Deepest gratitude to the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva
Deepest gratitude to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the ten directions
Deepest gratitude to the Heavenly Dharma Protectors
Deepest gratitude to Master Lu
Today, I would like to share my journey of Dharma cultivation with everyone.
I started practising Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door in 2014 because of my son who was diagnosed with autism. I had tried many ways and consulted many experts, with a lot of money being spent for his treatment, but to no avail.
At that time, a Buddhist practitioner, who was aware of my son’s condition, asked me if I would like to recite Buddhist scriptures for my son as it would help to improve his condition. I was thinking, since I have tried countless methods, and performing recitation only requires my time and doesn’t cost anything else, I started doing so straightaway.
When my son was 7 years old, his IQ was equivalent to that of a 4-year-old. Ever since I started performing recitation for him, his condition has improved tremendously. Turning 12 this year, he has been going to a mainstream primary school and is able to communicate bilingually. He is also able to take care of himself independently.
I made a vow to become a full vegetarian in 2016. Since then, I have also witnessed the significant improvement in my child. I started to become complacent about the seemingly perfect situation that I was in and was gradually slacking off in my cultivation.
However, the fact is that our karma and hindrances are constantly awaiting us along our path of Dharma practice.
In July 2017, I had a sudden onset of high fever. When I went to the hospital for a check-up, it turned out that I was diagnosed with acute leukaemia. It hit me like a bolt from the blue. Nevertheless, I was grateful to Bodhisattva that I was already practising Buddhism at that time.
So, I immediately contacted fellow Buddhist friends, and everyone was eagerly helping me to search for relevant discourses from Master Lu. They also guided me on how to apply the Three Golden Buddhist Practices. Therefore, on the very same day, I made a great vow to Guan Yin Bodhisattva in the hospital to recite 800 Little Houses, perform life liberation of 25,000 fishes and share my testimony with others upon recovery…
I was hospitalised for a total of 87 days. During the chemotherapy, I experienced a great deal of pain and suffering. With the firm belief in Bodhisattva’s power of blessings, I persisted with my recitation despite the severe ulcers covering the entire passage from my mouth to oesophagus.
I woke up at 5 o’clock every morning to make my morning prayer to Bodhisattva from my hospital bed. Then I began my daily recitation of 49 times of each scripture, followed by the recitation of 5 to 7 Little Houses every day. I would make full use of the daytime to perform recitation as it is not advisable to recite scriptures late at night in the hospital.
Therefore, I would read Buddhism in Plain Terms at night, which I had no time to read previously. Master Lu once said, “What kind of people have a lot of time? Those who are lying on the hospital bed!” This is so true.
It will be too late to start practising Buddhism when your health is gone. Mountains may fall and people may fail us, so I relied on myself to overcome all obstacles and diligently perform recitations to repay karmic debts.
I never asked why it was me, and I never complained about the hardship, because I strongly believe in karma. I felt ashamed that throughout many years of Buddhist cultivation, I was never truly cultivating; it was only when I felt sick that I realised the power of Guan Yin Bodhisattva in answering all prayers!
Where there is a cause, there is an effect. ‘If you want to know your past life, look at your present conditions.’ Even though I have been practising vegetarianism and performing recitation, I am still suffering karmic retributions from the misdeeds that I committed in my past lives.
I deeply understand this and know that I have to face the Law of Karma. While I am diligently performing recitation, my physical body is still repaying the karmic debts that I owed. Now, I am still consistently reciting scriptures every day from morning till bedtime.
Since my diagnosis in July 2017 till now, I have recited more than 3,000 Little Houses and performed life liberation of more than 30,000 fishes (I no longer keep track of the number of fishes liberated). I will continue to perform more life liberation on an ongoing basis.
During the 2019 Public Talk in Singapore, Master Lu had kindly performed Totem reading for me.
It happened to be my predetermined calamities at ages ending at 3,6,9. Master mentioned that if I could not pull through, I would have passed on. Master also told me that my life was saved by Bodhisattva. It was so accurate! On my third day in the hospital, I dreamt that the Buddha and Guanyin Bodhisattva were showering me with the Nectar of blessings, telling me to accept and undergo this suffering.
When I was young, I used to be ignorant and had an abortion. Through the Totem reading, Master Lu saw that the spirit of my aborted child was on my lower back. Indeed, my lower back was aching. Therefore, I needed to offer 56 Little Houses. After offering 56 Little Houses, my back pain was really gone.
In 2019, I had also recited 6 batches of 39 Little Houses and Self-Cultivation Xiao Zai Ji Xiang Shen Zhou within the period of three months before and after my 39th birthday. In addition, Master mentioned I would need to recite 380 Little Houses for my conditions. Therefore, I made a vow to recite 800 Little Houses and I have already completed the vow.
My latest medical report shows that I am in healthy conditions, and there are no cancer cells detected from the bone marrow test. Gratitude to Bodhisattva and Master Lu for blessing me, so that I can recover from my illness. The doctors also told me that I was in the best condition among all the other bone marrow transplant patients.
In addition, I was also blessed to have participated in all the Public Talks in 2019 as a volunteer, even though I experienced some discomfort during the volunteering. I firmly believe that it was an opportunity bestowed upon me by Bodhisattva to help me eliminate my karmic obstacles through enduring hardship.
I am grateful for that and not afraid of hardship as I cherish every opportunity to help sentient beings. I have not been cultivating well, hence I will study Buddhism in Plain Terms more diligently so that I can understand the Buddhist teachings better to benefit all sentient beings.
Thanks to this karmic affinity, my husband, children and other family members have also started performing recitation. It was indeed a blessing in disguise for me and my heart is filled with gratitude.
It is hard to change predestined karma despite already encountering Buddhism and performing recitation as the negative karma from past lives will still affect us greatly. I hope that everyone will start performing recitation sooner rather than later to repay karmic debts and eliminate karmic obstacles. Do not wait till karmic retribution befalls you before starting to worry as the price that one has to pay is far too great.
Thank you everyone! If my sharing is improper in any way, I seek the forgiveness from Guan Yin Bodhisattva, Dharma Protectors and all Buddhist friends.
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