Chapter 36 - The Hand Of A Christian

Mr. Yan Yun Peng, a colleague of my father's, works for the Taiwan Electric Company. One time, Mr. and Mrs. Yan came to visit us. As soon as they entered the house, they saw our shrine. Mr. Yan, an intellectual and college graduate who has travelled abroad, has never been interested in religions. Mrs. Yan is different. She is a graduate of the Tainan Ch'ang Jung Girl Middle School, a Christian school, and she is also a leader of the Christian fellowship at her church. A devout Christian, she carries the Bible with her to church every Sunday without fail.

Mrs. Yan commented, "I don't believe in any of these. I am a Christian."

"Have you ever studied Buddhism? Have you tried to understand Buddhism? If you don't understand it, of course you would not believe in it."

"I only know that Buddhism worships idols. It is an evil religion from the Devil. God is the only true God. People who believe in Jesus Christ can go to Heaven. People who worship idols definitely go to Hell."

"According to you, since we are Buddhists, I am an evil person and a disciple of the Devil. But Buddhism also has its own high ideals !" I remarked to her.

Mrs. Yan apologized, "You are of course not an evil person, or a disciple of the Devil. I am referring to people in general. Although Buddhism has its own high ideals, I don't want to learn them." Mr. Yan Yun Peng just smiled and did not offer any opinion. He had come to ask me about the future of his career. I was able to give him a reading that not only included his own but also his brothers' careers and businesses.

My readings proved to be so accurate that even Mrs. Yan was surprised.

"One of your brothers is a police officer stationed at Hsinhua, Tainan, isn't he?" I asked him.

"Yes, he used to be quite healthy. He has practiced Judo.

But lately his health has been quite poor. Do you know what kind of illness he has?" Mr. Yan asked. Next to him Mrs. Yan lowered her head and smiled. She was thinking to herself, how could I find out anything about an illness of a police officer who was away at the Tainan Hsinhua Station. After I silently chanted the invocation mantra to ask for guidance, I told them that it was tuberculosis. Mr. and Mrs. Yan looked at each other. Mr. Yan nodded his head, while the smile froze on Mrs. Yan's face.

Mrs. Yan pointed to a Buddha statue on the shrine,

"Which Buddha is this?"

"This is the Medicine Buddha."

"How about this one?"

"This is Amitabha Buddha of Sukhavati."

"How about that one?"

"That is Buddha Shakyamuni."

Her finger pointed at each Buddha, one by one. When a row was finished, she moved to the next row. At this time, Mr. Yan said to her,

"Do not point your finger at each statue like that, it is quite impolite."

Before he could finish, a strange thing happened.

In an instant, Mrs. Yan's other hand spontaneously moved up to join with her hand that was pointing at the shrine, forming a prayer gesture. Next, her head started to nod up and down.

Mrs. Yan was unable to separate her hands or stop the nodding of head and the up and down motion of her upper body. She looked like she was bowing to the Buddhas, albeit a little too devoutly, as the speed of her pumping movements was too fast. Mrs. Yan shouted,

"Help, help, I can't stop. I can't stop!" Mr. Yan was petrified.

Standing next to them, I tuned into my psychic vision and saw two shrine protectors. One of them was the third prince Nata, and the other was his assistant, the second prince Chincha. One of them was in mid air with both hands holding onto Mrs. Yan's neck, causing her head to nod up and down. The other was holding onto Mrs. Yan' s hands and moving them up and down. That was why Mrs. Yan was not able to stop her hands and head from moving. I also saw a light emitting from the eyes of the statue of Matzu, the Holy Heavenly Mother, causing Mrs. Yan's eyes to close. That was why Mrs. Yan also yelled out in alarm,

"I can't open my eyes, I can't open my eyes !"

I spoke to her, "To stop your body and hands from moving and to open your eyes, all you have to do is to chant in your mind three times, 'Please excuse me for being so irreverent.' Then bow five times after the movements stop." She carried out my instructions and it worked. She sighed,

"Oh! Such things do exist! We had come today deliberately to test you. So there are indeed, such things as spiritual readings."

Mrs. Yan has since stopped treating the gods in my house with contempt. Although she was a Christian, whenever she came to visit me after that incident, she would bow once to the shrine with her palms joined to show her respect. She said to me,

"That was the first psychic experience I have ever had with the spiritual realm. How real it was!"

Mr. and Mrs. Yan eventually were able to develop their psychic energies and became psychically active.

A division body of the Golden Mother at my shrine, the Lei Tsang Temple, had been invited to provide guidance at the Tz'iu Hui Nan Yang Temple in Tainan. The abbot of that temple, Lai Yi Hsiung, was a devout Buddhist who had come to my shrine to ask to bring a consecrated image of the Golden Mother to his temple. Mr. Lai's father, however, was a non religious person who often became drunk and would talk loudly at the shrine without any regard for the sanctity of the place.

One time Mr. Lai's father had an experience similar to Mrs. Yan' s. He was kneeling on the floor and unable to get up. His head was knocking on the floor until the skin was grazed and bleeding. It only stopped after Mr. Lai and his mother knelt down at the shrine to ask the deities to forgive him for his ignorance. Ever since then his father never dared to slight the spiritual power of the Golden Mother of the Jade Pond. Whenever he passed by the shone, he would be dressed needy and tidily, and he always acted with reverence. Without one's knowing, the deities are there observing one. A person who reveres the deities acts as if they are there all the time and never shows contempt. The gods and Buddhas are actually very kind and compassionate. However, when one shows too much rude contempt, the deities' protectors will not stand by as if they are blind! There are many different religions in the world. In Buddhism alone there are eighty-four thousand different doorways, each involving a different, secret teaching. This is an expedient way to help the different kinds of sentient beings. Although the numbers of religions are many, most of them share the same goal. However, men often believe that their own religion is the only true one, and all others are evil. For example, some Catholics consider Protestantism to be deviant while some Protestants consider Catholicism to be a cult. Such human prejudices over the teachings of Christ were probably not something that he had foreseen when he was crucified.

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