Guru's Talk

(By Living Buddha Lian-Sheng, Sheng-Yen Lu)
(Translated by Cheng Yew Chung. Edited by TBN)

At the respiratory intensive care unit, a patient, a conscious old man, penned a few lines which were shocking to read:

"You want to perform tracheotomy.

But I disagree.

I rather die.

You really make me very, very angry!"

The old man's children read his note and remained silent, their tears flowing.

The old man had tubes inserted in him before, but as time passed, he developed an inflammation and was now required to undergo surgery of his throat (tracheotomy). The old man refused, but his children wished to prolong his life and agreed to the doctor's recommendation. The doctor then pointed to other bedridden patients and said, "This patient over here had a tracheotomy!"

"That fellow over there also had a tracheotomy!"

"And a few others over here, all had tracheotomies!"

When I learned of this story, I felt horrified. Isn't this similar to the Throat Dissecting Hell? My sympathy goes out to the old man and many other sentient beings who are still battling with their karma-related illnesses. These karma-related illnesses are indeed painful and terrible!

I have experienced the pains of illness, as well. My body felt like thousands of knives were cutting it and thousands of arrows were piercing it. It felt like fire burning, like icy cold, and sometimes like a boulder crushing down on my head. I am a cultivator and I can take the suffering of the "disintegration of the four elements." Yet, the suffering was too much to bear. I even prayed to my three Personal Deities to let me die. The suffering of illness is most unbearable, and one wonders why we must go through old age, sickness, and death. These experiences are simply too painful and horrible!

I cried.

I cried for myself and for sentient beings, as well.

I now pray the following:

"I sincerely wish that the thousands of [different] prayers and thousands of [different] chantings by sentient beings be [condensed] to chanting a single 'Homage to Amitabha Buddha,' for which the affinity of even a single chant would give rise to the planting of the proper seed cause to a rebirth in Amitabha's Pure Land."

Even though the levels of sentient beings may differ very significantly, according to Amitabha's vow, all beings are equal and there is no difference!

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