An Example of One Blessing Warding Off a Hundred Calamities

Shiji Xinghe: An account shared with me by a fellow practitioner: In 2019, this fellow practitioner contracted myasthenia gravis, and the doctor said he probably would not live more than three years. Not long afterward, he came across a very large turtle at a market, priced for sale at twenty thousand yuan. He did not have much money left on him, but he still bought the large turtle and then released it. Because of this act of releasing life, his body recovered instead, and he has remained well all the way to the end of 2025.

Assessment: Most people would not do this, because they only pay attention to their own immediate interests such as money, and do not consider the interests of others, nor do they consider cultivating merit for themselves. People who put self-interest above all else are extremely short-sighted and selfish. As a result, they do not gain benefit from it—on the contrary, they lose benefit—and even when they lose it, they do not know it. And so, life after life, they drift through their days without merit and without wisdom.

Ru Zhao: Because I am sustained by merit, many dangers have been resolved without my even being aware of them. Once, a car came crashing in sideways at us, and our car had no choice but to brake hard, nearly flipping over. Just when we thought the car would flip, it miraculously came to a smooth stop. During the COVID-19 pandemic, almost everyone around us was infected, yet no one in our family was infected. I myself have not received a single vaccine shot. When influenza is rampant in winter, I hardly ever get sick; sometimes when I feel unwell, sitting quietly in meditation for a while restores me, or if my head aches a little in a dream, I wake up from sleep and it is gone.

When non-human beings disturb me in dreams, the Buddha's name and the Śūraṅgama Mantra have played their role countless times, delivering me from danger. I do not work, yet I have never lacked clothing or food; our family's life has actually gotten better and better. I do not have the worries that most people have, so I look younger than others my age. That is why I deeply feel that merit is extremely important—it is a hundred times more effective than worldly money. Many dangers cannot be averted no matter how much money one has, but merit can help us get through difficult straits.

Whether in dreams or in reality, I do not fear death. Often, even though life is free of want in food and clothing, I do not wish to live too long. Besides reciting the liturgy, I also release life and rescue living beings, and in daily life I do my best to help people and practice generosity (dāna). After it became a habit, even occasionally forgetting to do it leaves me feeling something is missing. So I sincerely urge fellow practitioners to seize the opportunity and diligently cultivate merit. There is no need to consider anything for yourself—the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will arrange everything for us invisibly. The arrangements of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are a million times better than our own scheming and plotting with all our wits.

Ru Hua: My grandmother, because of heavy karma of killing, was plagued after middle age by diabetes and all kinds of illnesses. The fortune-teller said she could only live to sixty-four. Later my grandmother took up Buddhism and was extremely devout, entrusting her whole heart and body to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Now she has lived to seventy-five, and nothing has happened to her.

Ru Chun: Great merit not only suppresses one's own calamities but can also suppress the calamities of others. A person endowed with merit is like the sun in the sky, able to shine upon and nourish all things, melting ten-thousand-year glaciers, helping people drive away severe cold, darkness, evil, and disaster. In daily life, if a family has an elderly person of profound merit, the household is usually harmonious—though not greatly rich and noble, it is free of disasters and difficulties. And when such an elder passes away, misfortune often follows for the family. Just as my grandfather was simple, pure, and kind, living to ninety-six without illness or pain; under the shelter of his merit, our whole family lived in peace and safety. Less than half a year after the old man passed away, disaster fell from the sky, and a close family member died at a young age. 

If a nation can attract a Buddha or Bodhisattva to abide in the world, that being can protect the nation with favorable weather and peace and security for the people. The merit, wisdom, and radiance of compassion of the Master are like ten-thousand-zhang sunlight. Under the Master's teaching and protection, we have all grown in merit and wisdom, escaped poverty and hardship, and are gradually walking the path toward liberation from birth and death. Though we strive in cultivation and cannot shine like the Master, illuminating the world with boundless radiance, at the very least we can first become a small stove, warming ourselves and others.

Assessment: Merit can eliminate karmic obstructions, suppress calamities, and extend lifespan. As for those who constantly deplete their blessings of merit, when the blessings are exhausted, their lifespan comes to an end. Even though such people's faces look as though they have the appearance of blessing, they still must die, and some must even commit suicide. While their blessings of merit have not yet been exhausted, their outward appearance shows the marks of blessing—even fortune-tellers say they have a blessed appearance. Yet when they die while still young, many fortune-tellers fall silent: clearly they had a blessed appearance, so how did they die early? The fortune-tellers are utterly baffled. They do not know that those people madly indulged in enjoyment, madly created evil karma; when the blessings were used up, there was no longer any basis or reason for them to go on living. The wealthy bosses who keep committing suicide and meeting with mishaps are due to exactly this reason—who in this world could think of this point!

From the various strange phenomena appearing in today's society, it can be proven in reverse: without merit, calamity arises; without merit, there is no life. Thus merit can suppress calamity, and merit can extend life. Many more people are very foolish: when faced with fame and profit, they choose fame and profit rather than merit. Clearly a single sentence could benefit others and bring merit to themselves, yet for personal gain they keep their mouths tightly shut and resolutely refuse to speak—unless they can obtain fame, money, and other benefits. But the result is that, without the support of blessings of merit, they gain neither fame nor profit; even if they gain them temporarily, they soon lose them. All fame and profit are sustained by blessings of merit and virtue; without that sustaining foundation, fame and profit have nothing to attach to. Sentient beings do not understand these principles and blindly chase fame and profit, only to end up with nothing in the end—so foolish that one can only sigh, wishing they could be made of sterner stuff. Some people seek fame and profit by creating evil karma—how could they possibly obtain fame and profit that way? Creating evil karma depletes blessings of merit; when the blessings are gone, how could fame and profit still exist? Utterly foolish!

Many people, after taking up Buddhism, actively protect the Buddhist teachings and protect the Three Jewels; their merit accumulates quickly, their karma is purified quickly, and their fate quietly transforms without their awareness—everything becomes smoother and smoother. Not only does their health get better and better, their appearance also becomes increasingly dignified, increasingly kind, increasingly pleasing to the eye. This is what genuine cultivation brings about: when the mind changes, the appearance changes, the fate changes, and all misfortune departs. If even one's appearance and demeanor show no change, then cultivation is certainly not taking effect. Everyone should look in the mirror and examine their own appearance: is there a blessed look? Is there flesh on the face? Is it full or not, square and rounded or not, dignified or not, magnanimous or not, kindly or not? If these features are absent, quickly find a way to get your cultivation back on track: reduce selfish and self-serving behavior, cultivate more goodness, accumulate more virtue and merit, lighten your afflictions, refrain from creating evil karma, and treat people with compassion.