The Merit Has Been Performed…Why Does The Kamma Follow Me?

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CASE STUDY

The Merit Has Been Performed…
Why Does The Kamma Follow Me?

I would like to pay high respects to Luang Phaw.

I have been coming to Wat Phra Dhammakaya since 2518 (1975) when my elder sister introduced it to me. Meanwhile, she doesn’t have much time to come; things are just crazy at her job. All she can do is suggest that people perform merits, since Wat Phra Dhammakaya is named ‘The Meditation Center’. I like to sit beside her and listen as she discusses Dhamma with people over the phone, even though I do not understand about merits too much, although I always perform all merits and never miss one. For instance - building the wat’s fence, the temple itself, casting a Lord Buddha Image, buying 2,000 plantations of property, etc.; whenever I think of all the merits I have accrued, I become delighted, even now. I follow DMC programs everyday and may I send you my Case Study please?

My parents had 4 children, and I am the youngest one. My mother became pregnant when she was in her older years, and when my father didn’t want to have any more children. Thus, he went to discuss with the doctor how to stop her pregnancy. The solution the doctor came up with was an injection. On the other hand, there was nothing that changed. My mother worried that I would be born a disabled child. Hence, she rushed to offer to Buddha images to many temples and prayed for her baby’s safety. Then, I was born a healthy child.

Since I was young, from the age of 2, I always got into accidents by falling down the stairs. There was the time when my grandmother’s cremation was held in the northern part of the country. My grandmother’s corpse was placed downstairs, while my brothers and I played around upstairs. Suddenly, I fell down 13 steps and became unconscious for awhile. Everyone was shocked. But, when I became conscious I was able to run around as usual. My mother thought that my grandmother might have been holding me for safety. Later on I was still falling down the stairs from time to time, for example, at school, at the university, and the last time was when I was 27 years old.

I always quarreled with my elder brother. Sometimes we fought with each other and I always was the loser. My mother said that when she was pregnant my brother, my father who was a policeman, dreamt that my brother fought with a robber and he was the victor.

My brother is a moody guy. When he was a teen-ager, he preferred to associate with guys who were likely to be womanizing, hunting and fishing. As an adult he likes to drink, flirt and gamble. Since he became middle-aged, all of us siblings persuaded him to go to the temple. So, he has been able to give up temptation from time to time. It seems that he is able to distinguish between the good and the bad, but he can’t stand it. When we have a family problem he also faces the family problem. Then he always has a brawl with my father. However, he was the person who ended up taking care of our parents more than the others. Nowadays, he is a Dream-in-Dream Kindergarten student. And he takes much better care of our parents than he did before. Even though, he still sometimes gets upset with my father. So, I don’t know whether he will receive merits or demerits from this matter.

My father is 94 years old. When he was young, he ordained and chanted in Pali with a nice loud voice. He also worked as a first-rate Crime Prevention Policeman. At that time, whatever province he moved to, the robbers would be scared. He liked to perform merits at several temples. We also have a temple for our family to perform merits in at any province he moved to. He was a healthy man. He is able to have a bath and take it by himself. His eyesight is good so he can still see well, and he follows DMC programs everyday. His voice is loud and clear. These days, he has become hard of hearing. He spends a long time in prayer with both the morning chanting and the evening chanting. He met Luang Puu, paid his respects to him, and received a gift from him. He believed in Luang Puu very much. He has performed all kinds of merits with Luang Phaw, and never missed one.

My mother is 82 years old. She is a kindhearted person. She had operations on the patella bone (knee bone) and hip bone several times. I don’t know whether this matter is related to what she had done in the past, because one time she wore a wooden slipper, stepped on a puppy and caused its leg to be broken. She still has peripheral neuropathy, leg aches and numbness that cannot be cured.

My grandfather was born into a middle class family. He was of the Chinese race. He liked to cook. Whenever there were any merit ceremonies, he would cook for them and go all out. Moreover, he assisted relatives and friends by helping them build their houses. He was regarded as a beloved person by all of them. Every evening, he would make tea for the Bhikkhus, especially Phra Vinuithorn at Wat Hua Luam Pong. My grandfather never drank but he smoked. He had good health and had no underlying diseases. He passed away at the age of 74.

My grandmother was of the Mon race. She had a generous mind and was a midwife. She always assisted neighbors, and took care of the patients after they delivered. She liked to hang around with the men of the house, especially Chao Khun Anumanrachathorn, so Chao Khun had a fatherly feeling for her. She was in good health and had no underlying diseases. She died in my father’s lap at the age of 70.ี

My uncle was a merchant who exhibited sociability and kindness. He had a lot of friends and performed merits at Wat Pah in the north, for example, offering to Luang Puu Wean. Moreover, he also donated for a Kathina Ceremony, offering picked-up robes at Wat Phra Dhammakaya. He was not a drinker but he smoked. He loved his siblings and relatives, especially my father whom he loved the most. Wherever my father moved to, he would be there to take care of him. Even right before he died, he was still waiting for my father to arrive and then he was gone at the age of 83.

My aunt was from Chieng Mai. Even though, she was a Christian she still offered alms food to Bhikkhus and made a Lord Buddha Image at Wat Phra Dhammakaya for herself. She died due to a hemorrhagic stroke. Her children didn’t much understand about merits. Then, they took her corpse to be buried at Chieng Mai Cemetery with a Christian ceremony. She passed away at the age of 83.

Please let me ask Luang Phaw the questions as follows:

1. Which kamma caused me to nearly not be born as my parent’s child and why was I often falling down the stairs? Once, I fell down 13 steps, and then I still ran around as usual. Did my grandmother hold me?

2. Why did my elder brother and I out of the whole family always quarrel? Do we have any kamma?

3. Which kamma did my brother, my father and I commit? My brother and father always disagree with each other. And why was my brother upset with my father everyday? On the contrary, he took care of my father, even though, sometimes he realized his mistakes, but later on he became like him. And why did my father love my brother’s child very much?

4. Which kamma made my father became hard of hearing? Meanwhile, he had a long life and was healthy, even though he had an operation on cataracts in the eye and he caught a small cold.

5. Which kamma caused my mother to have operations several times? And which special merits should my mother perform to overcome all kamma?

6. In terms of my grandfather, grandmother, uncle, and aunt, who passed away, where are they all now? Did they receive all merits that I dedicated to them?

7. I dreamt about Khun Yai Ajahn; she told me to come along with my elder sister, so I could cultivate perfections in the same manner as her. And I dreamt about Luang Puu; he informed me to follow Luang Phaw. I’d like to know, were all of my dreams true?

8. Once, while I was meditating, I saw myself, in a tidy nun’s cloth and I had a beautiful face and I was practicing meditation. It looked bigger than usual. Was that my astral body?

9. I have a friend since childhood who was the one in our group, who still goes to the temple. How did she perform merits with our group and me?

10. With regards to my family and myself, how did we accrue merits with the group?

11. Which kamma did my daughter, my mother, my sister and I commit that caused our family to be together? Why did my mother take care of my daughter as if she was her own daughter? Did she have any special family ties with my daughter?

12. I love to perform merits (Dana) and meditate (Bhavana). I wish to make more, but I can’t earn much. Thus, how can I accomplish this?

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. In the past, you were a man and quarreled with your wife. When you got angry you threw her down. She fell down the stairs and it caused her small pains. That made you feel sorrowful. That kamma made you often fall down the stairs but you were not harmed as it wasn’t intentional.

The merits you earned from supporting Buddhism guard you from harm. Thus, it was not because of your grandmother holding you.

2. You and your brother had a conflict because he is the only son in the family and you are the youngest child so both of you are the beloved children of your parents. Then, they follow what both of you like. So, both of you do not give in to each other when you face a problem.

By the way, you should come to an understanding, not to hold it against your brother, and lower your false view so both of you will be winners; there will be no loser, and no kamma. You were born in the same family, so you should love each other and then your parents will be happy.

3. In the past, your brother and father were close friends. They loved to drink, smoke and gamble and misbehave. Your father in the past made his father worry by his misbehavior.

He drank and swore to his brother in the past that they would be close friends and would take good care of each other with love and sincerity.

Later on your father become a nice guy and took care of his parents. But your father’s friend in the past or your brother in the present couldn’t change.

Your father in the past always persuaded his friends or your brother in the present to accrue merits. Therefore, he was reborn to be his son but he still held onto misbehaving. Your father got upset and quarreled with your brother because from the past your father had done the same with his father. But taking care of him is the reward, where your brother takes care of him in the present.

4. The symptoms of being hard of hearing depend on his age. The merits reward him to be healthy and he was supporting Buddhism, for instance, by building a temple, offering for Kathina and other merits. He made a wish for good health and a long life.

5. Your mother was operated on several times because she inherited kamma from the past. But the kamma of stepping on the puppy was a reinforcement of the kamma from the past, when she was a man. She rode a horse carriage and passed close by an old man, causing him to fall down and he ended up with a broken hip, and a broken leg.

Then, she needs to spread her loving kindness (Metta), cultivate all sorts of merits, and transfer the merits to whomever she has hurt. So then the kamma will disappear as it is a light kamma.

6. Your grandfather and grandmother, after passing away went to Tavatimsa Heaven (second level of Heaven), Phase 3. Their golden palaces are next to each other because they performed merits together and they received the merits that you dedicated to them.

Your uncle also went to Tavatimsa Heaven, Phase 3. His golden castle is next to your grandfather and grandmother’s because they performed merits with each other and are bound together. They received the merits that you dedicated to them.

Your aunt became a Gandhabba (a celestial musician) at the Himawanta Forest in Catummaharajika Heaven (first level of Heaven) due to the merits of helping other human beings and having a nice temperament. She received the merits you dedicated to her according to her basic understanding of them.

7. Khun Yai and Luang Puu did not come to you in your dream. However, they took their children into the center of their bodies so that the lineage of merits connects us, hence, we dream about them depending on our merit power.

8. When you meditated and saw yourself, it was just a mental object, not an astral body. You will move on to that but first you must see the 6 crystal Dhamma spheres before you see your astral body in your meditation.

9. Your friend is your good friend who pursued perfections with the supporting team.

10. In the past Buddha eon, you and your sister were male and you were siblings. Your sister was a soldier of the king who ordained. You acted as a counselor, and you were a habitual womanizer and took several girls as your wife.

Later, he ordained, following the ordaining king, and was in charge of propagating the Dhamma, causing him to not have much time to meditate, as he enjoyed pontificating. As a result, he could not obtain a clear mind.

Hence, his adultery kamma resulted in him being reborn as a woman.

Meanwhile, the merit has supported him to return back to Vong Boon Pisit (the Special Merits Zone) in Dusit Buree (Tusita Heaven or the 4th level of Heaven).

11. You were the younger brother and a young boy of good behavior. You were not a soldier of the ordaining king but you made merits with the supporting team by being his advisor. You practiced the Dhamma well enough for you to return with your brother back to Vong Boon Pisit in Dusit Buree.

Besides, your family accrued merits with the group together as a supporting team.
Your sister introduced everybody to perform merits and has been a supporter to others in the present. All of that, in addition to having the same bloodline, makes you bound together. Your mother loved your daughter as her daughter because she nurtured her since she was at a young age, and then loved her and they became bound together.

12. You already perform merits well. By the way, you need to study more in any areas of knowledge related to your profession. What does a person do to achieve success? You improve yourself! You will be successful.