ZenZong Buddhism

praying to be reborn in the Pure Land

Ngày đăng: 06-02-2021

there are a lot of monks practicing praying to be reborn in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. Does this practice yield any results?

Crown Prince Tran Anh Tong asked the 82nd question:

“Your Majesty, I know I have asked you too much, but please answer my last question about the practice of praying to be reborn in the Pure Land:

- In Thang Long capital, there are a lot of monks practicing praying to be reborn in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. Does this practice yield any results?

Can you tell me this last thing, Your Majesty?”

King Tran Nhan Tong answered Crown Prince Tran Anh Tong the 82nd question - the final questions:

“Crown Prince Tran Anh Tong, Buddha never taught this practice of praying for others to be reborn in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. This is only a hoax some monks think up to make money. Even Buddha himself cannot pray for anyone to be reborn in the Pure Land, how can any ordinary monk be capable of doing that?”

The King looked at Official Ly Long Thanh and said:

“Governor of Long Bien, Ly Long Thanh, present yourself in front of the hall and tell me, the Crown Prince and the Seniors about the fraud case of the practice “praying for others to be reborn in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss” you handled last month?”

Official Ly Long Thanh presented himself to King Tran Nhan Tong, Crown Prince Tran Anh Tong and the Seniors:

- Last month, a man named Dinh Quoc Thai, 25 years old, came to Long Bien palace and reported that:

- Last year, after his mother died because of illness, a neighbor named Trinh Thien Thanh, 50 years old, told him that:

- “In Thang Long capital, there is a monk named Ven. Thich An Duc, head monk of Thien Phuoc pagoda. He is very talented; whatever he prays for will come true. Now that your mother has passed away, you should come to ask Ven. Thich An Duc to hold a praying ceremony for your mother to be reborn in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss so that she can enjoy eternal happiness.”

Being a good son, Dinh Quoc Thai immediately did as Trinh Thien Thanh told. He went to Thien Phuoc pagoda and invited Ven. Thich An Duc to his house to hold the ceremony so that his mother can enjoy eternal happiness in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss.

-Ven. Thich An Duc asked for 50 guans.

-Dinh Quoc Thai bargained down to 30 guans, then 40 guans.

- However, Ven. Thich An Duc maintained that the price was 50 guans.

Ven. Thich An Duc said:

“If we cannot reach an agreement, then I will go to another family. Any person I hold a ceremony for is 100% sure to be reborn in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss and happily live an eternal life there.”

Master Thich An Duc continued:

“If you cannot even give your mother 50 guans to live happily forever, are you really a good son? I tell you, my praying ceremony is actually worth 100 guans, not only 50 guans.”

Hearing that, Dinh Quoc Thai immediately went to borrow 50 guans to pay for the praying ceremony”

Exactly one year later, Ven. Thich An Duc returned to the house of Dinh Quoc Thai and told him:

“Your mother is now a hungry and thirsty Forsaken Spirit. You must buy votive paper and clothes for her immediately and I would hold a ceremony for her to escape the Forsaken Spirit Realm. This time I will only take 30 guans”

Hearing this, Dinh Quoc Thai pondered for a while, then told Ven. Thich An Duc:

“Tomorrow please invite some more monks to hold the ceremony for my mother and I will pay each of you 50 guans, not 30 guans.”

Hearing this, Ven. Thich An Duc left happily. After that, Dinh Quoc Thai came to our palace and told me everything.

I asked him:

- So how would you like me to handle this monk?

Dinh Quoc Thai said:

“Governor, in Thang Long Capital, there are many Buddhist practitioners who do not really practice but use the name of Buddhism to trick naive people like me. I have come to realize that 40% of the monks in the capital are all taking advantages of Buddhism. Ven. Thich An Duc is one of those. Today I come here to ask you for one thing:”

“Tomorrow, please assign two guards in civilian clothes to my house to record the exchange between me and Ven. Thich An Duc. After that, you can handle him in accordance to the Law of Dai Viet”

The next day, two guards dressed in civilian clothes came to Dinh Quoc Thai’s house.

As arranged, Ven. Thich An Duc came with five monks to hold the ceremony for Dinh Quoc Thai’s mother to escape the Forsaken Spirit Realm.

When Ven. Thich An Duc and the monks had finished the ceremony, Dinh Quoc Thai invited everyone in the house to a table to have some refreshments.

Dinh Quoc Thai said:

“Greetings to Ven. Thich An Duc and the monks as well as everyone present here. First of all, I would like to extend my gratitude to our Ven. Thich An Duc and all the monks for holding the ceremony for my mother to escape the Forsaken Spirit’s realm”

Dinh Quoc Thai continued:

“Before I pay Ven. Thich An Duc and all the monks here, I would like to ask everyone at this table:

- According to the law of our country, if a citizen swindles 10 guans out of another, how shall he be punished?”

Ly An Thanh, one of the disguised guards stood up and answered:

“As the Ministry of Justice stipulates, if one swindles 10 guans out of another, he/she will be sentenced to 3 years in prison!”

Dinh Quoc Thai rose and said:

“Guard La An Thanh, Guard Tran Quoc Cang and everyone here, let me tell you about my mother's case. Last year, after she died of illness, I came to Ven. Thich An Duc and asked him to hold a praying ceremony for her. He promised me that he would send my mother to the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss so that she could live happily forever with the price of 50 guans. There are two witnesses here: Tran Quang Thanh and Trinh An Trung.

But now he tells me that my mother has become a Forsaken Spirit! He asked me to buy incense and votive paper for him to hold another ceremony to take her out of the Forsaken Spirit Realm.Then his promise last year about sending my mother to the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, witnessed by Tran Quang Thanh and Trinh An Trung, was broken.

Yesterday, I went to Long Bien palace to report this to the authority and the governor assigned these two guards Ly An Thanh and Tran Quoc Cang to come here to verify my story.

Everything I told the Governor is 100% true. As to how to handle this, I leave to the two guards.

Everything Dinh Quoc Thai reported was all witnessed by the two guards, Tran Quang Thanh and Trinh An Trung. That was enough basic for Ven. Thich An Duc and the five monks to be escorted to Long Bien palace to receive the Governor’s judgement in accordance to the law of Dai Viet.

Official Ly Long Thanh told King Tran Nhan Tong, Crown Prince Tran Anh Tong and the Seniors:

According to Article 6 of the Criminal Code of Dai Viet: Ven. Thich An Duc has committed two offences:

First: Fraud

Second: Superstition

In total, the criminal was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Ven. Thich An Duc pleaded to all his guilty and begged Dinh Quoc Thai to drop the charges. In exchange, he would make a compensation of 500 guans to him.

Dinh Quoc Thai agreed to this.

Our palace had sent a report of this case to the Imperial court and the King.

When the Long Bien Governor had finished the story, all the people in the hall laughed. One said:

“- He entered the pagoda, but he is not willing to practice.

- Making up ceremonies like this to extort money from people is really a shame on Buddhism!”

Senior Truong Trong My stood up and said:

“His Highness, when you have become King, please order all Buddhist pagodas to have clear methods they practice on their sign boards. About the pagodas promoting making offerings, please order them to switch to other paths or else they will continue to disgrace Buddhism”

This request was applauded by all.

Excerpt from book 11 - Teachings of king Tran Nhan Tong to crown prince about governance, religion, liberation formula and the truth on this earth

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