
- Book 31 - The Flying Carpet of the East
- By Grand Master Sheng-yen Lu
- Translated by Shan Tung Hsu
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Chapter 36 - A Christian's Visit
Yen Yun-p'eng, a colleague of my father's, worked for the Taiwan
Electric Power Company.
Once he and his wife came to visit us and he saw my altar. Mr.
Yen himself was never interested in religion. When he graduated
from college he went to a foreign country to study. He was an intellectual.
His wife, however, was different. She had graduated from a Christian
school and was very devoted in her religion.
Looking at the altar, Mrs. Yen said, "I don't believe this.
I am a Christian."
"Have you ever studied Buddhism?" I asked. "If you
don't understand it, surely you won't believe it."
"I only know that Buddhists worships idols. This is evil.
Worshipping idols leads to hell! Worshipping God and the Christ
leads to heaven. There is only one God; one Christ."
"According to what you say, I will go to hell because I believe
in Buddha. Buddha has something to offer," I said.
Mrs. Yen was apologetic. "I don't see you as a disciple of
the devil, just most other people. There might be something to Buddhism,
but I'm not interested in studying it."
Mr. Yen smiled and said nothing. He asked me to do a reading for
him about his future and his career.
I not only told him about his own career, but also about his brothers'
careers.
His wife was astonished at the accuracy of my reading.
"You have a cousin in Tai-nan who is a police officer. Is
that right?" I said.
"Yes. He used to be strong and healthy and study judo. Now
he is weak. We don't know what ailment he has," said Yen.
Mrs. Yen smiled slyly. She wondered if I could know which illness
her cousin in Tai-nan had.
I asked for guidance, then said, "He has tuberculosis."
Mr. and Mrs. Yen looked at each other, shocked. They already knew
he had tuberculosis.
Yen nodded, acknowledging that the T.B. was true. Mrs. Yen couldn't
smile any longer.
She pointed to one of the statues on my altar. "What Buddha
is that?" "It is Medicine Buddha."
"What Buddha is that?" she asked, pointing to another.
"Amitaba Buddha of Western Paradise." "What Buddha
is that?" she continued, pointing to another.
"That's Shakyamuni Buddha."
She continued asking one by one. Finally Mr. Yen said, "Hey,
don't use your finger to point at the Buddhas. It's not polite."
Before he had the sentence out, his wife's other hand jerked up
to the hand she'd been pointing with. Despite anything she tried,
her hands were joined together, palms closed in front of her chest.
She bowed from the waist again and again. She couldn't stop. She
kept moving faster and faster.
"I cannot stop! I cannot stop!" she screamed.
Yen was frightened.
I stood to one side, using my psychic eye to take a look at what
was going on.
I saw two deities, one in the air pushing her neck, moving her
up and down. Another was moving her hands. I saw another goddess
whose eyes projected lights onto Mrs. Yen's eyelids, closing them.
Mrs. Yen yelled,
"I can't see. I can't open my eyes!"
I said, "If you want this to stop just say: 'please forgive
disrespect' three times. After you stop, bow five more times."
She did it, and the movements stopped.
She sighed, "Oh Jesus! It's real!"
Since then she never dared to look down on the gods in my house.
Although she was Christian she always paid her symbolic respects
to the gods by placing her palms together when she was near the
altar.
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