An Indian native woman from Tulalip (about 60 km north of Seattle) of the Washington State, came to take refuge in Vancouver on 29th October, 2016. Her name is Verna Hill, about 50 in age. She mentioned about a school shooting case that took place in a high school of her district on 24 October, 2014. The shooter was a grandson of one of the tribal elders – and her nephew. Because he didn’t want to “go alone,” he invited his cousins (who were about the same age as himself) to meet at the school cafeteria, and shot them. Four were fatally wounded, and another was left in critical condition. The shooter then took his own life. The incident was reported in the media: Hundreds of people prayed in the church for the victims and their dependents on that day.
But the horror did not end there. Verna then recounted how, beginning in April of this year (2016), a rash of suicide attempts broke out among the teens of the tribe. Over a period of twelve weeks, a growing number of these attempts proved successful, with several of the teens making similar posts on Facebook before committing suicide: “I have lost so many friends, I can no longer bear to live. I want to go with them because life in this world is meaningless.” Ominously, they also wrote: “I can hear them calling me, whispering in my ear.”
As news of these events spread, so did the anxiety among the parents of the tribe. Everyone paid close attention to their children, growing frantic if one of them went missing for even an hour. Within just a few months, six teenagers ended their lives by hanging themselves. No one knew who would be next. The alarm and panic in the community were at fever pitch, and none of the local health care professionals, despite their best efforts, seemed capable of preventing yet another tragedy.
Native Indians in this region worship their ancestors as part of their traditional, shamanistic beliefs. Because many of their ancestors have generated heavy karmic debts through the offense of killing, they have been reincarnated in the ghost realm and have been unable to find deliverance. In the case of this school shooting, the situation is even more complicated, as the victims were in an acute state of fear at the time of death. Their sense of betrayal and rage meant that their spirit-incarnations continually sought relief by returning to their community and becoming destructively entangled in the lives of their peers. Some months prior to her taking refuge, Verna reported these matters to Nadia 。
Some months prior to her taking refuge, Verna reported these matters to lay practitioner Nadia Liu (Buddhist name: Fozhang), a Chinese herbal doctor originally from Taiwan. Verna is the patient of Nadia, who is also the doctor of many of the relatives of the teens who committed suicide.
Lay practitioner Fozhang found this situation to be urgent and told them, “You should practice Nianfo. Reciting Namo Amituofo should relieve your suffering.” She gave them some Amitabha recitation machines, and invited them to recite along while playing the recitation at home. Certain members of the community were receptive to the idea; they gratefully received lay practitioner Fozhang’s instructions and began to practice. There was even one 28-year- old woman who told how she once recited over 2,000 times in one day.
About four weeks prior to this writing, Verna told Lay practitioner Fozhang that the months-long wave of teen suicides had, at last, come to an end.
Verna said to me, “I came to Vancouver to listen to the Buddha’s teaching, and you give me hope that I truly can touch another world: the Land of Bliss. Through this teaching, I was able to send these blessings to my ancestors – and those helpless teens – that they could all be delivered to the Pure Land and liberated from their suffering.”
As Nadia narrated this to me in Chinese, Verna could not keep from sobbing. She understood well the inconceivable power of Amitabha-recitation, and her tears flowed freely in gratitude and release. All the karmic entanglements of the past few hundred years were resolved, and her ancestors were delivered and liberated. It was for this reason that Verna took refuge in Vancouver.
Since taking refuge, Verna regularly recites “Namo Amituofo.” People in her tribe are curious about the gold-plated Amitabha-Name pendant that she is wearing. They ask her what it is and touch it with their hands.
Amitabha-recitation is so simple. All people, without discrimination, are favored by Amitabha Buddha and can enjoy the benefits of his grace.
The members of this Indian tribe had not studied the Dharma and knew virtually nothing about Buddhism. They were totally unfamiliar with Amitabha Buddha, and yet they received the most efficacious response from him through the recitation of his name.
Faith in, and reliance on, Amitabha Buddha is not a kind of religion, and does not interfere with any other religious belief. Anyone who recites his name will be cleared of their karmic offenses, embraced by his light and reborn in the Pure Land. This is all through the power of Namo Amitabha. His name is a simple fact – a truth that anyone can put to the test. As in Verna’s case, proof of its effectiveness will not be found lacking.
No matter what religion one believes in, we all have basic needs. We all need to eat, drink, exercise, and enjoy the sunlight. Truly, we all need to recite Amitabha’s name, as well. (End)