The More Petulant, The More Charming

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CASE STUDY

Dearest Luang Phor,

When I was 8, I had a chance to come to the temple almost every weekend. My father told me that I used to mention that I would not get married. But later on in life, I did not come to the temple and got married.

My husband has parents who have different religions. His mother is Buddhist. His father is Islamic. While we were in collage, we were dating. Without knowing any thing about his family religions, we went to the temple to do merit together. Later, I find out about his family's religions. But I though it would not be a problem between us. When we graduated from college, we went overseas to continue our education.

We had an ordinary life together. While we were studying in oversea, we went to the Thai temple very often.

But when we came back to Thailand, I notice a change in my husband. He became a strenuous and strict person. In public he pretended to be a strict Islamic. He said that he have to pretend for his father.

My husband is the oldest son of the second wife of his father. He takes care of the family business under his half brother (the oldest son of his father's first wife). Even though my husband is the head man in running the business, he can not make any decision alone. His half brother has to be involved with all the decisions. However, they both seem to get along well.

My husband is a very good person. He is a good father. He hardly smiles. He chants every day, but he does not do merits. His family is rich, but his financial status is not good.

When my husband and I lived in the US, we had a dog. We raised this dog as if this dog was our child. But when we had our own child, we neglected this dog. The dog became a poor dog. I am afraid that I made a demerit.

I had one incident in my life that bothers me until now. One day, a foreign monk walked in to my house. I did not welcome him or give him food. Instead, I frantically called my husband. My husband asked him to leave our home. When the monk left the house, he showed no sign of his appearance. I was very afraid I had sinned. I don't know what to do to lessen this fear.

I had a chance to come back to Dhammakaya temple once again in the year 2004 (BE 2547). I participated in the ceremony of offering sustenance to the Lord Buddha. My mother asked me to join her because of her birthday. From then on, I have come to the temple every first Sunday of the month. My coming back this time was not easy. Each time I come I have to find many reasons to give to my husband. He forbids me to come to the temple.

I have observed the Buddhist Eight Precepts every quarter moon since October last year. I started to take the 8 precepts without consulting my husband which gave him no chance to protest. One day he asked why I observed 8 precepts. I told him because I want to born as a male in next life. I did not give him any further explanation because I was not able to do so. He was upset and disappointed. He thought I wanted to be born as a man because I was not happy with him as his wife. And he thought that only stayed with him because of our two children. He thought that if we did not have children together, I would leave him and stay in the temple.

To tell the truth my life has not included any suffering. But I always ask myself, “What do I live for?” When I had children, I told myself that I live for my children. Later this question still comes back to me, “What do I live for?” Now that I found Luang Phaw, I know what I live for. I am determined to do more merit and to learn about pursuing perfections (Paramis) with Luang Phaw and the meritorious leaders of the temple. I want to meditate and wish to follow Luang Pu, Luang Phaw and Khun Yay to the utmost level of Dhamma.

Questions:

1. Why was I born into the Dhammakaya family, but have a husband who has different beliefs?

2. What kamma caused my husband to be a false viewer, and to be only half Buddhist? I have to do merits secretly. He prohibits me to come to the temple. What should I do to bring him to the temple and join our community?

3. What kamma caused my husband to be born into a wealthy family, but caused him to have only enough to get buy and to have to work under his brother?

4. In the last year of my studying overseas, I had very a serious allergy. I was not able to breathe though my nose. What kamma caused that? What merit caused me to get better?

5. I neglected my dog. What type of retribution will I receive in the future? What should I do?

6. Concerning the incident with the foreign monk, what type of retribution will we receive? Will this cause us to have an obstacle in meditation? How should I prevent this retribution from manifesting on us? How can we run away from this retribution?

7. Why is the company I work for being cheated by our customers? Why do some employees steal things from the company? How can I solve it?

8. What kamma do I and my husband have that caused the following:
- My husband has two symptoms:
1.He has lumps on both ears. The doctor was not able to diagnose the cause.
2.He has severe back pain.
- I had irregular heartbeat 1000 times per day. The doctor prescribed medication. I got better for a month, but the symptoms came back.

9. Both of my children got sick every time they came to the temple, which is one of the reasons that my husband forbids me and my children to come to the temple. What was their kamma? What should we do?

10. My son told me that he saw Dhammakaya. Is it true?

11. I take the 8 precepts every quarter moon. And feed the monks for 7 days on Khun Yay's birthday. Then I made a resolution to born as a man, so I can be a monk in Buddhism. Will my wish come true?

12. How did my mother, I, my husband and my two children pursue perfection with our community? Was I ever a monk? How was my meditation in the past? Did I ever attain Dhammakaya? Why do I feel fed up with birth and rebirth?

Luang Phaw's Dream

I closed my eyes, dreamed and woke up with these answers.
When you tell anybody the story like a tale, it will make anyone know more about retribution (Law of Kamma)

1. You were born in the Dhammakaya family because you pursued perfections with our community during many lives. You and your husband were husband and wife in past lives. Your husband joined our community in past lives.

However, he had some conflict with some one in our community, so he left our community for another belief for a while. Later, you (his wife in that life) brought him back to pursue perfections with our community.

2. Husband is half Buddhist for the reason I mentioned in the first answer. Leaving our community for another belief is a blue print that caused him to be born in to such family. However he is good hearted. In the past he came back to our community because of you.

You have to do merit secretly. And you husband forbade you to joint our community because you did the same with your relative in the past life. You stopped your relative from going to the temple.
This kamma cause you to have an obstacle to the pursuit of perfection with our community.

You should be good friend and ask more people to do good deeds.

To bring your husband back to our community, you must be patient. Be his best friend, explaining to him about doing merits. You must know when it is the appropriate time to talk with him. If that time does not come, do merit alone and make a wish for the merit to touch his heart. Wish to bring him back to our community. One day your wish will come true.

3. Your husband was born into a rich family but he does not have much money because in the past he was born into a family that liked to aid the public. Sometime he rejoiced with his family merit, but sometime he did not.

He has to work under his brother, therefore he cannot work the way he wants. In a past life when his family performed the merit as mention above, he did not do the merit himself. He just rejoiced in the merits. Making things worse, sometimes he did not rejoice the merits because of his greed.

To solve this, he must do his own merit as much as he can. After doing merit he should not regret doing it. If he does this often, his condition will improve.

4. You had a bad allergy when you were in the last part of your studying. In your past lives, you were born into an agricultural family. You overworked your animals and did not take good care of them. You left them in the rain and the hot sun.

And in one of your lives, you liked to play with the animals such as giving a bath to dogs and cats for fun. And also you used a clothespin to pinch your servant's nose for fun. Because that servant came from the country side and had a flat nose, you thought you could make her nose bigger by pinching it with a clothespin. You ordered your servant to keep the clothespin on her nose. As a result, the flat-nosed servant was not able to breath through her nose. All this kamma combined to cause you to have a severe allergy. You got better because of the merits of supporting sick monks by giving them medication in past lives.

5. Neglecting your pet, you will have the retribution that you will be neglected in your future lives when you get sick for whatever reason.

To solve this, you need to do all merits such as giving (Dana), moral precepts (Sila), meditation (Bhavana), freeing caged animals, letting fish go, and freeing large animal such as cows and water buffaloes. Then you must dedicate this merit to the animal that you neglected.

Forget all your mistakes in the past.

6. Concerning the incident with the foreign monk that you did not welcome: The retribution is that at some time in your lives you will not be welcome just like that monk.

And sometimes when you meditate, something will pull you out from you meditation.

To solve this, you must forget the past. From now on, you must pay respect to all monks and speak to them politely.

7. The employees in the company you work with steal the equipment and merchandise of the company very often. This is caused by the kamma of the owner of the company in the past. When he did business, he cheated his customers and did all kinds of dishonest things. These remnants of much kamma from different times combined and worked on the company.

When the company makes money, the money will be lost in a different way. It is the past kamma of the owner of the company.

And it is the new kamma of the ones who cheat the company.

To improve the situation, they must perform every merit and dedicate it to the ones that the owner cheated in past lives. Also the company must be more careful in choosing employees. And be careful when making contracts.

8. You husband has lumps on both ears and has back aches because in his past lives, he was a merchant. He used cows, horses, and donkeys to carry the goods. But the yokes were not well made which caused them to rub behind the animals' ears until their ears got infected. Your husband forced the animals to go on until they hurt their back. This kamma is working on him.

You have an irregular hart beat. In that same life time, you and your husband were man and wife. As your husband's wife, you controlled the workers in the farm. You overworked them until they were exhausted all the time. This kamma is working on you.

You and your husband must accumulate all merit including giving (Dana), moral precepts (Sila), and meditation. And then dedicate the merits to those you hurt.

9. Your children got sick every time they came to the temple which is one of the reasons that your husband forbade you to come to the temple. One life you forbade your relatives to come to the temple. Both of your children, who were also your relatives in that life, supported you in forbidding your relatives from coming to the temple. These past kamma took action. Also they made your husband forbade you to come to the temple.

10. It is true that your son saw a Buddha image but is just a wholesome sight. Give him some support, and one day he will attain Dhammakaya.

11. You observed the 8 precepts every quarter moon and offered food to the monks for 7 days. This is not enough merit to make you reborn as a man. You must do more merit than you have been doing. You must take the 8 precepts every quarter moon regularly, take care of your husband as if he is an angel, and make a determined wish to be born as a man.

12. Your mother, you, your husband and both of your children discontinuously pursued perfection with our community as supporters. Therefore in some lives we meet and in some lives you missed us.

In the last Buddhist eon, you and your mother were mother and daughter and met our community. You both were supporters. You both did merit with the group depending on your emotion. Also you did not set a resolution to follow our community. So you did not go back Tusita (the 4th level of heaven), but you went to Tavatimsa (the 2nd level of heaven).

The lifespan of Tavatimsa heaven is shorter than that of Tusita heaven, so you came back and were reborn as human. You did some merit and went back to Tavatimsa heaven. This time when the group came down from Tusita heaven, you came down from Tavatimsa heaven.

Many aeons ago you were a man, and you were a monk for a short time.

You see the danger of cycle of existence. You got fed up

You used to have a good meditation experience. You attained the inner Dhamma sphere.

This life, if you are not careless, your meditation will improve.
This life we met again, therefore make every merit fully and wholeheartedly. And Make a wish to follow our community to Tusita (the 4th level of heaven), in the special merit zone and never stray away from our community.