This Love Must Be Told

CASE   STUDY

This Love Must Be Told

 

 

 

With great respect to Luang Phaw.

      I am a new student of the Dream in Dream Kindergarten who attends from Japan. I installed a DMC satellite receiver in August 2005.  I installed it and was hooked.  I watch DMC everyday.  I cannot live without it. I would like to make merit with Luang Phaw to the utmost of my ability.  I make all types of merit and earnestly made merit for the Kathina ceremony in 2006 to venerate Luang Phaw.  I truly love Luang Phaw. I wish that Luang Phaw will have a long life, an attractive appearance, happiness, power, and strength to be our refuge protection.  I would like to ask Luang Phaw to consider my story as follows.  

        My mother was born into middle-class family which earned a living from orchards.  She liked to make merit in the traditional manner, for example in the Kathina ceremony or by offering new robes to the monks. She did not cigarettes or alcohol.  She became angry easily.  She disliked her neighbors because they liked to invite my father to drink alcohol regularly. She passed away before my father because she slipped and hit her head on a log when she was 72 years old.

         My father worked industriously as a gardener since he was a child.  Although he was illiterate, he was able to provide for himself and his family. Normally, he was a good father, as though he was the angel of the children.  He would wake up before it was light in order to prepare fish and rice for us to eat at school.  This made our family very happy. But he would transform from an angel to a devil every time he drank alcoholic beverages.  Whenever he got drunk, he would beat my mother.  He would also destroy the pots and jars in the kitchen. If we did not hide the pots and jars from him in time, or if he found them, he would take a large stick and smash every one of them to pieces.

My father never made merit once in his life.  He did not like to go to temple because the monks told him not to drink alcohol.When he was 83 years old, he could not walk.  He said it was because he had grown old and his sinews had tightened. Later he developed strange behavior.  His eyes took on a look of disapproval and anger.  His stomach would tighten and he would not look at anyone.  His voice would sound like my mother’s. This made the villagers gather to look at him.  We asked a shaman what had happened.  The shaman answered: “So who else could it be?  It’s his wife for sure.”

The shaman splashed him with holy water to exorcise the spirit.  The spirit of my mother did not go away because she could endure holy water.  The spirit of my mother said “I will take him with me.  When I was alive, he liked beating me.” Everybody carried my father to the temple to make an offering to the community of monks.  After making the offering, he fell unconscious with his mouth open.

When he regained consciousness, his stomach had become soft.  And he recovered from his tightened sinews so he was able to walk normally. My second older sister is married but has no children.  When she turned 50, she became sick all the time. She had to see doctors at clinics very often.  She was the clinic queen.  This made her life difficult.  She constantly had strange experiences.

For example, 8 weeks after our mother had passed away, she could not sleep in the middle of the night.  She only heard the sound of a person wailing “I’m hungry, I’m hungry.” Sometimes she felt possessed by a spirit.  She felt as though a worm had crawled from end of her feet to areas throughout her body.  She felt as though her heart was being squeezed strongly.  She suffered greatly but always maintained her mental awareness.

The shaman near my house said that the ends of her feet were the dirtiest part of the body so the spirit would enter there. She thought of the mantra that I had told her to recite very often: “samma arahang.”  She recited this mantra. After reciting the mantra for a while, she heard a voice in her ear say “Don’t recite this mantra.  I don’t like it.”  But the spirit would not go away.

      My older sister changed her tactic to think about Luang Pu coming to help her.  Her symptoms disappeared.  When the spirit had left, she felt her throat was dry and asked for water to drink. Once she brought a tray of food to pay respect at the spirit house.  While she was walking, she felt the tray getting heavier, as though something had climbed on the tray to eat what was on it.  After a while she could no longer bear the weight and she dropped the tray on the ground.

Another time during the same year, she saw a black shadow at the same time she heard my mother’s voice in her ear say “You’ve never died.  You have no idea how hungry I am.  You want me to be born but I cannot be born.  I’m waiting for all of you to build a Buddha image for me first.  I will sit at the head of the bed and wait for this merit from you.”

I learned of this event from my older sister and sent money to her to build a personal Buddha image at Dhammakaya Temple.  But my older sister did not know the way to Dhammakaya Temple so she built a Buddha image at a nearby temple instead.

Later, my older sister and her husband dreamt that my mother slept between them.  He asked how she was doing, if her situation was difficult.  My mother responded: “I’m not in difficulty now.  I’m happy that my children and grandchildren made merit for me.  On Buddhist days and the day before Buddhist days you should go make merit at temple.”

As for me, I built a Thousand Year Pillar at the Dhammakaya International Meditation Center of Tokyo and dedicated the merit to her. Two days later, I dreamt that I saw my mother in a pink dress.  She was wearing diamonds as though she was planning to attend a party.  Her face was beautiful, as though she was 30 years old.  She came to tell me that she no longer had difficulties.

As for me, I was the third of 4 children.  When I was 15, I fled the house because I was sick of my father when he drank. I went to a place where I knew nobody.  My only thought was to escape the hell on earth.  When I arrived in Bangkok, I studied to be a beautician.  I found work and lived at one beauty shop. While I was working, I took classes towards a high school degree and studied English.  

Later I met my first husband.  I flirted with him myself.  At that time, I was a teenager and flirted with him heedlessly. He was handsome and earned his living selling pork.  I flirted with him thoughtlessly and asked him if he would marry me.  But he truly liked me.  So I had to eat my own words and stay with him without getting married.  We had one child together.

Later I became more aware of my situation and realized that he did not help support me.  He let me earn all the income for us myself.  He only helped eat and moreover he was a womanizer.  He had many affairs. When I thought about this, I decided to end the relationship.  At the time, my son was only 1 year old.  I had his father take care of him.

Usually, I spent 20 baht daily for an offering to the monks during the morning alms round.  I thought that however poor I was, I still had to make merit. After I made merit, I would wish that I would be free from my difficult life and marry a good man.  If this man was from another country and another religion, I wished that we would think in the same way.  And my wish came true.

20 years after I had separated from my first husband, I traveled to work in Japan.  I performed every task at a restaurant for 7-8 hours per day.  But I still found time to study Japanese and English. When I was able to speak Japanese, I was promoted to be a cashier.

Later my colleague told me that one of the foreign customers was single and had never been married.  I did not wait and pursued him by saying to him: “Hello Mister Handsome.  Do you know that after seeing you for just a second, you made me fall head over heels in love?  I hope you know that I really love you.” I engaged him in conversation, asking him where he was from, how long he had been in Japan, whether he was married or not.
When he answered that he was single, I asked him the big question: “Will you marry me?”  But he did not answer me immediately.  We dated for 4 years before we married.

     My husband is an American from Virginia.  He had never been married before and is Christian.  He likes to give to charity by giving away items.  He only donates new items from department stores.
When I make an offering, I write his name.  This makes him very happy and he gives me money to make offerings.  The latest merit we made was an offering for Luang Phaw.  I showed him the document confirming the donation which had both our names on it.  He was very pleased and kept it in his own wallet.

     My son from my first relationship is with his father in Thailand.  When he grew up, he associated with bad people and became addicted to drugs.  I send him many tens of thousands of baht per month for his tuition. But he did not use it for his tuition and used it to buy drugs.  Moreover, he was caught by the police while delivering a bag of drugs for a dealer.  I have used hundreds of thousands of baht from my husband for legal fees.

I have lied to my husband, telling him the money is to pay for a loan on my house in Thailand.  He believes me and gives me the money.  After the court case ended for my son, he was sentenced to only 3 years in prison. After his release from prison, my son ordained for 2 years at a temple near his house.  While he was a monk, one of his drug addict friends brought him drugs.  The abbot of the temple caught my son but gave him a chance to stay at the temple.  Presently my son has disrobed.

Questions:

1. What demerit caused my mother to slip and hit her head on a log, causing her death?  What was her mental state at the time of her death?  Where is she now?  Did she receive the merit made on her behalf?  Does she have a message for me?

2. What demerit caused my father to lose his ability to walk for a while?  Was he able to walk again because of the offering he made to the community of monks?  If this was not the reason, what led to his recovery?  Was his inability to walk connected with my mother’s spirit possessing him?

3. Did my mother’s spirit possess my father?  If not, what happened?

4. When my older sister heard strange noises so often, was this a spirit?  What did the spirit want?  When she was taking the tray of food to offer at the spirit house, did a spirit come to consume the food?  When she saw the black shadow that whispered in her ear, was this shadow our mother?  

5. What caused my older sister to be ill all the time?  What caused her to have a difficult life?  Whatever money I gave her she used up completely.  What can we do?

6. I lied to my husband that I was paying off the loan on my house but really I was helping my son pay his legal fees.  How serious is this violation of the precepts?  How will the results of this violation arise?  What merit must I make to be free of this demerit?

7. What caused me to not live with my son?  Will the merit that he made from being a monk for 2 years help him improve his life?  How can I help him?

8. What caused me to be born in a backwoods location, with a drunken father, a difficult life, and a low level of education?  But what enabled me in the end to have a more comfortable life than my siblings?

9. What caused me to have a husband with whom I live happily but who is from a different country and different religion?  What caused my husband to support me in making merit?  What can I do to meet with my wonderful husband in my next life?

10. How did I and my husband ever make merit with the Dhammakaya community in the past?  Why did it take me a while before I met the community?  Will I have the opportunity to go to Tusita (the fourth level of heaven)?

11. There is a layperson coordinator at the temple who helped me make merit with the Dhammakaya community.  In the last Buddhist era, how did this person make merit with the community?  What were this person’s duties?  What were the results of this person’s Buddhist practice?  Why did this person become the layperson coordinator for me in this life?

With great thanks and devotion to Luang Phaw.

 

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 mother died when she slipped and hit her head on a log.  This is because of her demerit from killing animals.  For example, she hit fish and pigs on the head, both in her past lives and in her most recent life.

 

• She did not initially realize she had died.  She became an earth spirit with a residence hidden inside her house, as a result of the traditional Buddhist merit she made.  When she received the merit made on her behalf, she was able to live in the earth spirit village.  She has her own celestial palace, a large Thai-style house. 
  

• She would like to thank those who made merit on her behalf.  She is cheerful and bright, young and more beautiful. 
  

 

2. Your father could not walk for some time.  Later he made an offering to the community of monks and was able to walk again.  This is because in a past life he was born in an agricultural community and tied the legs of animals that were then sold for slaughter.  This is combined with the demerit from drinking alcoholic beverages and beating your mother and his children in his most recent life.  But later he was able to walk again mainly because of his offering to the community of monks.  In addition, he had merit from helping his relatives in his past lives and from giving medicine to his neighbors.

 

 

 

3. Your mother’s spirit possessed your father: this is true.  This is because your mother was still angry at your father from when she was still alive and endured his drunken beatings.  This occurred while she was an earth spirit living in your house.

 

4.  Your older sister heard strange noises very often.  This is because of her past demerit from drinking alcohol and worshipping spiritual mediums.  This caused her to hear sounds from here and there, or see this and that.  But these things were not real.  They occurred because of the actions from her past lives.

 

• When your older sister was carrying the food to the spirit house, there was not a spirit that came to eat the food.  She had hallucinations because of the demerit from her drinking in the past.

• Your older sister saw a black shadow and heard whispering in her ear after your mother died.  These were her hallucinations resulting from her past actions.  Your mother only bothered your father when she was an earth spirit at your house.  Your mother’s spirit did not bother your older sister at all.

 

5. Your older sister is always sick and has a difficult life.  Whatever money you give her she uses up.  This is because of her demerit from drinking alcohol in her past lives.  When she became drunk, she would kill animals to make sacrifices to spirits.  This made her sick all the time and have hallucinations.  Moreover, she made few offerings so she has a difficult life and cannot save any money, no matter how much you give her.

 

• To solve this problem, she must stop paying respect to spirits and stop paying respect to spirit houses.  She must turn to pay respect to the Triple Gem and make all forms of merit: making offerings, keeping the precepts, and meditating.

 

6.  You lied to your husband that you were paying off the loan on your house but really your were helping your son pay his legal fees.  This will create demerit from violating the precept against lying.  This will make you become the victim of someone lying to you.

 

• To solve this problem, you must make all forms of merit: making offerings, keeping the precepts, and meditating.  This will make the demerit arise more slowly.

 

7.  You did not live with your son because of your “new demerit.”  But it is the “old demerit” from your son’s past lives.  When he was married in the past, he let others take care of his child.

 

• The merit your son earned from being a monk for 2 years: while he was a monk, he behaved badly.  He does not have much merit to improve his situation.  If he completely stops taking drugs and turns to only perform good deeds, the merit he earned will be enough to help him.

 

8.  You were born in a backwoods location, with a drunken father, a difficult life, and a low level of education.  But you ended up having a more comfortable life than your siblings.  This is because in your past you were vain.  This made you be born in a backwoods location.  You liked to associate with people who enjoyed drinking alcohol so you had a drunken father.  You did not make merit often so your life was difficult.  You did not have merit related to education or from supporting education so you did not have a high level of education in this life.  But you had merit from some lives which made some periods in your life comfortable.

 

 

9. You married a foreign man with a different religion but you live happily together and your husband supports your merit-making.  This is because of the merit you made in this life and your wish to have a good husband.  You and your husband were married to one another in your past lives and you made merit together in the past.

 

• In your next life, you would like to have a good husband like your husband now.  You must invite your husband to make all forms of merit and wish that you will be husband and wife again.

 

10.  You and your present husband made merit with the Dhammakaya community as supporters, according to your mood.  Sometimes you made merit, sometimes you did not.  So you have met in some lives and not met in others.

 

• You met the Dhammakaya community late in this life because when you decided to make merit, you delayed your decisions and made merit late.  Moreover, you did not wish to wish to meet the community early in your life.

 

11. The layperson coordinator who helped you make merit with the Dhammakaya community was a soldier of the king who became a monk in the last Buddhist era.  He ordained for life to follow the king.  He was in the team to spread the Dhamma. 

• When he was a monk, he meditated until he reached the inner Buddha image and was able to go to Tusita (the fourth level of heaven).

• When this layperson coordinator ordained in his past life, he was your teacher who instructed you in Dhamma.  So this merit led him to be your kalyanamitta in your present lives.

• In this life we meet again and diligently make all forms of merit to the fullest degree.  Make the resolution that when you pass away we will all go to Tusita (the fourth level of heaven) together.  Let us not miss each other.

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