Blog » Dharma Friends » Responses from Buddha recitations » Back to Amitabha’s Arm by Great Compassionate Recitation
Back to Amitabha’s Arm by Great Compassionate Recitation2013-01-10
By Gwo Kuang Chang
English Translation By Lotus Lee
I feel that the affinity is very auspicious that I can tell everyone the good news and tie this Dharma affinity. The fact that we are all participating in this Buddha Recitation Ceremony shows that we all want to go to the land of Ultimate Bliss with all our hearts.
Anybody who has gone to a seven-day Buddha Recitation Ceremony at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas—please raise your hand. O.K.! If you have never gone to a Buddha Recitation Ceremony at the CTTB, you should find a chance to participate. Well, why would I mention CTTB? Because during the Buddha Recitation Ceremony, the Buddha Hall is full of Dharma friends, and it is just like what the sutra says: “All the good people are gathered in one place.” It is easier to focus on reciting the Buddha’s name while surrounded by the echoing harmony of the recitation. So that’s why I suggest that if you have a chance, you should participate in the Buddha Recitation ceremony at CTTB. Although the Buddha Hall at Gold Sage Monastery is smaller, and the number of people that participate is fewer, the atmosphere is still the same—full of the joy of the Dharma. They are both the Way-places of the Venerable Master, and both are like miniature versions of the Western Pure Land. All of those who have gone to the Buddha Recitation Session at CTTB, please come to the Buddha Recitation ceremony at GSM on the first Sunday of each month. For the people who live in the Bay Area, if you think that CTTB is too far away, then you can come to the recitation session at GSM. Just don’t miss this chance to cultivate the good affinity to become a Buddha in the future. Although it is said that we can set our own cultivation schedule and recite the Buddha’s name and cultivate by ourselves, the merit and virtue and the power from cultivating together is truly inconceivable. So that is why I have mentioned many times at GSM that we should cultivate together. Other than cultivation, we should also transfer the merit to all living beings.
I am very thankful to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, Venerable Master and all Dharma Masters, and all Dharma friends. When my mother-in-law was passing away, we took turns reciting the Buddha’s name for her for thirty-two hours straight to help her go to the Western Pure Land. Although some people can die peacefully, the generations of Chan Masters, Patriarchs, and many other people have used various ways to go to the Pure Land. My mother-in-law had high blood pressure, arthritis, brain tumors, and heart problems. Nevertheless, because she recited the Buddha’s name on a regular basis, she was not depressed from all of these painful diseases. All in all, this gave me a good lesson, which was that we should sincerely repent, recite the Buddha’s name, and bow to the Buddha. Beginning from September 2007, she was in and out Fremont’s Washington Hospital many times. At first, it was a stroke, and then, she was diagnosed with colon cancer. When she was in the hospital, my mother-in-law was in great pain due to the colon cancer, and I couldn’t stand to see her suffering from the pain. I remembered the Venerable Master said that the principle of the Earth Store Bodhisattva Sutra is “Be filial, cross over living beings, eradicate suffering, and repay kindnesses.” So I began reciting the sutra for her three times a day with hopes that it would decrease her suffering.
During the time when I recited the sutra, inexplicable things happened. The two days before Christmas, the nurses carried in a seemingly mentally retarded woman who was yelling and screaming and crying, and put her on the neighboring bed. Strangely, this middle-aged female patient, who was always playing with a stuffed toy dog, had caused a lot of headaches for the nurses, became very quiet after hearing the Earth Store Bodhisattva Sutra and Amitabha’s name. Even the nurses were quite shocked. When she left the hospital, the staff had two strong young men at hand in case she started making a fuss again, but she actually walked out of the hospital herself, saving a lot of time and energy for the staff. I don’t know whether she benefited from the sutra, but I know that the benefits from reciting the Buddha’s and Bodhisattva’s names are immeasurable, and the merit and virtue from reciting sutras is inconceivable. As for Earth Store Bodhisattva’s compassionate vows and inconceivable spiritual powers, they are spoken of in detail in the Earth Store Bodhisattva Sutra.
On the afternoon of December 30, we took my mother-in-law home. That night when I was reading the Earth Store Bodhisattva Sutra, and I got to the twelfth chapter, she smiled at me, waved gently and said weakly, “Thank you! Shun Kuang!” It was as if she was waving goodbye to me. Until the last night, although it hurt so much for her that she was screaming, she did not want to take morphine pills, and single-mindedly wanted to go to the Pure Land. At this point, I told my wife that we should recite the Buddha’s name and do our best to help Mom go to Pure Land. When it was about four o’clock in the morning, we called Sam, one of my Dharma friends. He said that the Venerable Master had already come to wake him up. He usually slept very well, and never got up until daybreak. But that day at about four A.M., after Venerable Master woke him up, he went to the bathroom. That was when he heard the phone ring. If he had not gone to the bathroom, he would not have heard the phone, which was far away in the living room. This goes to show that the Venerable Master is still with us at all times.
During her last twelve hours, she often looked at the Amitabha image at her bedside. One time, she even stared at it for ten minutes. I believe my mother-in-law was calling, “Amitabha! Please come and take me home!” We also kept reminding her to keep reciting the Buddha’s name and to go with Amitabha when he comes. At this point, her breathing was very steady. The most unbelievable happened during the last forty minutes. I saw her mouth start to move. At first, the movement was slow, then it got faster. She wanted to keep up with the rhythm of our recitation. She kept it up for forty minutes. In the last few minutes, when her breathing became shallow, I began thinking about slowing the pace down so that she could keep up, but she was still trying to keep up. In the end, my mother-in-law smiled and at last, went to Pure Land. Everyone present: Sam and his wife, my brother-in-law, my son, my wife and me, all congratulated her on going to the Pure Land with Amitabha. My mother-in-law passed away smiling with a rosy complexion like that of a healthy person. More than ten hours after she had passed away, when we were changing her clothes, her body was as soft as a baby’s. I believe that these phenomena are all auspicious signs and responses of a person going to the Pure Land, and they also prove the inconceivable power of the Buddhas’ blessings and the recitation of the Buddha’s name. Let’s all work hard to recite the Buddha’s name and be reborn in the Pure Land. Amitabha!
