A Different Point of Views

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CASE STUDY

I pay respect to Luang Phor,

        I first came to the temple during the Upasika ordination ceremony. It was my third oldest brother who brought me to the temple. He participated in the 6th Dhammadayad training and group ordination. Recently, my fourth oldest sister and I volunteered at Kalayanamitra center. Our 2 other sisters also volunteered at this center when they are available. My youngest brother has ordained as a monk at the Dhammakaya temple for 6 years. I would like to ask for Laung Phaw’s kindness to answer my questions.

        My father was born to a farming family in the Republic of China. When he was 18, he decided to immigrate to Thailand. My grandparents however lived in China for the rest of their lives. My grandfather died of smallpox when he was 51 years old. My grand mother died in a car accident when she was 76 years old.

        My father worked in my uncle’s coffee shop before he started his own business as a tailor. He was introduced to my mother by a matchmaker.    After they got married, it seemed like my mother was always pregnant. She was pregnant for a total of 11 times, 4 were aborted and 7 survived. It was the norm among Chinese to have lots of children (boys). They have 2 boys and 5 girls. I am the sixth child. Since we are a big family, my parents did not have much time to take care of us. They are poor so they have to work hard to support our family.   When my second eldest sister was a child she was very attached to our father, she always cried whenever he was away. Our father hardly had time and got annoyed by her crying. He sometimes locked her up in a bedroom or in a dark room. Sometimes our neighbors locked her up in a restroom and threatened to put her up for sale if she did not stop crying. It seemed to work. She eventually stopped crying. Because of all the childhood torture, she grew up to be a bad-tempered person. When she was young, she hurt herself by badly scratching herself until she bled.

        When we grew up, my third oldest brother had a chance to participate in Dhammadayad training and group ordination at Dhammakaya temple. He encouraged us to go to temple. We all, except my oldest sister, agreed to come to the temple with full faith and respect.

        At the beginning, our father didn’t complain about us joining the temple. However when the bad rumor about the Temple had been spread out through all the media and my brother still wanted to maintain his monkhood after 6 years, my father became angry at Laung Phaw. He accused Laung Phaw of stealing his son. It didn’t help that all of his daughters joined the temple and had no intention to get married. He was very disappointed. He often yelled at Laung Phaw in DMC (the satellite broadcast from the temple). We don’t want our father to get angry because we knew it’s a sin, so we watched the satellite program from another TV. I would like to apologize for my father’s act, and wish that Laung Phaw would kindly forgive him. He never understands Luang Phaw’s dedication towards the pursuit of perfection. I’m hurt whenever he bad mouths Laung Phaw and am afraid that he might go to hell after he dies. Many years ago, my father got a tumor on his right cheek. It was diagnosed as a benign one. However, this tumor grew bigger last year. Recently, my father has been diagnosed with diabetes and pulmonary emphysema due to heavy smoking.

        My mother worked hard for many years by doing laundry and ironing clothes for others. It was a tough job, the old irons were very heavy. She worked everyday until we all finished school. When she was 50 years old, she started to have problems with her back. Her spine bent and twisted to the side. This has caused her a severe pain since. The doctor diagnosed her with osteoporosis.

        Since our parent hardly have times for us, we generally took care of ourselves and looked out for each other. We all had our freedom and, thus, are impatient. We always end up having arguments whenever we talk. The only topic that we always agree upon is anything about merit-making. We all work as government officers except our oldest sister and brother monk. My three sisters and I work in our hometown in the southern part of Thailand, which is currently under the terrorist attack. It takes us a long ride to come to Dhammakaya temple. We readily take all leave days possible. Our third brother however is in a completely different boat. He is a doctor in Bangkok. He can go to the temple easily and can donate more money than all of us combined.

        My oldest sister does not have anything against us going to the temple. She just follows a different creed called “Sanya”. The members of this creed chant something different from Buddhist morning and evening chanting. They light candle when they start chanting, and put the candle off when they finish a sentence of a chant. They repeat the same routine until they finish chanting. After that they sprinkle a bucket of water with scented powder. They send loving kindness to the deceased through an act of pouring this water onto a tree. They do not eat pork and other foods that are subjects of sacrifice to gods. Their resolution is to be born in the era of Phrasriariyamatrai. They do not believe in gaining merit from supporting Buddhist monks but they believe in the law of Kamma. They believe they gain merit only by giving food to the poor. They believe that the fruit of merit will appear to them for as many lifetimes as the number of rice grains they have given away. Their masters wear white wrapping cloth. This creed has now spread out to many locations.

        I myself have two problems. The first one is my impatience and habit of being very sensitive. I take everything I do seriously. However when I come across some obstacles in both my jobs and the pursuit of perfection, I tend to distance myself from the Kalayanamitra center where I frequent for many years. The second problem is related to my vision. I have astigmatism on both eyes, additionally one is near-sighted and the other is far-sighted. I can’t really have a clear vision even with corrective glasses. I tend to squint looking at anything. Hence I tend to put too much effort into meditating and always end up with headaches. Meditation is not quite a pleasurable experience for me.

        My grandfather (my mother side) is a kind person. He had good morality and liked to help others. He was diagnosed with heart decease when he was 60. The following year he was paralyzed. He passed away at the age of 74.

        My grandmother (my mother side) is a generous person. However she killed lots of chicken to prepare food sacrifices to her Chinese god. After My third older brother participated in group ordination at the temple, he convinced her to quit killing to which she agreed. Later she followed the teaching of “Forthang” who believed in the Goddess of mercy (Quan Yin). They are vegetarian, do not eat beef, and recite Japanese chanting. When she was 86, she had a rupture in her blood vessels in her brain. She went through brain surgery to remove the blood clot pinching on her brain. After the surgery she could not move any parts of her body except to open or close her eyes. Doctors inserted an air breathing tube through her neck, and food delivering tube through her stomach. She was in this condition for 4 years before she died. She had a chance to pledge a donation for Kathina 2003 with all of us.

Questions

1. My grandfather and grandmother (father side) died of abscess and in a car accident, respectively. My grandfather and grandmother (mother side) died of heart decease and ruptures in blood vessels in her brain, respectively. Where are they now and do they received merit dedicated to them?

2. Why did my father have a tumor in his right cheek? What will the retribution from yelling at Laung Phaw be like? Is the growing of the tumor the retribution of his false speech? My father does not believe in the law of Kamma. How would the merit from ordination of his son help him after he dies?

3. Why did my mother have to work so hard to the point of damaging her spine? She has bad back pain and a twisted spine. She also has osteoporosis and was temporary paralyzed. Why?

4. Why was my second oldest sister locked up in a room by her own father or neighbors? She works part time as a pharmacist at a drug store. This store sells sexually enhanced medicine. Is this considered a break of the third precept? She is worried because she would like to be born as a man in her next life.

5. How was my oldest sister related to that creed in the past? What will happen after she dies if she keeps her faith? Did she ever pursue perfection with the community? Will I be able to convince her to give up that faith and come back to our community?

6. Why my brothers and sisters are easily irritated and bad-tempered? We often argue before we make merit. This really clouds rather then purifies our minds. Why so?

7.Why do we, brothers and sisters, work for the government and neither of us have our own business?

8. Why my 3 sisters and I have to live in a town, which is under terrorist attack? Why do we live far away from the temple? My third brother lives in Bangkok, which is very convenient for him to come to the temple. He also has more money than all of us. How does his pursuit of perfection differ from ours? How much merit have we collected and will it be enough to free us from financial difficulty?

9. How will the fruit of merit to a person be different between donating lots of money by oneself, and collaborating with others to donate the same amount of money since each does not have much money? How will the fruit of merit to a person be different between one pledging donation of one’s own money, and one pledging effort to collect other’s money for donation to the same amount?

10. Why am I impatient, bad-tempered, and very sensitive? How will my habit affect my pursuit of perfection? Is there anyway to fix this? Why do I have headaches and vision problems including astigmatism, nearsightedness, and farsightedness?

11. About a year ago I met a female friend (Kalayanamitra) to whom I feel very close to. Its as if we knew each other for a long time. She had given me good advice on many occasions. I feel very attached to her. How were we related in the past?

12. How were my 3 sisters, monk brother, brother, and I related from the past? Why were we easily convinced to come to the temple? How did we pursue perfection with the community? How was our meditation experience in the past and did we pursue perfection twice during the past Buddhist Eon? How did my monk brother pursuit perfection with the community? Does he have a definite life-blueprint for an ordination for life?

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. After your grandfather (father side) died with abscess, he reincarnated as a human. Therefore, he cannot receive the merit to which you dedicated.

After your grandmother (father side) died in the car accident, her astral body left her body and wandered around starving for food. After she gets merit dedicated to her, her livelihood improves, i.e. she has clothes and food. Nevertheless she does not have lodging and has to live in a deserted shrine.

Your grandfather (mother side) died of heart decease and paralysis. After he was dead, he was reborn as an earth sprite, who lives in an earth sprites’ village. He receives merit you dedicated to him. His living condition improves as a consequence.
On the other hand, your grandmother passed away with haemorrhagic stroke. Just like your grandfather, she was reborn as an earth sprite and lives with her husband’s earth sprite spirit. The demeritious action (killing kamma) has not yet manifested itself because merits dedicated to her and her own merit yield their fruits first.

2. As for your father, he has a tumor on his right cheek because of his false speech from present and the past. In his previous life, he got used to verbally abusing people worthy of respect. Even at this time, he still insults scrupulous people.

The meritorious actions from his son ordaining will help prevent him from falling into the major level hell. If he habitually has false speech, he will be sentenced to the purgatory. In the purgatory, the purgatory officers will pull the tongues of ones committing false speech, cut ones’ tongues, scrub those tongues by a very hot brush, and rinse ones’ mouth with strong acid.

3. As for your mother, she has worked so hard that her health has now deteriorated. She has backaches, experiences with a twisted hump back, and suffers from osteoporosis. This is because in her previous life, she overused labor from animal and slaves. In addition, she was so stingy, thereby making her life rifled with hardship and diseases.

Her paralysis was completely healed because the merit that her children have done for her at present, thereby subsiding the ripening of her past kamma.

4. During her childhood, your second sister was locked up by her father or neighbors because of her past kamma. In her past life, she enjoyed punishing her lineage by using such method.

She works as a pharmacist at her senior student’s drug store. That shop also sells drugs that improve sexual efficiency. If the secular buyers morally use the drug, there is no backfire to the seller. However, if those buyers used it to break the third Precept, the seller will be indirectly responsible for that action. When the retribution manifests itself, she will be held responsible for taking care of relatives or related persons who are serving the retribution from breaking the third Precept

5. Your oldest sister has had a preference of mixing the exotic belief with Buddhist’s teaching from the past. If she worships this creed all her life and does no evil actions, she will likely be at the Jatumaharachica Heaven.

Your oldest sister had made merit with the community sometimes, which is why she was born in your family and becomes your sister. However, she gets angry easily. Therefore, the best way to approach her is to gradually and patiently give her some advice for the purpose of concerting and pursuing perfection with our community.

6. Your family members are easily irritated and often argue prior to making merit. This is what you have always been even in the past. You will have to correct this habit and purify your mind. The purified mind is a great receptor for easy wealth and fortune.

7. Your siblings and you work for government because of the familiarity from the past. You also don’t like taking a risk. Additionally your past generosity is only enough to bring forth this thought.

8. Your 3 sisters and you live in a town that is under attacks by terrorists, and is also far away from the temple. This has nothing to do with any retribution. It is because you have a duty (as a kalayanamitra) to bring Dhamma to people in your hometown. You still have a habit from your past live of taking a challenging duty. As a consequent, you’ll have special merit of protecting Buddhism in a critical time.

Your third oldest brother lives in Bangkok, can easily come to the temple, and can donate more money than you all can. This is because he has merit of pledging generosity from his past more than you have. He also made a resolution to be able to pledge generosity with ease and have a comfortable life.

You and your sister will gain lots of merit due to your high level of sacrifice and high level of determination. Your life blueprint of financial difficulty is partly taken care of; you will still need to make merit continually.

9. The fruit of merit to one who can afford donating lots of money by oneself is different from to one who cannot by oneself but can as a combined effort with one’s affiliation. For one who donates money all by oneself, one will own all fortune for oneself. For the latter, one will have to share fortune with one’s affiliation. Nonetheless the fruit of merit depends on other factors including the purity of the donated object, donator, receiver, and donator’s intention. You should make merit as much as you can. When you do it with all your heart, even though the money is not as much, your will gain great merit.

When one makes merit by oneself, one will get full fruit of merit, ie. wealth.
When one convinces others to make merit, one will have lots of supporting friends.

10. Your impatience, bad-temper, and sensitivity will undermine your pursuit of perfection with our community. You will not get the complete fruit of merit. You must correct these habits, keep your mind clear, meditate longer hours, and send loving kindness. Remember, you dictate your own life.

Your vision is astigmatic, near-sighted, and far-sighted because of your past kamma of glancing sideway or staring at someone at whom you were angry.

11. About a year ago you met a female friend whom you feel close to as if you knew her for a long time. You are very attached to her. It is because you two had pursued perfection with our community in the past. Also you are single and always consult this friend who always gives you support. However, don’t cross the line of being friend or you’ll part from the community. You might end up at the first level of heaven where there are plenty of homosexuals

12. Your 3 sisters, monk brother, brother, and you are laypeople who pursued perfection with our community even though you weren’t related in the past. However, you all have similar disposition and often worked together. Some of you were supporters of the community.

เมื่อบวชแล้วก็ทำหน้าที่ “เผยแผ่” จนตลอดชีวิต , มีผลการปฏิบัติธรรมได้เข้าถึงดวงใส ๆ องค์พระใส ๆ เอาตัวรอดกลับดุสิตบุรีได้ , ลงมา 2 รอบจ่ะ !

Your monk brother was also ordained in the past. After he got ordained he took a duty of spreading Dhamma for the rest of his life.
He attained the crystal sphere and Buddha when he meditated and was able to ascend back to the fourth level of heaven. He pursued perfection with our community twice. The others were able to pursue perfection only once due to their bad and volatile temper and sensitivity. Nonetheless they were able to ascend back to the fourth level of heaven. You will need to fix this disposition.
Having met with the community in this lifetime, you should strongly intend to pursue perfections with all your might in every merit, and make resolutions to follow the community to the special merit zone of Tusita Heaven, in the Bodhisatta area. Do not allow yourself to separate from the community