Acquiring a new life through prostrations to the Buddha
【Explanation of the Confession to the 35 Buddhas Practice - Notice 2】 Acquiring a new life through prostrations to the Buddha
By Teacher Zhen-Ru, 15/12/2017
There was a young girl whose illness was diagnosed by her doctor to be incurable and would definitely die. Her mother found a senior monk who asked her, “Do you wish to see me? Complete three thousand prostrations before you come.” The girl seemed to have infantile paralysis (polio) since childhood. She had walking difficulties and could hardly crawl. Yet, prior to meeting the senior monk, she had to complete three thousand prostrations first. Her mother told her, “In any case, since you are going to die, you do not need to be concerned with your body. Thus, just do your prostrations! Should you die from doing them, take it as a form of repentance.” Hence, the girl started prostrating and indeed completed three thousand prostrations. She was still alive after completing them. She crawled towards the senior monk and said, “I’m going to die. What should I do?” He replied: “Die means death. What can you do about it?” She replied, “At least give me a solution.” The senior monk told her, “If you really wish to heed my advice, go back and continue with the prostrations.” This was the one and only medicine. She went back and continued to prostrate, prostrate and prostrate!
When she began to feel better gradually from her prostrations, her mother gave her an uphill task to complete one million prostrations. In order to complete it, she prostrated daily, notwithstanding her disability! She prostrated daily. To what extent should she be doing this? Feeling pressured by her mother, she deemed it too painful to live on and consumed some poison. However, the immediate next moment, it occurred to her, “What am I doing? It’s still better to be alive!” So she quickly shouted, “Mother, I drank poison!” Her mother rushed over. Fortunately, the poison had not taken effect. Her mother’s lifesaving method then was to give her two tight slaps and send her to hospital immediately. She was saved. The doctor could have eliminated the poison through gastric lavage which was quite a painful process.
After she discharged from hospital, her mother told her, “Continue with the prostrations!” So, she continued and completed one million prostrations. From that day, she realized her life began to transform. She felt that there wasn’t anything that she could not achieve. Though she was disabled, she could still accomplish many things. Outwardly, her body was formerly severely bent. But it is not very obvious now. She commenced her tertiary studies and also took up drawing. She eventually became a famous artist. Originally, with her severely bent body and trembling hands, she could not draw at all. Through prostrations to the Buddha, she has acquired a new life.
【三十五佛忏讲记—预告 2】拜佛活出新人生
参考书本位置：《吾愿无悔：三十五佛忏讲记》第 199 页第 8 行起
有一个小女孩，已经被医生判断是没救了，一定得死。她妈妈找一个大师，那个大师就跟她说：「想见我啊？磕完三千个头再来。」这个女孩子好像从小是小儿麻痹还是什么，走路都成问题，都爬不动了，要见这个大师求命还让我拜三千礼拜。她妈妈就跟她说：「反正你也就是要死的，你也不用在乎你这身体，你就拜吧！拜死了也行，还忏悔。」然后这个女孩就开始拜，真把三千礼拜拜完了，拜完之后她还没死。我想像那应该差不多就爬去的，爬到那个僧人面前。她就说：「我要死了怎么办？」那出家人就跟他说：「要死就死呗，还能怎么办？」她说：「那总得给我一个办法呀！」那个高僧说：「如果你一定要听我一个办法的话，那就回去继续拜。」就是这一个药！她就回去了，回去了就开始拜、拜、拜！
拜着拜着好像身体慢慢好起来之后，她妈就给她规定一个很可怕的课程，就是一百万个礼拜。她为了完成就每天磕，她是身体残疾嘛！她每天磕，磕到什么程度呢？他被妈妈逼到说，实在太痛苦了，不想活了，她就喝毒药。但是毒药喝进去一刹那间，她突然觉得：「我在干什么呀！还是活着好。」所以就开始大喊：「妈妈，我喝毒药了！」她妈妈就及时赶到，那时候药性还没发作，她妈妈救她的方式就是上去先扇两个嘴巴，然后再送医，但她还是被救下来了。医生把那个药用什么办法吐出来，可能是洗胃什么，那个是挺痛苦的。
出来之后回到家，她妈说：「继续拜！」所以她就继续拜，完成了她的一百万个头。等到完成的那一天，突然她的人生开始改变，她觉得没有什么她达不到的事情，虽然是身体残疾，但是她依然可以做很多很多事情。从外表上看，她原来身体严重倾斜，后来几乎已经看不出来倾斜了。然后就开始上大学，开始画画，后来就成为一个很知名的画家。她原来身体严重倾斜手是抖的，是不能画的，她就是透过礼佛，得到了新的一种人生