find unbelievable till now.
There was an incident where my wife was driving and crossing a T-junction, the car next to us kept honking at us and I was thinking what had happened. We did nothing wrong. The traffic light was turning green at that moment, so we didn’t bother about her. The lady in the back seat tried to catch my attention by knocking on her window and kept pointing downwards. I could see her mouth was trying to say, “your tyre”. I quickly wind down the window and she told me that my rear tyre on the left was almost flat!
My wife immediately drove to a HDB car park and I called for help. When the technician came, he said, we were so lucky. If we keep on driving, the tyre might burst anytime! Immediately, we thanked Bodhisattva for saving us! Until now, I still feel very puzzled by the incident. Normally, we won’t pay attention to the tyre of the car around us when we are in the car. Our eyes are looking straight. How could this lady spot the tyre that was nearly flat??
One more incident which happened to me that I think is quite interesting as well. I’m a real estate consultant. I used to do a lot of SMS marketing campaigns. When the government implemented the DNC registry, Do Not Call in 2014.
I made a big mistake when I sent out one campaign. Before sending out the SMS, I sent the contact numbers for DNC check, to identify DNC and non-DNC registered numbers. After that, instead of sending the SMS to the numbers which are non-DNC registered, I sent to all the DNC registered numbers. I didn’t realise it until I got several complaints. And one week later, I was invited by an officer to go to his DNC office to drink coffee.
I was so worried because the fine could be quite hefty. Every day, I kept chanting Jie Jie Zhou (Mantra to Untie Karmic Knots) and prayed to Guan Yin Bodhisattva to untie my karmic knot with the officer. And true enough, Guan Yin Bodhisattva heard me, the officer turned out to be a very friendly person. He even shared with me that he doesn’t mind receiving SMS marketing messages and wondered why those people want to complain about a small matter like this. Now, you have witnessed the power of Jie Jie Zhou. Do you still want to hear another testimony on other mantras?
I share one last one which happened this year before circuit breaker. I closed a new home deal before Circuit Breaker. When the economy turned worse due to the number of cases going up in the world and Singapore, my client started to panic. He called me one day to ask if he could delay exercising the option. Exercise option means to confirm the deal. I tried to persuade him over the phone because I had already done an analysis for him before he placed a deposit that there is huge potential for this new development and shared with him some other good news. But he still preferred to delay for another month. At that point of time, Circuit Breaker was not announced yet.
No choice, I helped him to delay for one month. One week later, the government announced the circuit breaker period, and I felt so worried that he wouldn’t proceed with the deal. Everyday I was chanting Cundi Dharani. From time to time, I also send him some analysis to give him more confidence. One month later, he went ahead for the purchase. What amazed me was initially he wanted to get a bank loan for the purchase but eventually he decided to pay full in cash! Deepest gratitude to Guan Yin Bodhisattva!
The list goes on and on….
After practising for 8 years, I feel very grateful to my brain cancer. Aside from the few months of suffering that I had at the beginning, it had opened to me the door to Guan Yin Citta and had given me a lovely and understanding wife who went through the thick-and-thin with me… These are the two things that I could enjoy for the rest of my life.
I hope you have a lot of takeaways from my sharing today.
Lastly, I would like to share a quote from Master Lu.
Perseverance is the key to Buddhist practice and cultivation. One will not succeed in this journey without perseverance – an essential aspect that we must be aware of.
That’s all for my sharing today.
Deepest gratitude to the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva! Deepest gratitude to all Dharma Protectors! If my speech today is improper in any way, I seek forgiveness from Guan Yin Bodhisattva, all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas as well as Heavenly Dharma Protectors.
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