Examples of One Blessing Overwhelming a Hundred Calamities

Century Star River: A story shared with me by a Dharma brother: In 2019, this brother contracted myasthenia gravis. The doctor said he would likely live no more than three years. Not long after, he encountered a very large turtle at the market, priced at twenty thousand yuan for sale. Although he did not have much money left, he still bought this large turtle and released it. Because of this act of releasing life, his body was instead unharmed, and up to the end of 2025, he remains fine.

Commentary: Most people would not act this way, because they only focus on their own immediate wealth and interests, without considering the interests of others, nor do they contemplate their own cultivation of merit. Those who prioritize self-interest are extremely short-sighted and selfish. As a result, they do not benefit themselves; instead, they lose out, and are unaware of the loss. Thus, they drift through life, life after life, without merit or wisdom.

Ru Zhao: Because I am sustained by merit and virtue, many dangers have been unknowingly resolved. Once, a car came crashing sideways into us, forcing our vehicle to brake suddenly. We nearly overturned. Just as we thought the car would flip, it miraculously came to a stable stop. During the COVID-19 pandemic, almost everyone around me was infected, yet my entire family remained uninfected. I myself had not received a single vaccine shot. During the peak of the winter flu season, I almost never fell ill. Sometimes, if I felt unwell, sitting quietly in meditation for a while would help me recover, or if I had a headache in a dream, I would wake up after sleeping and be fine.

In dreams, when disturbed by non-human beings, the Buddha’s name and the Shurangama Mantra have played their role countless times, helping me escape danger. Although I do not work, I have never lacked food or clothing. Instead, my family’s life has been getting better and better. I do not have the worries that most people have, so I appear younger than my peers. Therefore, I deeply feel that merit and virtue are extremely important—a hundred times more useful than worldly wealth. No amount of money can reverse many dangers, but merit and virtue can help us overcome difficulties.

Whether in dreams or in reality, I do not fear death. Although I lack nothing in life, I do not wish to live too long. Apart from giving Dharma talks, I also engage in releasing and rescuing lives. In daily life, I try my best to help others and practice giving of wealth. Once it becomes a habit, I feel something is missing if I occasionally forget. So I advise all Dharma brothers to seize opportunities and diligently cultivate merit, without worrying about personal matters. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will invisibly arrange everything for us. Their arrangements are a million times better than our own painstaking and scheming calculations.

Ru Hua: My grandmother, due to heavy karma from killing, suffered from diabetes and various illnesses after middle age. Fortune-tellers said she would only live to sixty-four. Later, my grandmother took up Buddhism with great devotion, entrusting her entire being to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. She has now lived to seventy-five and is doing well.

Ru Chun: Great merit not only suppresses one’s own calamities but can also suppress those of others. A person of merit and virtue is like a sun in the sky, able to illuminate and nourish all things, melt glaciers, and help people dispel cold, darkness, evil, and misfortune. In daily life, if a family has an elder with deep merit and virtue, the household is often harmonious. Although they may not be extremely wealthy, they are free from disasters. Once this elder passes away, misfortunes often follow the family. For example, my grandfather, who was simple and kind, lived to ninety-six without illness or pain. Under the protection of his merit, our family was safe and sound. Less than half a year after his passing, disaster struck from the blue, and a close family member died young.

If a country can attract a Buddha or Bodhisattva to reside in the world, it can protect the nation, ensuring favorable weather and peace. The Master’s merit, wisdom, and compassionate radiance are like the brilliant sunlight. Under the Master’s guidance and protection, our merit and wisdom grow, we escape poverty and hardship, and gradually walk the path to liberation from birth and death. Although we diligently cultivate and may not shine as brightly as the Master to illuminate the world, we can at least first become a small stove to warm ourselves and others.

Commentary: Merit can eliminate karmic obstacles, suppress calamities, and prolong life. For those who continuously deplete their blessings, when their blessings are exhausted, their lifespan ends. Although these people may appear blessed in their facial features, they still must die, even by suicide. When their blessings are not yet exhausted, they outwardly seem blessed, and even fortune-tellers say they have auspicious features. Yet when they die young, many fortune-tellers fall silent. Clearly blessed features, yet why the early death? Fortune-tellers are baffled, unaware that these people indulged in pleasure and committed severe evil deeds, exhausting their blessings. Without blessings, there is no foundation or reason to continue living. This is why wealthy bosses constantly commit suicide or encounter disasters. Who in the world could imagine this!

From the various strange phenomena in today’s society, we can inversely prove that without merit, calamities arise; without merit, there is no life. Therefore, merit can suppress calamities, and merit can prolong life. Many people are very foolish. When faced with fame and profit, they choose fame and profit over merit. Even when a single word could benefit others and bring them merit, they remain tight-lipped for personal gain, refusing to speak unless they receive fame, money, or other benefits. Yet, because they lack the support of merit, they obtain neither fame nor profit. Even if they temporarily gain them, they soon lose them. All fame and profit rely on the support of merit and virtue. Without this supporting foundation, fame and profit have no place to attach. Sentient beings do not understand this principle. They blindly chase fame and profit, only to end up with nothing. Their foolishness is lamentable, making one wish they could be more steadfast. Some seek fame and profit through evil deeds. How can they possibly attain fame and profit? Committing evil deeds consumes merit. Without merit, how can there be fame and profit? How foolish!

Many people, after taking up Buddhism, actively support the Buddhist teachings and the Triple Gem. Their merit accumulates quickly, and their karmic obstacles are swiftly eliminated. Their destiny quietly transforms without them even realizing it. Things become increasingly smooth in all aspects. Not only does their health improve, but their appearance also becomes more dignified, more compassionate, and more pleasing to the eye. This is the result of genuine cultivation. When the mind changes, the appearance changes, and destiny changes. All misfortune departs. If even one’s appearance and temperament have not changed, then one’s practice is certainly not effective. Everyone should look in the mirror and examine their own appearance: Do they have the features of good fortune? Is there flesh on the face? Is it full and plump? Is it square and round? Is it dignified? Is it magnanimous? Is it kind and gentle? If these features are absent, one should quickly find a way to get one’s practice on the right track, reduce selfish behavior, cultivate more good deeds, accumulate merit and virtue, lessen afflictions, refrain from evil deeds, and be compassionate towards others.