Purple Lotus Publisher > Journal > Volumn NO. 14

Present Life Karma

A talk by Master Samantha Chou at the Purple Lotus Society on September 29th, 1998.

Translated by Janny Chow

Several days ago, on Saturday, a couple came to see me for spiritual consultation. It was very late, around midnight, and everyone else had left. They showed up suddenly without any appointment and insisted that they talk to me. Ordinarily we try not to have any consultations after group cultivation, but sometimes there are afternoon appointments that I cannot get to, or we have out of town visitors who come specifically for consultation, and it is quite late by the time I finish.

** Intervention Does Not Last Forever **

Now when someone facing a severe karmic retribution comes to seek consultation, I no longer immediately pray to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for a drastic intervention. Based on personal experience from the last ten years or more, I have learned that karmic hindrances are not neutralized just by using my own spiritual power, or by prayers, the power of the Buddhas, or the blessing or power of the Guru alone.

It is true that the above interventions may work temporarily to stop retribution in its tracks but, if the person in need of help does not have the same kind of understanding, then this kind of help is not appropriate, optimal, or long lasting. To attain long lasting relief, we have to help the person to gain a new understanding, so that from his own heart he will engender a desire to work with the Power of the Spirit.

Otherwise, even if we are able to evict or persuade the attached spirit to leave, it might still return later. Even if the attached spirit in question is delivered to a higher realm through the bardo services we offer, we cannot guarantee that other karmic enemies of the person will stay away from him.

The fact that someone is encountering problems caused by an attached spirit indicates either that he has reached a time in his life when his merits are being exhausted, or that the time for the reckoning of negative karma has come. In such cases, it is very possible that more than one karmic enemy will be waiting at the door. If this person has not developed any power or light in him through meritorious deeds and spiritual cultivation, then, even if the current attached spirit goes away, a different karmic enemy will attach to him tomorrow! Therefore, we have to teach people this kind of knowledge, as it is impossible for us to cradle them or carry them on our backs, protecting them forever.

So now, when I come across such a person, I tell him, "Consult with the divination blocks and see what the Bodhisattvas say." In a way, this is a bargaining process between him and his karmic enemy. First he has to tell the Bodhisattvas what kinds of meritorious deeds he is willing to dedicate himself to doing. If the karmic enemy accepts his offer and is willing to let go of the grudges, then the divination blocks will give a positive reading, and the Bodhisattvas will help him. If the reading is negative, then he needs to increase the amount of meritorious deeds and try the divination blocks again. Lately in my consultations, I tend to use more of this method rather than telling people right away what kinds of homework they should do.

** Upper Body Missing **

The couple who came that night told me their story, and it was truly a case of present-life karmic retribution. Usually, when people encounter interference from spirits, the spirits are often their ancestors, karmic enemies, or creditors from previous lives. Oftentimes, when people learn that their karma has originated from previous lives, they cannot relate to it emotionally or put much weight into the matter.

The karmic enemies of that couple, however, originated in this present life.

It brings to mind that there are, indeed, great differences between people who do actual spiritual practice and those who don't. You all engage in daily practice and participate in group cultivation and ceremonies, and you read books offering you this kind of knowledge. These activities may not seem that special, but once something out of the ordinary happens, you have more knowledge and resources to help you, and you are able to immediately employ this spiritual knowledge to protect yourself and your family.

Back to the couple who came that night. The husband told me that one day two years ago, while driving across a railway track on his way home, he suddenly felt that two people had got into his car. Each of those two people only had half a body --- their upper bodies were missing. Though he could not see anything when he turned his head to look behind him, he sensed clearly that two people had gotten into his car.

When he got home, he said to his wife, "I feel that two people have been following me home, can you see them?" His wife replied, "No, what two people? There is just you yourself!"

Since it was just a feeling and he could not see them either, it was hard for him to explain to his wife. Soon after that, he suffered a stroke with brain hemorrhage and had to be rushed to the hospital. The doctors performed emergency brain surgery on him. After the surgery, he seemed to have become a different person. He started seeing strange things in the world of the deceased, and slowly he began to lose focus in the living world. His wife attributed these changes to the brain surgery.

Then, he started having aches and pains all over his body. He went through many diagnostic tests including X-rays, blood and urine tests. The results were negative and could not explain why he was feeling ill all over. Daily existence became a torture and at night he could not sleep well at all.

** Children in the Nether World **

The strangest thing was that, from the underworld, he saw three children calling him "Dad." He did not recognize them, but when they called him "Dad," he felt intuitively that these were his own kids. The oldest child was in his early teens.

Why were there three kids in the underworld calling him Dad? It turned out that in his younger years, due to financial circumstances, his wife had terminated three pregnancies in abortions.

So, you see, the spirits of the aborted fetuses had grown up in the underworld. Since they did not have anyone to look after them, and as soon as they saw this father from the living world, they went to him, crying and running after him for help.
This was why, during this last Bardo Ceremony in Redmond, Grand Master announced that he would like to establish a shrine at the Rainbow Villa specifically dedicated to the spirits of aborted fetuses.

In the underworld, there are many orphans. Since people in the living world do not have this kind of knowledge, they have abortions when they do not want to or cannot afford to raise the child. But the soul of the baby has already descended, and there is nowhere else for him to go. When he has no one to guide him, look after him, or perform Bardo services for him, and when the parents fail to give him a name or recognize him as a member of their genealogy, he becomes an aimless ghost and will often be hanging around the family. Although people in the living world do not know of his existence, when he throws tantrums, he can toss the family into turmoil. This is one of the factors behind family disharmony.

** Two Lives Lost **

One night, while asleep, the husband's body suddenly started twisting into all kinds of contortions. His wife had been sleeping next to him and asked him, "What are you doing? Why are you moving so violently?" He ignored her. Then, suddenly, he cried out aloud, "All right, I will give you my life! I will give you my life!"

His wife implored him, "What life are you talking about? What is happening?" He still did not wake up and his body continued to move violently.

Suddenly, his wife felt two cold draughts of air, and she sneezed loudly twice in a row. This awoke her husband.

As soon as he woke up, he told his wife, "I know now who those two half people are." They had shown themselves very clearly to him. They had also started to attack him, one on each side. That was why he was violently struggling to fight them off.

It turned out that in his younger years he was a sailor. During one of his voyages, he gambled and won a lot of money from two fellow workers. Those two people lost everything to him, including all of their wages and savings.

When the gambling was over, he started back to his cabin to go to bed, but the two people had been waiting outside in ambush. After he had walked outside only a short distance, the two sprang on him and started beating him. Perhaps they were mad at losing the money, or perhaps they wanted to rob him. In any case, they started beating him violently.

He had no choice but to resist --- this was his explanation. As he was fiercely fighting off the two men, the two attackers fell, slipping to the side of the ship. It so happened that just then a huge wave came up and the bow of the ship tipped, sliding the two men into the water. Unfortunately, the angle at which they slid into water landed them right next to the rotors. Trapped by the turning rotors, their upper bodies were smashed to pieces.

After witnessing the two workers' upper bodies being mashed up, the man became very frightened and ran back to his room without alerting anyone. For many years, he carried this secret in his heart. But, as more than twenty years passed, this incident also faded from his memory.

Two years ago, these two spirits finally tracked him down and followed him home. They wanted him to pay back their lives. That was why, in his dream, he kept saying that he would give them his life. But they replied, "You only have one life, we want two lives!" He asked them, "What am I going to do? I only have one life." Not too long after that dream, his daughter broke an arm, and many other problems also descended upon their family. Not knowing why they were having such bad luck, they decided to come to me for help.

** Water Ghosts for Eighteen Years **

The two ghastly spirits, both young men, were standing next to him. They showed their bloodied and mangled bodies to me. One of them spoke, "You cannot interfere with this! He owes us his life, and he must pay back!" They said that I absolutely must not intervene on his behalf.

I kept reasoning with them, "Since you have come here, a place for resolving karmic hatred, do not continue to engage in actions that will keep the vicious cycle going. Now you seek revenge, next he will seek revenge, when will it ever end?" I tried to mediate for them. One of them replied, "Do you know how horrible it has been for us? After the mutilation of our bodies, we were trapped for eighteen years in the ocean as water ghosts and had to be bullied by water creatures and other souls who have died in the water." I could feel their intense suffering.

After eighteen years, when the run of their fate as water ghosts was over, they went all out to avenge their deaths, searching for the man responsible. Their desire for revenge was very strong. It took them five years to find him. After eighteen years as water ghosts and five years searching, they finally located him twenty-three years after the incident. After hearing my proposition to resolve the karmic enmity between them, one of the ghosts said, "All right, he must offer to do Bardo services for me one thousand times before this debt can be resolved!"

Let me ask all of you, for how many Bardo services have you signed up your own karmic enemies and ancestors? If you killed someone in a past life, then how long would it take you to do all these Bardo services? I did some computation and realized that would be impossible! One could tell that the couple did not have a strong foundation in spiritual practice, and their roots in Buddhism were very shallow. They just walked into the door, and it would take some time before they would be able to face their own karma! I thought to myself, "That is impossible! It will be lucky if they come to participate in even one or two Bardo services. A thousand times is just impossible!"

I offered, "That is impossible! How about this ..." The other flatly refused, "You absolutely must not get involved! We know you can help him, but we are going to make him pay us back!" They were very fierce and tough.

I asked the husband, "When did this happen?" He thought and said, "I have been in the United States for twenty-three years, and the incident had happened about three to four years before I came to the States. It was twenty-six years ago." He wished for a resolution, and I asked him to try the divination blocks. After trying many times, the answers were negative because they had not yet taken refuge. It is very difficult for someone who has not taken refuge to put his heart and mind into doing the homework and meritorious deeds that I recommend. His two attached spirits also knew that it would be impossible for him to do these deeds.

I could only suggest to the couple that they first take refuge. And not just the husband and wife, but they would also have to sign up the two attached karmic enemies, the three "aborted" spirits in the underworld, as well as their three living children. This was to ensure that the seeds of Buddhism will be sowed in their consciousness. Then I proceeded to give him the homework. But I was thinking to myself, "As they have never been in touch with this teaching before, this list of homework assignments is only a piece of paper to them. Will they be able to carry it out?"

** Persuading the Attached Spirits **

I was hoping the two attached spirits would promptly let go of their hatred, so I turned to them, "If this person does not start doing spiritual practice to purify his karma, he will eventually meet his own retribution. You don't have to harm him now to get even. Come and do the spiritual practice on your own. If you are able to let him go, this kind of forgiveness and caring for another person is a meritorious act. A magnanimous heart that refrains from inflicting further pain on others will bring more blessing, fortune, and light to you and help you be reborn to a better realm. You also will not fall further down and continue any more entanglement with him."

The hatred of one of the attached spirits' was particularly strong, and I could not make him budge at all. I prayed to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to bless them so they would be able to come for the Bardo deliverance services. I told the husband, "There will be a Bardo service here at the temple next week." [Master Samantha took a look at the congregation present.] But I don't see him here now. How can we help him? He is unable to make it even the first time!

The couple left, and I don't know what has happened to them. Now I am in a tug-of-war to pull the two attached spirits over. I tell them, "Let go, don't fight with them, and you will get the eternal Light. Since they don't do any spiritual practice, their own karmic retribution will eventually catch up with them."