Chapter 8 - Consulting The Town God At Penghu

The vice captain of our unit, Wei Ch'ing P'ing, and I were assigned to fly to a military base in the Penghu Islands to do some surveying. Mrs. Wei's maiden name was Hsiao Feng Huang, and she was a devotee of Kuan Yin Bodhisattva, while Wei Ch'ing P'ing himself was an atheist. Everyone in our surveyance team knew that I was a Buddhist, and as the flight we were on was just about to take off, Wei Ch'ing P' ing looked at me curiously and asked,

"I've heard that you are a devoted Buddhist, is that true?"

"Yes, I am. How about you?"

"Me? I don't believe in any religion. I feel that as long as one follows one's own conscience and does not hurt anyone, there is nothing that one needs to be afraid of. I have had people preach to me several times before, and they only talked about how faith can bring one salvation. Christianity, Buddhism, they are all the same. My wife wanted me to worship the Kuan Yin, but I feel that having respect in my heart is enough. All that burning of incense and bowing are too much of a nuisance."

"Vice Captain, you have a point there, but only if everybody is as kind-hearted as you are," I conceded. "But perhaps there are some people who can experience the presence of Bodhisattvas."

"Are you referring to making predictions and fate-reading? Ha, ha! I will believe it when I see it. People have told me that you can do Spiritual Divination. I won't really believe it unless you can demonstrate it for me. Perhaps you find me very stubborn, but I need hard facts. If your predictions come true, I might even become a devout Buddhist!"

The short flight from Shui Nan Airport to the Makung Airport at Penghu took only thirty minutes. Up in the air above the Makung Airport, the plane moved in the turbulence of the huge dusty wind of Penghu. Looking out of the airplane window at the blue ocean below, I saw a beautiful scene of tumbling white waves lapping against the sandy beach. A short while later, the plane was gliding along the runway. That night, the vice captain and I stayed over at the Wen Shih Hotel, a moderate sized hotel where one could hear the whistling of the ocean wind outside (a typical feature of Penghu according to the doorman at the hotel). Local products included a particularly large strain of peanuts, dried scuttle fish, and wen shih (a type of marble-like rock indigenous to Penghu). It was only during our initial scouting of the town that I discovered that the vice captain and his wife had once stayed at Penghu. Back then Mrs. Wei's health was quite poor, and she had prayed at the local Kuan Yin Temple for an improvement of her health. When we returned to the hotel, it was only 9:00 p.m.

This was too early to go to bed, but there was no place to go for entertainment. At this time, the vice captain reached into his pocket and grabbed a handful of one dollar coins. He turned his closed fist downward and extended it in front of me, "Let me test you and see if your divination ability is any good. If you can guess how many coins I have in my palm, I'll believe in the Buddhas. If you are wrong, how about treating me to a movie at the Dragon Palace Theater? Just give it a try!" This sudden challenge took me by surprise. Although I did not like people posing such frivolous tests to the gods, I cannot avoid such probings. So I quieted down my mind and focused all of my attention on my "spirit current." With my palms joined, I recited silently, "Disciple Lian-shen, a practitioner of the Primordial Ultimate Correct Dharma, is respectfully inviting any deity in the vicinity to come to me. I need help with a problem." I recited this repeatedly in my mind. Before long, from the mid-air a god descended. He was wearing a bright and colorful dragon robe and a black gauze cap, the kind worn by feudal officials. With myriad auspicious lights radiating from him, he was impressive looking. Of course, he was not visible to the physical eyes of the vice captain, and I, during that period of time, could see most of the gods and ghosts with my third eye. Buddhas and immortals, such as my spiritual master, Mr. Three-Peaks-Nine-States, who resided in the Formless Realm, were invisible to me then; nevertheless, I was able to see gods who were assigned with duties.

"Dharma master, I am the town god of Penghu. Since you have called upon me using a method of the Correct Dharma, what can I help you with?"

"I am really sorry to have troubled you. My vice captain is challenging me to find out how many coins he has in his palm. Could you find out for me?" I felt that I should be the one to be blamed for having troubled the town god over such a minor matter."

"What a trifling matter! How can you be so foolish!"

"Well, town god, if I get it right, I will be able to bring one more person to Buddhism. In that sense, it is a good deed and not that trivial. Please help me just this time, I won't bother you again," I spoke respectfully.

"There are fourteen of them." In a flash the town god vanished.

So I spoke to the vice captain, "There are fourteen one dollar coins."

Vice Captain Wei Ch'ing P'ing opened his fist and started to count the coins, for he also had no idea how many there were. When he reached the thirteenth, only one was left in his hand. There were exactly fourteen coins! The vice captain gave me a look, "Amazing, how accurate! I will keep my promise and become a Buddhist. When we have time, I will accompany you to all the temples here in Penghu to pay tribute to the Buddhas as well as to thank them for fulfilling the wish of my wife."

Vice Captain Wei indeed kept his promise. When we finished our assignment, he took me to visit all the temples in Penghu, which included the Kuan Yin Temple, the Nan Ping Temple, the Ocean Spirit Temple, the Matzu Temple, the Lord Tung Liang K'angfu Temple, the Yin Yang Temple, the Hsti Chen Chiin Temple, the Paoling Temple, and at the end, the Town God Temple. When we arrived at the Town God Temple, some people were chanting the sutras, and the Town God of Penghu was sitting high up on the altar. When he saw the two of us walk in, he got up from his chair at once and said to me, "So you are Lian-shen, the disciple of Mr. Three-Peaks Nine-States. No wonder you knew how to use the invocation method of the Primordial Ultimate Correct Dharma. Sorry I didn't recognize you."

I spoke to the town god, "Oh don't say that. I have come especially to thank you for helping me out. Now the vice captain has become a Buddhist. Much credits have to go to you if one day he realizes Buddhahood."

"Oh, I am flattered." The town god was very courteous to us, and I saw the ghost attendants on both sides wink at us. After returning to Taichung, Wei Ch'ing P'ing had a complete turnaround from his previous behavior and became a devoted Buddhist. He printed for free distribution, a thousand copies each of the White Robed Kuan Yin Divine Dharani and the Surangama Mantra. He also set up a shrine at home for worshipping and making offerings to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and I consecrated his shrine for him. At that time Wei Ch'ing P'ing had three sons and hoped to have a daughter. His wife became pregnant and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, which brought him great happiness. Mrs. Wei's health also steadily improved. In the end, the vice captain's faith in the Buddhas even surpassed his wife's.

Of course, the accurate reading of the Spiritual Divination had much to do with the generation of strong faith in Wei Ch'ing P'ing. At the same time, I taught him how to do meditation and awaken the "soul" in his body. Now the vice captain also has developed some psychic ability. On one assignment trip out of town, he met a local earth god who reported news from home to him and whose information turned out to be very accurate! If any readers still have doubts, please look up Wei Ch'ing P'ing, who lives near the Farmers Electric Company at South Gate Bridge in Taichung, and have this incident verified. If one still refuses to believe and still regards this book as a fairy tale, then there is nothing I can do about it!

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