by Yu-Chung Hsu of Taipei
The teaching of Mahayana Zengong encompasses the unity of essence and application. I have practiced it for more than ten years. The benefits from it upon my physical, mental, personality, and perspective of life are beyond description. The essential teachings and their effects are even harder to express in words.
The first experience of every new endeavor is always the most memorable one. I vividly remember that the first time after I learned the Relieving of Mental Shock, I showed off to my sisters and claimed that I could perform Relieving of Mental Shock to anyone regardless of their age. My folks treated it like a joke and burst into laughter.
I did not have a chance to try it for a long time until, back in 1993, my third eldest sister told me that a daughter of her friend had continuously cried for three days and nights. The whole family did not know what to do and could not have a moment of peace. Through my sister they asked me if I could do the Relieving of Mental Shock as I had claimed. To tell the truth, although I said yes, I did not have any confidence at all, because I had never done it before.
As soon as I arrived at friend’s building, I silently recited Homage to Buddha and the Confessional Prayer in my mind and physically practiced the Regulation of Breathing a couple of times to strengthen my Chi energy. After chatting with them, I went directly to the baby’s room. I saw a baby girl lying on the bed. Perhaps she was tired and exhausted due to excessive crying. She was sleepy yet could not fall asleep. She occasionally moved or wiggled a bit. Once, she heard the noise caused by my entering the room, and she burst into tears. That alerted her grandma, who hurriedly entered the room, picked her up, and rocked her tenderly. But it did not help. The parents and my sister got into the room about the same time. That was how the family had lived for the past three days. When the baby was too tired to cry, they got a break. As soon as there was noise, the baby cried again and they would rush in trying to comfort her.
No sooner had I started performing Relieving of Mental Shock when a smile appeared on the baby’s face. The baby girl immediately fell asleep while the mother held her in her arms. There were still teardrops hanging loosely at the corner of her eyes! The baby’s father, grandma and my sister stood right beside me, and we were all in disbelief. How come it was so effective and so fast! They expected that I would spend at least half an hour reciting Sutras and shaking bells or something. But it was all done in a few minutes. So inconceivable, the grandma was in a state of shock with her mouth wide open. A murmur of thanks broke from grandma’s lips. How come it is so easy?
Mike (the baby’s father) related what happened to his little girl. It all started when he took his girl to the bathroom, she got a shock due to the loud noise from the slamming door. Since then when Mike held her, she burst into tears right away. However, if her mother held her, his girl would just cry a little or did not cry at all.
Later, I was told that the baby girl slept all day and all night that day. Everything was all right after she woke up. I learned a few lessons from this precious experience. The most important one was that I strengthened my unshakable faith regarding Mahayana Zengong teachings and Ben Shi’s blessings.