Written by: Living Buddha Lian-sheng, Sheng-yen
Lu
Translated by: Tanni Liu
Edited by: Luljeta Subasic
Proofread by: Mimosa
Chapter 28: The Old Woman in the Grave
On the small mountain peak of Da Du Mountain, there were three
small, rugged stone-constructed graves. While examining the graves,
which had no tombs or any distinctive marks, I was told that the
family was encountering financial difficulties at that time. So,
they buried their grandmother in a rash manner, leaving only some
stones as marks for future identification.
Now that their financial situation had improved, the descendants
intended to collect the remnants and relocate their grandmother's
body to a decent grave. However, since there were three solitary
graves neighboring one another, the descendants were perplexed as
to how they could distinguish which one of these graves belonged
to their grandmother. They hoped that I could identify their grandmother's
grave among the three. Tortured by the severe northern wind, having
no clue at all about the grandmother, I was expected to recognize
the right grave.
As the wind howled, the weeds in the valley danced everywhere.
Surrounded by the Da Du Mountain, I calmly concentrated my mind
to invoke the spirit of the old woman in the grave. I prayed with
devotion to inquire about her past. In response to my prayer, her
spirit arrived.
The following was what she revealed to me:
First of all, she died from a heart attack at the age of eighty-two.
Before she passed away, her speech had become unintelligible, and
she could no longer walk properly. Second, at the time of her passing,
she had four grown-up grandsons and two married granddaughters.
One of her granddaughters had a slight difficulty in walking due
to the affliction of polio at a young age. Third, during her lifetime,
she had married twice. Her first husband, surnamed Chen died shortly
after their marriage, so she remarried.
All the relatives that were there with me that day happened to be
her grandsons. They listened attentively as I clearly proclaimed
her past. Their faces lit up in amazement as they remarked, "How
weird! That is exactly correct!" When I pointed out the right
grave, their happiness was certainly beyond words.
This small display of power I rendered is actually nothing to show
off in grandeur. My psychic teacher is so much better! When he is
communicating with a spirit, he can call out all the names of its
relatives. Not only this, he can even call out the names of its
neighbors. In industrialized societies in this day and age, most
people are unfamiliar with the names of their neighbors. But when
my teacher sees a person, not only can he tell the person's name,
but also the names of the person's neighbors. Are such phenomena
not astounding to ordinary people?
The witnesses of this incident include Mr. Cheng Huang Ming, and
Mr. and Mrs. Cheng Bing Hui. As I helped to identify the old woman
in the grave, they exclaimed continuously:
