An Example of One Merit Suppressing a Hundred Calamities

Shiji Xinghe: A story 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 after, he came across a very large turtle at the 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 up to now, at the end of 2025, he has remained fine.

Assessment: Most people would not do this, because they only focus on their own current money and other benefits, never considering the interests of others, nor the matter of cultivating merit for themselves. People who put benefit above all else are extremely short-sighted and selfish. As a result, they do not gain benefit from this; on the contrary, they lose it—and even when they lose it, they do not know it. Thus, life after life, they muddle through without merit and without wisdom.

Ru Zhao: Because I have merit supporting me, many dangers have been resolved without my even being aware of them. Once, a car came crashing sideways toward us, and our car had no choice but to brake suddenly, 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 was rampant in winter, I hardly ever got sick. Sometimes when I felt unwell, sitting quietly in meditation for a while would restore me, or if my head ached a little in a dream, a good sleep would make it go away.

When non-human beings disturbed me in dreams, the Buddha's name and the Śūraṅgama Mantra worked countless times, delivering me from danger. I do not work, yet I have never lacked clothing or food; life at home has actually gotten better and better. I also do not have the worries that most people have, so I look younger than others my age. Therefore, I deeply feel that merit is extremely important—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 times.

Whether in dreams or in reality, I do not fear death. Often, even though life is free from worry about food and clothing, I do not wish to live too long. Besides doing my daily recitation lessons, I also release 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 would leave me feeling something was missing. So I sincerely urge fellow practitioners to seize the opportunity and diligently cultivate merit, without worrying about anything for yourselves—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 afflicted after middle age with diabetes and all sorts of illnesses, and fortune-tellers said she could only live to sixty-four. Later my grandmother took up Buddhism and was extremely devout, entrusting her whole body and mind to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. She has now lived to seventy-five, and nothing has happened to her.

Ru Chun: Great merit not only suppresses one's own misfortunes but can also suppress the misfortunes of others. A person with merit is like the sun in the sky, able to shine upon and nourish all things, melt glaciers of ten thousand years, and help people drive away severe cold, darkness, evil, and calamity. In daily life, if a family has an elderly person of deep merit, the household is usually harmonious—though not greatly rich and noble, it is also free from disaster and hardship. But once such an elder passes away, misfortune often follows for the family. Just like my grandfather, who was simple, honest, and kind, and lived 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 prosperity for the people. The merit, wisdom, and radiance of compassion of the Master are like ten-thousand-fathom sunlight. Under the Master's teaching and protection, we all grow in merit and wisdom, escape poverty and hardship, and gradually walk the path toward liberation from birth and death. Though we strive in cultivation and cannot shine over the world like the Master, we can at least first become a little stove, warming ourselves and others.

Assessment: Merit can eliminate karmic obstructions, suppress calamity, and extend lifespan. As for those who constantly deplete their blessings of merit, when their merit is used up, their lifespan comes to an end. Even though these people's faces look as though they have blessings, they still must die, must even commit suicide. While their merit has not yet been exhausted, they outwardly appear to have blessed features—even fortune-tellers say they have blessed features. But when they die while still young, many fortune-tellers fall silent: clearly they had blessed features, so how could they die early? The fortune-tellers are utterly baffled. They do not know that those people madly enjoyed their blessings and madly created evil karma; when the merit was used up, there was no longer any basis or reason to go on living. The constant suicides and mishaps among wealthy tycoons are precisely for this reason—who in this world could think of this!

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 over merit. Clearly a single sentence could benefit others and bring themselves merit, yet for the sake of 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 merit, they gain neither fame nor profit; even if they gain them temporarily, they will soon lose them. All fame and profit are supported by blessings of merit; without that supporting foundation, fame and profit have nowhere to attach. 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 gain fame and profit that way? Creating evil karma depletes merit; once the merit is gone, how could there still be fame and profit? How utterly foolish!

Many people, after taking up Buddhism, actively protect the Buddhist teaching and protect the Three Jewels; their merit accumulates quickly and their karma dissolves quickly, and their destiny quietly transforms without their awareness—everything becomes smoother and smoother. Not only does their health get better and better, their appearance also becomes more and more dignified, more and more kind, more and more pleasing to the eye. This is genuinely cultivated through true practice: when the mind changes, the appearance changes, destiny changes, and all misfortune departs. If even one's outward appearance and bearing show no change, then one's cultivation is certainly not effective. Everyone should look in the mirror and examine their own features: is there a blessed look? Is there flesh on the face? Is it full or not, square or round, 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 and accumulate more virtue and merit, lighten your afflictions, refrain from creating evil karma, and treat people with compassion.