Protection from Ghostly Beings & Mishap

By Dharma Master Jing Ben

The story is about a personal experience of a soldier (we called him ‘Mr A’) from Taiwan. We have to know that, in Taiwan, all men have to serve the military for a period of time.  So, Mr A was sent to a region to fulfill his duties.

However, the place was known to have many deaths caused by past war. Maybe because of this reason, Mr A started to experience abnormal situation at night. He said that he could feel very clearly that there was ‘someone’ disturbing him when he was sleeping. He could feel someone pulling his ear, hitting his back, or pulling his leg, but there was no-one around. A bit scary, isn’t it? How would we feel if this happen to us? It seemed like Mr A was being disturbed by ghosts.

Furthermore, this happened at night. But the scariest part was that, Mr A experienced these disturbances every night. If it only happened once or twice, we may explain that, this was caused by his imagination or illusion, but this happened every night, so something must be wrong. Soon, Mr A felt very tired and desperate.

Fortunately, there was a Buddhist officer in the army. After knowing Mr A’s condition, the officer immediately advised him to recite ‘Namo Amituofo’.

The officer told him that, “When encountering with this type of matter we cannot resolve, we just try to recite Buddha’s name and we definitely will be blessed by Amitabha Buddha.” 

At that time, Mr A could only choose to believe in what the officer told him. So, he tried to recite ‘Namo Amituofo’ that night before sleeping. So, what do you think of the effect? Do you think it can work by merely recite ‘Namo Amituofo’?

The answer is yes, and the results were incredible, because Mr A was able to sleep soundly the whole night after reciting the Buddha’s name. There was no issue of ghost  disturbing him at that night. Before that, it almost happened every day but it was gone after the first day of recitation. So, Mr A started to believe in remarkable of Namo-Amituofo-recitation.

He even requested someone to buy him a string of prayer beads so that he would be able to recite by counting the beads for a few rounds in the morning and evening every day. Until his discharge from the army, no more disturbances by the ghosts. The abnormal phenomenon ceased permanently. So, this proven that the merits of Namo-Amituofo-recitation are really inconceivable.

We have to know that, Mr A was not a Buddhist initially, so he did not know who Amitabha Buddha is,  and he wasn’t even a vegetarian as well. He only recited ‘Namo-Amituofo’ just because someone told him to do so. But, you see, he still able to receive blessings from the Buddha. 

So, the Pure Land Buddhism teachings said, as long as we recite ‘Namo Amituofo’, the Buddha will bless us with all kinds of incredible benefits. It do not only secure our rebirth in Pure Land but also benefit us in this life. Just like what Mr A had experienced in the story.

However, we also have to understand that, sometimes the blessings may not happen in accordance with our ‘knowledge. Just like in another part of the story, Mr A related that, once, after the training, he returned to the army room to rest.

However, at that time, out of nowhere he felt very uncomfortable and could not rest well. So, he chose to recite ‘Namo Amituofo’ instead. He picked up his beads and walked outside his room while reciting.

Suddenly, after walking away for a while, there was a huge explosion in his room site. This was caused by an accidental detonation of a bomb. The explosion totally destroyed his room, but fortunately, Mr A escaped from this mishap as he was triggered to do his recitation outside his room.

Let’s try to recall the whole process. Initially, for no reason, Mr A suddenly felt uncomfortable, he couldn’t rest well and decided to go outside of his room to recite ‘Namo Amituofo’. However, you see, this action had helped him escaping from the deadly explosion. Therefore, Mr A said, Amitabha Buddha’s blessings are so extraordinary, because not able to sleep well maybe torturing for normal people, but in his case, it turned out to be a blessing.

So, it is better for us to always recite ‘Namo Amituofo’. Amitabha Buddha is often called as “the great compassionate father”, he definitely will take good care of us.

And the best part is that, at the end of this life, we will be delivered by Amitabha Buddha to be reborn in the Pure Land. Then all sufferings will surely come to an end, and eternal joy will fall upon us. Therefore, why don’t we just recite the Buddha’s name and entrust ourselves to Amitabha Buddha? (end)

2020-06-10

Quote from Great Master Shandao:

Sentient beings who recite ‘Namo Amituofo’ can immediately clear the offenses of many kalpas. When they are dying, Amitabha and the sacred assembly will appear naturally to welcome them. This cannot be impeded by any negative karma. 眾生稱念，即除多劫罪；命欲終時，佛與聖眾，自來迎接；諸邪業繫，無能礙者（善導大師）。