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- Book 16 - Encounters with the World of
Spirits
- By Grand Master Sheng-yen Lu
- Translated by Janny Chow
- Copyright© Purple Lotus Society
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Chapter 2 - A Temple Story
Inside the temple, the blue-robed woman told me the following story:
On Chung Shan Road in the City of Hualian, there was a man
by the name of Pi T'ien Tz'u. He did maintenance work for temples,
such as mending the sculptures and repainting the dragons which
were placed on top of temple roofs. He did not believe in gods
and was an atheist. One day he went to the Shih Pi branch of the
Tz'u Hut Temple at Hualian to work on the shrine for the Jade
Pond Golden Mother. After his job was done, he walked around inside
the temple and, when he came to the front of the statue of the
Golden Mother, without any provocation, he suddenly joined his
palms and lowered his head to do prostration. Because of this
bow, things were never again the same for him.
What happened was that after he lowered his head, he could
not raise it up. Only he himself knew what was happening; his
head felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. He became panicky
and started screaming and yelling. The abbot and manager of the
temple ran excitedly over to him. After finding out what was happening
to him, they knelt down to ask the gods to forgive him. At that
time, the blue-robed woman was also present, and she immediately
communicated with the gods, relating to those present the following
message:
"Although this person does not believe in my existence,
I have an affinity with him. I just want him to know that between
heaven and earth there is the existence of gods. He shall have
to kowtow to me twelve times, then I will let him up."
Strangely, after hi T'ien Tz'u kowtowed twelve times, he was
able to raise his head again.
Afterwards, Pi T'ien Tz'u kept on exclaiming, "Oh! There
indeed are gods!" From then on, this maintenance worker dared
not deny the existence of gods. Whenever he had the chance to
come to the temple to work, he would repeat his story to whomever
he met.
This blue-robed old woman is a Taoist priestess at the Shih Pi
branch ofthe Tz'u Hut Tang, which is associated with the Jade Pond
Sect of Taoism. In a way, she was responsible for my cultivation
in Taoism. Before I met her, I was a Christian. After meeting her,
my desire to practice Taoism gradually increased and strengthened.
This old woman is a psychic, and when she gives readings, she is
extremely accurate. She can even tell one the nicknames of one's
grandparents, as she is a good friend of the gods and ghosts. She
is one of the strangest characters in the world.
During the feast days of paying respect and making offirings to
one's ancestors, if one invites the blue robed woman to one's house,
she is able to describe the looks and special traits of one's ancestors,
down to the details of their burial clothes and jewelry. She can
even transmit messages from one's ancestors. Usually her accuracy
greatly astonishes people. How can someone outside the family know
about one's ancestors, especially since my teacher (the blue-robed
woman) was not even born at the time some of these ancestors had
passed away?
The deeds in her life have caused many modern, civilized men to
shake their heads in disbelief. How can such things be possible?
But, then, they are faced with such convincing evidence that they
cannot disbelieve!
Faced with such strange things, what could I say? But, something
even stranger was yet to happen.
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