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Chapter 13 - Saved By Kuan Yin
When I was eighteen I lived in Kao-hsiung City and studied at the Vocational School. One evening my friend Huang and I visited the night market near the Ten Thousand Dragon Theater. The market had more than a mile of stalls filled with food, clothes, medicine, and herbs. It was crowded and busy. While we were walking around, we passed a fortune teller's booth. An old man sat in the corner alone. Business wasn't so good. When he saw us he yelled, "Hey, young man! Let me tell your fortune. Free for you!" "Well, free? Let's give it a try." Naturally, then people began to surround the booth. The man, though old, had a lot of spirit in his eyes. He studied Huang's face then looked at his palms and asked his name. Next he asked him to pick a hexagram from the book of I Ching. The old man studied the hexagram then looked at my friend and said, "Well, you must be Hakka* from Mei-nung City." *Hakka is the name for a particular group of Chinese people. "Yes!" answered Huang. "Judging from the appearance of your face, you are of average intelligence. According to your palm, you will have a lot of struggle in the early stages of your life. The hexagram says that the best thing for you to do is to find a steady civil service job with the government. You will not be receiving much help from your relatives. There is no fortune to receive. You are to be a self-made man. Do you know that recently your grandparents' tomb site has been changed? The Feng-shui has been changed." "Yes, I know. It was at the beginning of this year. We were looking for a new site for them." "If my reading is correct, this site was picked by your elder brother. He put some Fu there so that some of the energy from the ancestors would go to him. Therefore, although you might have a stable life, there is only a slender chance that you will accumulate any fortune at all." "That's right! The tomb site was picked by my eldest brother!" The old man turned and looked at me. At that time I was shy, skinny and short. He pulled me close and studied my face and hands. He asked me to pick a hexagram. His eyebrows knitted closely together in a frown. "Are you the oldest son in the family?" "Yes." "Your face is very complex. Your future is not fixed. You have a unique character. It is peculiar. You have lots of fortune indicated in your hand. Your face and hands tell me that you are good at writing. For the time being, your family is just average. You will establish your life by yourself. The hexagram I will tell you about, but don't be shocked or frightened. " "Tell me." "According to the hexagram you come from a very high realm. There is some conflict, however, so that it is likely that your body will come to misfortune when you are 28 years old. You might die. You'd better pray more. Worship Buddha." "But I am a Christian!" I protested. "Christian? Well then there's nothing I can do," he said. After that, many people in the surrounding crowd asked for readings. My friend and I stayed to listen. His readings seemed to be accurate and I began to feel uncomfortable! In 1971 I was twenty-seven years old. I hadn't forgotten what the fortune teller had told me. One night I asked my spirit master, San-shan-chiu-hou, "Master, a long time ago a fortune teller told me I would die at 28. I don't know if this is to come true or not. If it is to be, then I don't have much longer." "Lian Shen, the reading you got was accurate, yet the energy in the universe is ever changing. The fate of the entire universe is changeable, not to mention one small person! Do you remember when you worshipped Kuan-Yin? I told you then that a promise was made that your life would be saved by her." Around Christmas in 1971, I was not a vegetarian. I enjoyed eating meat and fish. At lunch one day I suddenly got a headache. I felt dizzy and nauseous. Everything I had eaten was vomited. I felt my forehead. No fever. I went to see a doctor and he said I was healthy. At dinner my mother cooked my favorite dish: fish stew. After I ate it the same problem occurred. I began to vomit to clean my stomach. This happened several times more until I finally learned that I was only well when I me vegetarian meals. Some people will think this is psychological, but I don't think so. Once my sister steamed some rice for me using fish juice. Even that caused me to vomit. Any meat at all triggered me to vomit. It was painful. I asked my spirit master why this was so. He answered, "You have gone through a cleansing process which has been purifying for you." I stopped eating meat in December, 1971. One day in December of 1972, my young sister was using oil to stir-fry some vegetables. The oil had previously been used to fry sausages. I ate the vegetables and was surprised to find that I didn't get a headache or vomit! It came to my mind then that exactly one year had passed. I asked my master why this had happened. "Your karma has been paid off. It's over. Before, you couldn't eat meat and fish because the gods forced you to pay your karma. Every day and night they watched over you. The gods have watched you. Now the gods have left. Your choice of foods is up to you now. If you don't believe it, go to your altar and see the Kuan-yin statue. Then you will understand. " I went to my altar and looked at the Kuan-yin. The figure's ceramic glaze had crackled, with lines crazed all over it. Even the face was covered with cracks! How could it have happened? Later I learned that it was true: according to my fate, I was supposed to die at 28. However, the year I spent as a vegetarian and Kuan-yin's promise saved my life.
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