In September 2005 I was struck by news that was personally more shocking than the massive earthquake that rocked Formosa six years earlier. On the evening of September 14, I went with my two daughters to group meditation at the Taichung Center, and a few minutes before we entered the meditation hall my daughter received a phone call from a brother named Huang. While telling him that she would call back after meditation, she wondered why she had not left her cell phone in the car as usual, which would have caused her to miss the call. Then while meditating I received a surprising message from Master. “The corporeal body of your younger brother has become defunct. I am taking him Home. Don’t be upset,” She said in a grave voice. I was frightened and unsure about the message, and after the meditation session my daughter called brother Huang and learned that my 53-year-old brother had been moved to the intensive care unit of a local hospital! Early the next morning, we visited my brother at the hospital, and when I saw him lying on the bed, I finally understood why Master had said that She was going to take him Home. I then gave him a massage while reciting the Holy Names, and through Master’s blessing he began to feel much more comfortable. I also gave him a recent photo of Master and said, “If you’re suffering too much physically, when Master comes to take you Home you should go with Her happily.” And my brother replied, “I see many people standing by the door, and someone is knocking on the door above me.” I then knew that his time was running out because angels and saints had already come to meet him. When the intensive care unit’s thirty-minute visiting period was up we left the hospital, and by the time I got home and finished doing my household chores it was already eleven-thirty, so I began to meditate. While meditating I thought of the torment my brother had gone through - three morphine injections and two kidney dialyses in two days. Also, severe dehydration had reduced him to a miserable condition. So I cried in anguish, “Master, didn’t You tell me that You were going to take him Home? Why do You allow him to continue suffering?” I felt deep sorrow at seeing my brother enduring all those physical tortures, but I also could not bear to see him go at such a young age. I was gripped by these conflicting emotions for some time when I suddenly saw a very clear vision: My brother and I were walking on individual paths, separated by something. The two of us continued walking slowly when a bright Light suddenly appeared. I then loudly asked my brother to follow the Light and go at once. After a short while, another extremely bright, intense Light shaped like a tunnel appeared and I saw my brother enter the Light tunnel without looking back. I then came to and looked at the clock and it was past midnight. Recalling the vision I had seen, I was both sad and relieved. A short while later, a telephone call from Hsinchu informed me that my brother had passed away. Master, how can I ever repay You for Your grace? That night, I meditated until daybreak and at about four in the morning my brother came to see me, and waving both hands in joy he said, “Sister, I’m free at last! I’ve been liberated from the sea of suffering. Don’t grieve for me anymore!” He came just as usual as when he had visited my house telling me about his life. My oldest daughter then told me that while she was meditating at around five in the morning her uncle had come to see her and made a face at her. And at noontime, when we were watching one of Master’s DVDs, I saw my brother sitting in his usual seat watching Master’s discourse with us. At that moment I truly forgot that he had already left us. My brother and I loved each other dearly, so after he left, the pain in my heart persisted for a long time, and Master’s voice was my only source of consolation during that period. I fenced myself in because my grief was too intense and I could not overcome the emotions. Then one night, while I was crying in deep sorrow, my brother came to comfort me and said, “I’m living a wonderful life up there with Master, but the environment above is not conducive to spiritual practice.” He also asked me to stop grieving for him because it hurt him to see me in such agony, and hoped that I would put more effort into spiritual practice. So to avoid affecting him, whenever I missed him I would watch Master’s lecture videos. And thanks to Master’s merciful guidance, I gradually climbed out of the abyss of mourning I was in because I knew Master had really delivered him from the realm of suffering. After his departure from this world my brother visited the Hsihu Center several times, once during a Moon Festival celebration, and once at a two-day retreat. At first I thought that these visits were merely illusions caused by my intense memories of him. However, when a member of the Center’s Video Team told me that one of them had also seen my brother, I was extremely happy at this feeling of “oneness,” and thus knew my brother had accomplished his mission in this world and had completed the journey of life he had set for himself! I have been practicing the Quan Yin Method for eleven years now and besides guiding me on to seriously practice spiritually and discover life’s inner secrets, Master has also opened the door to Wisdom for me so that I can solve all my worldly problems. And from childhood to adulthood, I have acquired much knowledge, but the lesson I learned from my brother’s demise left me with a truly vivid and unforgettable insight.
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