Aren’t Buddhists Taught To Go To Temples?

“You are Buddhist, but why don’t you know the principle and the conducts of Buddhism? You were born a Buddhist but you still don’t know it. Whom can I ask about it then? If you ask me about Islam, I can answer all of your questions. Let me ask something. Aren’t Buddhist taught to go to temples?” https://dmc.tv/a2861

Dhamma Articles > Case studies
[ Jan 28th, 2006 ] - [ read : 18263 ]
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CASE  STUDY
Aren’t Buddhists Taught To Go To Temples?

 

 
Dearest Luang Phaw whom I respect the most,

I am an Iraqi who got to know DMC from a Thai person in November, 2005 (B.E.2548) when my heart was so down, despaired and flooded with sorrow and worries. But the first time I saw Luang Phaw, though I didn’t know who you were and understand what you said, I was amazingly happy and the sorrow was gone by only seeing your face. I saw very bright halo from Luang Phaw, and now I know that Luang Phaw is the one who can greatly brighten the understanding about the Law of Kamma. I’d like to ask Luang Phaw about my story.
 
My family is Iraqi. My parents had 15 children, but some died till there are currently only 8 children left, i.e. 4 daughters and 4 sons. I’m the 5th child.
My father was a nice and generous guy. He had a strong belief in Islam. He didn’t drink and smoke and usually paid worship to the God’s kindness 5 times a day. Before each time of worship, he would wash his hands and face beforehand; also before going to a Mosque, he would clean his body.

He was a model of holding religious ceremonies to his children and taught his children to be good. Other than that, he was the main person who earned money for the family. His career was sinking oil wells which ,by that time, made a lot of profit. That way, our family didn’t have any difficulty until the year 1980 (B.E.2523) that there was a civil war in the country, and the leader of the family that didn’t agree with the religion of the government would be beheaded. In that year, over 2 million people were killed, and my father was one of them.

My mother was actually my father’s relative. In the religion, relatives were forced to marry each other. My mother, under the senior relatives’ control, got engage to my father since her childhood and no matter if they loved each other or not, when they grew up, they had to get married. In some families, the daughters who were in love with somebody else who were not their fiancés or somebody who came from different religions or the same religion but different sects, their penalties were being killed because it meant they gave dirt to the families and killing them was held as cleaning the houses.

But my mother was religious and listened to her parents. When she turned 18, she had a wedding with my father who was 26 years old by that time. They were 8 years different, but when they spent their lives together, they loved each other so much and took good care of every child. My father was very responsible to the family. He let my mother stay home to take care of the children only, and she didn’t have to work.

But during the war, my father was beheaded by the government and that caused the children and my mother to be imprisoned for 3 months with difficulties and starvation and some children finally died.

These horrible situations saddened my mother’s heart starting from the death of her husband, 7 children, many relatives. In addition, the country was in disorder, the people couldn’t live peacefully and happily, every place teemed with armed military people who hurt and imprisoned a lot of people, and many good people in Iraq were killed or fled away. My mother had grief, sorrow and cried all the time.

But nowadays she looks happier since I can support the family by running a car repair shop that makes profit for my siblings; also I monthly send my mother money. For this reason, she loves me so much. Now she is 62 years old.

My wife is an Islamic Iraqi. She is very religious and is actually my own cousin. Before getting married, her parents engaged her to me. Other than that, we were well accustomed with each other before and did even talk about getting married since our childhood. Back there, she told me “You are the one and only that I will marry with. Without you, I definitely will not get married.” These words deeply impressed me and never faded away.

When she turned 23 and I was 28, we got married in Iran and lived in Denmark. We have 3 children together—2 daughters and 1 son.

Our first child is a daughter. She often gets sick and her left ear is partially deaf since her first birth. Also no doctor could find the cause of her sickness. That makes us so depressed, but it seems like I’m more worried since my wife always longs for living in Iraq though she normally goes there at least 5-10 times a year with the reason “I’m lonely and miss my family. I want to go back to Iraq because I feel warm.”

Presently, she spends about 1 month and a half going to Iraq with the children and stays there and spends about 1 month and a half living with me in a row. I have an idea to build her a house in Iraq so she can stay there when she visits it, but I will stay in Denmark so the children can study. She really likes this idea.

I myself believe in Islam like my ancestors and I’m very religious. I worship to the god’s kindness 5 times a day but still I don’t see any happiness. I don’t know why people have to cause war and kill each other. This brutality happens in my country, and I have suffered from the brutality of war since my 14 years of age. I had to be imprisoned with my siblings in every 3 months, my life faced hardships and starvation, I had to earn money for the family and had to be the leader of the family since my father died.

And in the year 1991 when I was 21 years old (B.E.2534), Iraq caused another war that was really terrible since it made the whole country disordered, and the people had to emigrate to the border of Kuwait. I asked my family and relatives to flee there, but nobody dared to because they were scared of being killed on the way, but I took a risk to flee with a few other refugees. On the way, many people in the group were killed and the rest tried to hide themselves and run away from the bullets and finally could reach the destination.

I don’t understand why we have to cause war and kill each other. Imagine if there is no country, no border, no killing, no dying and everybody can live peacefully and happily. Let’s imagine. I think it’s not too difficult to make it real.

When I became a refugee living in a tent in a refugee camp at the border of Kuwait where in summer was up to 50 Degree Celsius (About 122 Degree Fahrenheit) and I couldn’t do anything but eating and sleeping. I spent 7 years there before moving to Denmark when I was 28 and started studying Danish in a school.

Here I met a foreign lady whom I really wanted to talk to, so I decided to ask her instantly “Are you a Buddhist or Muslim Thai?” She said “I’m Buddhist.” Then I asked her “I heard the word “Buddhism” the first time when I was in Iraq and I really would like to know what the teachings of Buddhism are.” She replied “Good deed begets good returns, Bad deed begets bad returns.” I asked more right away “How can we perform good deed? What is bad deed? Is somebody like me called a good or a bad person?” Then I asked her because I was eager to know “What is the principle of conduct in Buddhism?” She said” I don’t know. I will let you know when I do.”

After that, we start talking everyday but no matter how long she still couldn’t answer my questions until one day I asked her frankly. “You are Buddhist, but why don’t you know the principle and the conducts of Buddhism? You were born a Buddhist but you still don’t know it. Whom can I ask about it then? If you ask me about Islam, I can answer all of your questions. Let me ask something. Aren’t Buddhist taught to go to temples?”

I’d like to seek for peace because I was sick of war and killing, so I started consulting her about my own problems. She told me many things that I thought they were so much different than my religion, i.e. “We get married with our own relatives, but we cause war within the family and kill the people who are actually our own relatives.”, but other religions didn’t force the relatives to get married, so they could make a decision to marry anybody and that didn’t make them guilty and they wouldn’t be killed, but finally I had to marry my present Iraqi wife.

Eight years later, in November 2005 (B.E. 2548), she unexpectedly visited me and asked me “Do you still want to know about Buddhism? If you do, you can see the answers in DMC.” The first time I saw Luang Phaw, I was very happy and delighted. Faith, love and respect grew in my heart right away.

Then she taught me about meditation. My first meditation gave me happiness and peace that I never found before and I had no clue how to explain. It was so much different than paying worship to the God’s kindness 5 times a day since I couldn’t find any happiness no matter if it was before or after the worship.0

Sometimes my life was confusing and I had no clue how to solve it, but I tried meditating like Buddhists did and that gave me the happiness that I never had before. Since then, I have meditated everyday without missing even a single day and I’d like every Islamic to feel the same thing. I think it’s not difficult. Just open their heart to learn the new things that are the truth of life and then they will find the true happiness just like that I do.

Presently, I’m a merchant who also installs satellite dishes to Iraqis, Iranians, Turks and Muslim people in Denmark. I tune the DMC channel for them too and the Muslim people who see the channel are happy to see Arabic in DMC, so they can understand. Starting from now, I have an intention to tune DMC for everybody whom I install Satellite for, so that world peace will come to the world.
 
Questions

1. What retribution caused my father to be born in Iraq and believe in Islam? Why was he beheaded? Where did he go after he died? How is his current condition? What can I do to help him?

2. What retribution caused my mother to be born in Iraq and believe in Islam? Why did she have to marry my father who was actually her own relative? Why was she imprisoned during the war until she suffered from depression disorders?

3. Does my wife love me or not? Why does she want to live in Iraq with her relatives though the country is facing the war? Can we live together through the end, and how?

4. Why does my eldest daughter often suffer from stomachaches and nobody can find the cause of it? Why is she partially deaf since her first birth? Will she be healed and how can we solve the problem?

5. Why was I born in the country that always experienced wars that caused difficulties in my life? Why wasn’t I shot during my emigration?

6. I always have a question why this world has to have war. What can we do to stop them? And who will be the one who stop the war?

7. Why do I want to learn about Buddhism, like to meditate and watch DMC though I cannot understand it? And I’d like every Islamic to meditate. Why do I have these thoughts?

8. What retribution caused the Thai lady to be forced by her family to marry a foreigner without knowing him beforehand until they had a daughter, but later they got divorced? And what is the retribution of her daughter? How can they solve them? Why did they have to travel so far overseas?

9. What merit made me meet this Thai lady until I got to know DMC? What merit did we have together? How did she and I pursue perfection with our merit-making group?

10. Have my wife, my children and I pursued perfection with our merit-making group in our past lives? Is it possible for us to go to the special merit zone of Tusita (The fourth level of heaven) and how?

11. I have an intention to translate Luang Phaw’s teachings into Arabic to propagate Dhamma through the whole world. Do I have enough merit to do this job, and how?

12. I run a business and a service of satellite dish installation. What can I do to be successful in my work? Will I have success in spreading DMC to Muslim people both in and out of Iraq, and how?  What is the fruit of spreading DMC? Will my dream that the Iraqi will love each other again come true, and what can I do for it?

Thanks a lot to Luang Phaw whom I respect the most.
 

Luang Phaw's Dream

I closed my eyes, dreamed and woke up with these answers.
When you tell anybody the story like a tale, it will make anyone know more about retribution (Law of Kamma)

1. Your father was born in Iraq and believed in Islam because he, in his past lives, believed in theism just like in this life. In some of his lives, after he was born, he took part in causing a war between the groups of different beliefs. This caused him to be born in a theistic country that always experienced civil wars.
 
  • He was beheaded because he, in his past lives, beheaded many animals to worship the gods he respected. This retribution took action.   
 
  • Before his death, he was very scared so he tried to remind himself of the gods. When the torturing time of beheading was over, the retribution from killing animals to worship gods in many lives still took action to his astral body, i.e. he still had a beheaded look. His 2 hands automatically carried his head and ran away as fast as he could. And then this retribution caused him to be with the people who had the same level of retribution.
  • The people who died at the same time as him had different destination up to their deeds. Some went to fortunate realm, some went to unfortunate realms, some reincarnated into animals and some became humans, etc.
 
  • Presently, he is still an astral body who is carrying his head and suffering from starvation. He and the people who have the same level of retribution are living in a limited region under the control of an ogre who is an area authority with the hope that one day their god will come, but he hasn’t come yet. You need to make every merit in Buddhism composed of donation, precept observance and meditation and often transfer this merit to him and then his life will become better.
  
2. Your mother was born in Iraq and believes in Islam because she believed in theism like your father for many lives and she was pleasured seeing the war between the groups of different beliefs just like your father but in different times.
 
  • She had to marry your father who was actually her own relative because they both, in their many lives, were born in theistic groups of people and liked to kill the people from other groups. To keep secrets, the people traditionally didn’t marry the people from different groups. By this familiarity, she got to be born in the society that had this belief; the only difference is the present society is bigger.
  • During the war, she was imprisoned until she suffered from depression disorders because it was the fruit of the retribution I already mentioned about that she rejoiced in people’s demerit and was pleasured seeing the war between the groups with different beliefs.
  • Because when a war occurred and the people from different groups were invaded, they were separated from their loved ones and were imprisoned and suffered from depression just like she did.
  
3. Your wife still loves you, but the relationship between her, her family and her hometown is so strong that she cannot stop thinking about going back there to be among her relatives though the country’s still facing a war.
 
  • You need to maintain this love all through the end by understanding, flexibility, smiles and calmness because she is a good person, a good wife and a good mother.
  • You don’t need to be worried or sad. The things in lives happen along retributions, so no matter if she goes to Iraq or not, you need to meditate to purify your mind and think about merit for it can protect her and your children.
  
4. That your eldest daughter often suffers from stomachaches that nobody can tell the reason is actually because of the present stresses. She is stressed out because of many things; namely, the country, the wars, the environment and the confusion between the traditions, etc. These things affected her body. If she meditates and purifies her mind, her symptom will be all gone.
 
 
  • Her left ear is partially deaf since her first birth because of her own retribution that she hurt her sibling with no intention. In that life, while her younger sister was picking her ear, your daughter slapped her sister’s hand and caused that earpick to pierce through her ear and destroy her eardrum. This retribution took action.
  • It might be difficult to be healed. Anyway, she needs to perform every merit and make a wish for this merit can decrease this retribution.
  
5. You were born in a country with civil wars that caused difficulties in your life because you, in your past life, were a powerful businessman who unwillingly supported the government in causing a war along their asking. This retribution took action.
 
 
  • You were not shot while fleeing away from the country because you, in that life, had no will in supporting war. That’s why you could survive.
  
6. This world has wars and people kill people because of the defilements in their hearts. Greed, anger and delusion force people to perform actions and these actions beget consequences. The people who have similar retributions will be born together and the defilements I mentioned will force them to do things and they don’t even realize who is behind the incidents because they still don’t have eyes of wisdom.
 
  • To stop the war, everybody in the world must purify their mind and attain the inner peace until their minds are peaceful and this peace will come to the world.
  
7. You want to learn about Buddhism, like to meditate and watch DMC though you don’t understand it and have a dream that every Islamic person will meditate because you were a Buddhist before but only in the census registration without seriously learning about it. That’s why you didn’t understand about the truth of life and that caused you to stray away from Buddhism, but you still have some relation with it and because you face misery from the wars of different beliefs in this present life, you would like to learn about it.
 
 
  • Also you understand that the origin of misery is the minds that are heated up by greed, anger and delusion. They take away the peace from minds. By this reason, you desire that everybody will still their minds until they can attain the true peace and stop persecuting each other.
  
8. The Thai lady who is your Kalayanamitra (good friend) was forced to marry a westerner until they had a daughter but they finally got divorced because of the deed she performed when she was born in an agricultural society. She did the same thing to her descendants. This retribution took action.
 

  • She and her husband got divorced because they had different levels of precepts, faith and views.

  • Her daughter has some remnants of sensual retribution from her past lives that she had many wives in the same time and caused problems in her families.
  • To solve it, they need to cultivate every merit as best as they can and make a wish to be freed from this retribution.
  • That they have to live overseas is not from any retribution, but it’s based on the present incident.
  
9. You got to know this Thai lady until you knew DMC because she was the one who asked you to perform merit in Buddhism and you did it because of consideration without having faith and understanding about Buddhism.
 

  • That caused you to be away, but the merit from that life made you a powerful businessman who unwillingly supported the war that the government caused in your next life, and was away from Buddhism for a long time.

  • The merit you made with her caused you to meet her again after straying away for eons.
  • You and she pursued perfection with our group in the division of provisions and she was your Kalayanamitra (good friend) as I mentioned. She asked you to perform merit with our merit-making group and you did it due to your consideration and that caused you to be away for eons like what I said.
  
10. You, your wife and your children pursued perfection with our merit-making group. Your wife and your children were in the division of provisions of our group just like you, but in very long time ago and were away from our group for eons.
 
  
11. That you have a good intention to translate Dhamma into Arabic for Dhamma will be propagated through the whole world is good and you also have merit to do it, but you need to gradually do it with relaxing mind.

  
12. That you run a business and service satellite dish installation in this life, you are able to run them well, but you just need to take it easy because you were a powerful businessman in your past life before because of the merit I mentioned. You need to find the people who are good, smart and have the same ideal to work with. Learning about the work gradually, and then your work will become better and better.
 
  • The fruits of spreading Dhamma are, to say briefly, good look, treasure, qualifications, good relatives, friends and followers, wisdom and the birth in Buddhism, as well as, going to heaven without taking any chance to go to any unfortunate realm, etc.
  • Since we have met again in this life, you need to pursue perfection with all your might and make a wish to follow our group to the special merit zone of Tusita, the land of Bodhisattva and never ever stray away from our group.

http://goo.gl/PLp0s

Case study in real life

The Law of Kamma (Pali:Compared to "Karma" in Sanskrit) segment or "Case Study" is one of the prominent sections on the Dream in Dream kindergarten program, conducted by the Venerable Phrarajbhavanavisudh, also known as, Luang Phaw Dhammajayo of the Dhammakaya Temple in Pathum Thani Province, Thailand.

Each individualized "Case Study" is based on the timeless Law of Kamma (the Law of Cause and Effect) which examines the reasons for many situations and complex inter-relationships people find themselves in. Viewers from around the world write personal letters to Luang Phaw wanting to understand the karmic reasons for many special circumstances in their life.

This program is not intended to convert anyone to Buddhism or any other religions persuasion. Rather the goal is to help spread genuine peace, happiness and understanding here in Thailand and around the world. By first discovering and cultivating inner peace within ourselves through meditation, we can help spread love and kindness outward, helping to make our world a better place for everyone.



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