Coming home

I don't know why but i'm really taken in with those two words lately. Coming home. It feels really comfortable and blissful saying that. It gives me a picture of walking this special path with this light guiding me until i've reached the most beautiful place ever.

I've been bogged down with assignments and frustrations in life for the past month. Sometimes it is during times like these that you feel like giving up for good, and yet there's an inner voice telling me to hold on. The Master's words rang through my head, "do not get too excited or highstrung, keep your mind calm and quiet", and i've tried to remember that at all times. Be the calming presense in the midst of chaos, just like the eye of the hurricane.

Sometimes we need to take time off for ourselves, to review everything. I was reading news on BuddhistChannel and Orlando Bloom did just that. Check it out here. I'm totally amazed that he chants everyday. Respects to him! I guess i should take some time off as well to just dwell in the stillness without a care - its weird but the outcome is that i will be able to see things in a bigger perspective after that.

Music in the Dharma has always been a source of inspiration to me. Especially the song 'She Carries Me' originally sung by Jennifer Berezan, but re-sung by Reverend Heng Sure. The lyrics are so meaningful that i never get bored of listening to it. The entire song is just an embodiment of great compassion.

These days, due to the many happenings around me, i've learnt to just dwell in the present and to let go of worries. I've learnt to just fully live in my Faith. It is a beautiful feeling. I have many dreams and aspirations - i wish to be able to contribute something, to share with people the joy of the Dharma, i wish to be able to compose praises and songs, and to travel to the sacred places of the world. These are part of my dreams list.

I feel like i've come home at last. When in quiet solitude and just playing a cd of praises in the name of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, i feel like i'm in the midst of a great big family. I feel that the void inside me has been filled. Just the thought of their great compassion and grace in saving living beings gives me strength in all that i do. I may have come home at last.

A Real-life Story: A Firsthand Experience With Fire-Breathing Dogs

This is a story which i will never forget, one which i have read over and over again. I've taken this article from the website of Gold Buddha Monastery, and its written by Terri Nicholson based on her own experiences. Thanks Terri!! =)

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My husband Alan and I have been disciples of the Venerable Master for over 25 years. This particular incident occurred in 1985 when our daughter, Marcelle, had just turned three years old. She has lived her entire life at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas and took refuge with the Master at four months of age. Before she was born, the Master named her Wonderful Flower.

At the end of the summer of 1985 our family went to Mount Lassen National Park to spend some time with Alan's brother. Mount Lassen is an inactive volcano which last errupted in 1916. There are, however, still steaming pits and boiling mud in the park as well as caves created by the last volcano eruptions. Americans consider it a fascinating and unusual place to visit and are completely unaware that it is dangerous in any way. Unfortunately, at the time, my husband and I were equally ignorant.

From the time we arrived at the park we felt uncomfortable, mainly because a great deal of hunting and fishing was going on. At the lodge where we originally planned to stay, there was a pond where you could pick your own fish for lunch and penned deer whose mothers had been hunted and killed. Because we felt so uncomfortable, we decided to stay outside of the park. Marcelle was particularly ill at ease and asked several times to go home to see the Master and hear the Sutra lecture. Since we'd already made plans with Alan's brother, we stayed anyway. The rest of the week was uneventful except for a trip into one of the caves in the park where Marcelle became extremely frightened and upset.

For several months after we returned home, Marcelle complained of nightmares of wolves chasing and biting her. We encouraged her to recite Guanyin's name, but, at the time, did not realize how serious the problem was. In the beginning of January, soon after her fourth birthday, Marcelle woke up early one morning screaming in pain and saying that her legs hurt. Later that day she seemed fine, but the leg pain continued. After a few days we took her to the doctor, who assumed it was some sort of virus. As her symptoms grew more painful and severe, we became increasingly alarmed. The pain became so severe that she was unable to sit up or walk. We planned to meet the doctor at the hospital but as we were getting ready to go, Marcelle began to insist that she wanted Shifu (the Master). The assembly was eating lunch with the Master and so we stopped to see him on the way to the hospital. Strangely, though Marcelle had asked to see him, as soon as we drew near she cried that she wanted to leave. The Master told us, "A karmic obstacle has come." When we explained that we were on our way to see the doctor, the Master replied, "They won't find anything." And they didn't. Blood tests were done and two doctors, a pediatrician and an orthopedist, examined her and could find nothing. They finally diagnosed it as a viral inflamation of the joints, but Marcelle was not in pain while we were there.

That afternoon we received a call from the office of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas explaining that some sort of being had attached itself to Marcelle and was making her ill. We were instructed to recite Guanyin's name and the Great Compassion Mantra. However, Marcelle's condition worsened and she was in a great deal of pain. Normally a sweet- child, she developed a vicious temper and refused to cooperate in reciting at all. The only thing that calmed her was listening to a tape of the Master reciting Earth Treasury Bodhisattva's name.

Meanwhile the Master had gone to Vancouver. We became so alarmed at her worsening condition that we called there and asked for advice. The Master sternly exhorted us to recite more sincerely. He also said that Marcelle absolutely must not lose her temper and must recite Guanyin's name. With the help of friends we thought up every expedient device we could to help her. We gave her prizes for reciting, made books with her about getting better by reciting Guanyin's name and star charts to help her not get angry. She insisted that we add "not growling" to the chart, which later gained more significance. When the Master returned to the City, he came directly to our house to see Marcelle. After a long time he explained that volcanos are manifestations of hell on earth and that many hell-beings dwell there. (He first asked where we had taken her recently.) Residing at Mount Lassen was a fire-breathing dog and his retinue. These dogs are born inside the mountain in the lava and thrive on fire and anger. They have extremely cantankerous natures. When we visited Mt. Lassen, the leader was attracted to Marcelle's purity as a young disciple of the Master, and wished to make her part of his retinue. (This involved making her sick by biting her so that she was near death.) The Master said he'd convinced the leader to let her go, but that others in the retinue hadn't all agreed, so we had to continue to recite diligently. I cannot describe the pain we felt when we realized that we had "led her into the lion's den" and brought all this suffering upon her and trouble to the Master in our ignorance. We continued to recite and bow the Great Compassion Repentance and very gradually Marcelle's pain began to lessen and she was able to recite more. She would wake up screaming in pain, but if we could get her to recite Guanyin's name even for a few minutes she would fall into a more peaceful sleep.

I was moved also by Marcelle's young friends who lived at the City and who came each day to see her. Each gave her a gift of something they held precious and stayed to play by her bedside so she wouldn't be alone. They would also sit and recite Guanyin's name and try to get her to recite as well. Soon the pain went away completely and she was able to sit up and move around, though she was still unable to walk. The Master told us not to worry, that she would walk eventually.

Soon afterwards, Alan and I made a meal offering to the Sangha. At the beginning of the meal offering ceremony, Marcelle could walk only very awkwardly, but by the end of the meal she was walking around and playing with her friends. In the next few months Marcelle came down with an extremely high fever several times and I became frightened that she would get sick again. The Master compassionately explained that, yes, she had bumped into the fire-breathing dog again but that I shouldn't worry. If she got sick again he would help her get well. And so the three of us are eternally indebted to the Master for his great compassion not only in allowing us to bring up our child in this pure Way-place, but also in rescuing her from the jaws of death.

Which path are you walking on?

I suddenly had this inspiration to write a topic on the different religions of the world. Don't ask me why, just suddenly feel like posting some thoughts. Well i guess partly its due to this book titled "Open your eyes take a look at the world" which i have been reading lately as well.

I like to think of all religions as family members. As clouds of different sizes but composed of the same elements. As trees of different shapes and colours growing on the same patch of land. As paths in a forest, which upon walking, though through different routes, lead back to the same destination.

We're all heading for the same place, travelling the road in the same direction. In our Faith we find peace, we find solace. In it we find a sanctuary where no worries of the world can bother us, where frustrations are afar and only tranquility abides. We will then see our original nature, our very true selves, pure and bright.

Its interesting and always a joy to find similarities of teachings in between all the different religions. When we commit ourselves to our belief, our Faith, with one heart worshipping to the One we believe in, its an amazing experience.

Again, I was never one who's deeply involved on the spiritual side of life. But when the doors opened to me, and as i tread on this new and awe-filled path, i have finally found what i have been looking for since young. This 'thing' is not of materialistic value, it is not visible nor audible. It can only be felt deep inside us.

So what it is? It will only surface when one puts down every single thing - all troubles, worries, attachments, even the notion of a self. What is left is that 'thing'. A Light of pure joy, peace and serenity - an experience which is almost non-existent in our busy daily lives. =)