【觀音靈感故事】佛號的力量
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唸佛號會產生什麼不可思議的事，大家知道嗎？
我來講二個故事給大家聽聽：
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有一個弟子人挺好的，也很善良。
他父親往生三年多了，這三年來，他一直持續唸佛，但他全身不是這裡痛、就是那裡痛、心臟堵住呼吸不順暢，被痛苦折磨著！
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我印象中記得，在一場藥師佛法會，他拼了命的誦念，他心裡想，他已經念了三年多了，他的父親為何還是不得解脫，他一邊哭一邊念佛，法會結束了，他也不走，一直繼續誦念著。
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後來，就有同修讓我去看，一看，哇，他哭得好傷心。很巧的，佛菩薩讓我看到那個景象，我看到他的父親從受苦的地方爬呀爬的，翻牆到了白色的晶亮世界。
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天神來接走他，他的父親就化成一道白光，跟著神走了。我告訴他，他父親長什麼樣子。他說對，那正是他父親！突然間，這個弟子就大哭了起來，還說：「師父，我全身好通暢、好舒服啊！我從來沒有這麼幸福快樂過，這麼多年來我太痛苦了。」
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還有另一個故事：
她父親往生三年以來，她一直夢到父親在地獄遭受刑罰，惡鬼用火焰將他全身燒得裂開又流血，再繼續燒成焦炭，然後把他扔到水裡，一直重複這樣的過程。她來問我：「師父啊，父親這夢是怎麼回事？」
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我聽了後跟她說：「這個燒火的問題，是你父親他過去做的業力造成的；這個泡水的問題，是他現在的墳漏水了。」
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這個弟子，打電話讓她弟弟去父親墳上一看，她父親的墓地，已經坍塌往下沉陷了，墓角有個大洞讓雨水把墓給灌滿了，她父親果然泡在水中，他們趕緊叫人來把墓給修好。
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隔幾天，她又夢到父親不泡水了，可是惡鬼還是用火燒她父親。她又問我：「師父，這可怎麼辦啊？」
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我就拋給她這樣一句話，我說：「每天給父親誦念觀世音菩薩聖號吧。」她連續給她父親跪著誦念了三天觀世音菩薩聖號，每天三個小時。
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三天後，她高興的跑來跟我說：「師父啊，我又夢見父親了，夢中獄卒又是拿火燒他，突然天上掉下來像水晶珠子一樣的瀑布水，沖到父親的身上，他身上的傷口就自動癒合了。我看見父親的臉，回復到他健康快樂四十歲那時的樣貌。我還看到菩薩一招手，父親就飄了上去，一個童子將父親接走。後來，我再也沒夢到父親在地獄受苦了。」
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聽了這兩個故事，為什麼一個要唸三年零八個月，一個唸了三天，父親就脫離地獄了？
這些來自很多方面綜合的因素，像是念佛的真誠、業力的大小等等，這就是我說的業力問題，業力有的人輕、有的人重，業力用肉眼看不到，卻真實存在著，影響你的精神、身體健康、生活、工作、婚姻、家庭。一點不虛，一點也不少。
如果用物質量化來比喻念佛力與業力，那就像蹺蹺板原理一樣：有多少的業力，就必須有多少的念佛力，才能達成平衡。常常一起來修行的同修們會比較，為什麼她身體疾病好了，我沒有，是佛比較照顧她嗎？
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我們來學習，就是要探究了解事物背後的本質，了解了，就不會迷失在眼中所看到的相。瞭解道理後，還要學會去接受、面對、超脫。
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#業力、#念佛、#觀世音菩薩成道日法會直播rnrn【 Guanyin Bodhisattva: Inspirational Story】 The Inconceivable Benefits of Chanting
Chanting can bring inconceivable benefits, do you know that?
Let me share two stories with you :
There was a disciple who was of good character and also very kind. His father had passed away for more than three years. Since then, he had continued his chanting practice. Yet he experienced bodily aches in several places, including blockage at the heart and difficulty in breathing, causing him much torment!
As I recall, he chanted most fervently at one of the Medicine Buddha events. His thoughts were: He had chanted for over three years but why hadn’t his father been liberated? He cried as he chanted and even after the event, instead of leaving, he continued to chant.
Later, our practitioners asked me to take a look. I did so and saw him crying in despair. Coincidentally, the Buddha and Bodhisattvas allowed me to witness the sight of his father climbing out from his place of suffering and over the wall to a white and illuminating realm.
The gods had come to fetch the father, who then turned into a ray of white light and left with them. I described the appearance of his father. He said “Yes”, that’s his father! Suddenly, the disciple burst into tears and said, “Master, I feel unobstructed and comfortable! I’ve never been this blissful and happy, after having been miserable for years”.
There is another story:
Three years after her father passed away, she had repeated dreams about her father being punished in hell. Demons would use fire to burn his whole body, causing ruptures and bleeding. They continued until he was charred before throwing him into water. She came to asked me, “Master, can you tell me what is this dream of my father about?”
After listening to her, I said, “The issue with this ‘fire’ is due to past karma committed by your father; and the issue with the ‘water’ is due to water flooding his grave now.”
This disciple called her brother to check on the father’s tomb and found the tomb had collapsed and sunk. A gaping hole at the coffin’s corner had let water flood the tomb. Her father was really soaked in the water. They hurriedly called someone to repair the tomb.
A few days later, she dreamt her father was not soaked in water anymore, but the demons were still burning her father. She asked again, “Master, what can be done?”
I offered her this piece of advice, “..Recite and chant to Avalokitesvara for your father everyday..” She knelt and chanted for three days to Avalokitesvara for her father, three hours each day.
Three days later, she happily ran to me and said, “Master, I dreamt of my father again. The demons was still burning him. Then from the sky, water suddenly fell like crystalline beads of a waterfall pouring onto my father’s body. The wounds on his body automatically healed. I also saw my father’s face, and he had reverted to his healthy and happy 40-year-old appearance. I also saw the Bodhisattva waving her hand, and with it, my father drifted up and was fetched by a boy. Thereafter, I no longer dreamed about my father suffering in hell.”
Having listened to these two stories, why do you think different people need different time spans to achieve the results? One chanted for 3 years and 8 months while the other for three days in order to liberate their fathers from hell? This relates to the issue of negative karma that I had mentioned before; some karma are light, some are heavy. Karma is not visible to the naked eye, yet it exists and influences your spiritual, health, life, work, marriage, and family aspects. It is not the least bit absent or lacking.
If you take quantitative as a metaphor to measure merits from chanting against negative karma, it’s like the see-saw principle: the amount of karma has to be matched by similar amount of chanting to achieve a balance. Often, practitioners would compare why another’s disease has recovered, whereas it’s not the case for oneself – is it that Buddha takes better care of him/ her?
We have come to learn, to study the underlying essence on the nature of things. Once we understand the concept, we would not be misled by the appearance our eyes see. Having understood the truth, we also need to learn to accept, face up to it, and break free to transcend.
#Karma, #Chanting, #EnlightenmentDayOfGuanyinBodhisattvaLiveBroadcast
