Dao He the God (1)

■Book 111 - Roving Over The World

■Written by GrandMaster Sheng-yen Lu

 

I saw the biggest image of Dao He God in my life at the Yashimaji of Matsuyama in Shikoku Japan.

Frankly speaking, although I know of all the gods and their relations mentioned in the Buddhist Sutra, I have never heard of the term -Dao He God.

I can understand there are many great gods related to natural phenomena such as the gods of water, fire, earth, sun and moon.....

I am also familiar with such gods residing in the earth as the gods of river, land, mountain, cereal, tree and flower.

In the beginning, as the words imply, I thought Dao He (Paddy, Lotus) must be a god in charge of paddy and Lotus. But I was wrong, Dao He is a fox, which is also known as the great deity - similar to that of Hu Xian (vixen) commonly known in Northern China.

A beautiful folklore goes like this:

\`When Hong Fa the eminent monk was looking for a place to set up cultivation centre, he was lost in a fog. Unable to find the way out, he felt cold and hungry. A fox came to his rescue by radiating light to lead him to safety. Grateful for the fox`s kindness, Hong Fa the eminent monk erected a memorial temple for his savior.\`

Started from my visit to Yashimaji, I have noticed that many Japanese temples indeed enshrined Dao He god. 

I never looked down upon them as foxes whenever I saw them . Instead I started to chant Mantra, and transferred the merit to them. I wish all of them achieve the spiritual food and be enlightened in due course.

Later I heard some comments on the Dao He god by the Japanese.

\`They are very effective!\`

\`You will be rich, if you pray to them correctly.\`

\`\`Many Japanese do believe in Dao He god; in fact there are many religious organizations set up to make special prayers to the Dao He God.\` 

To my surprise, like China, foxes are highly respected in Japan. They are extolled to the level of God and deity.

As you know, I am an accomplished medium who can communicate with the other world. I am going to tell you what happened:

After my prayer ,we went down to have our meal at a nearby restaurant at the foot of the mountain. Before eating, I relaxed my breathing and sat upright. My hands formed a specific mudra, I chanted the mantra for offering and soul deliverance while my mind concentrated wholeheartedly. At this moment, all the Dao He Gods came to visit us. Respectfully, I bowed and welcomed all of them.

I told my disciples to remain silent to show our respect to our guests!

When in Japan, I had spiritual responses with Hong Fa the eminent monk and Achala. These spiritual responses are beyond imagination. I had reached a stage of oblivion, that I was able to let go of all attachment, and had a unification of nature, Buddha and self.

Its a beautiful experience seeing the Dao He gods. As I had no intention, they came naturally. The sight of them was very vivid, as I had never seen so many foxes in my whole life.

They were like goddesses, radiating harmonious lights in the air. They danced in front of me. From their clear and deep eyes, I knew they were the Dao He gods.

They looked elegant.

They smiled like Japanese girls.

They were very courteous.

As they wore gorgeous Kimono, I was dazzled and had to close my eyes quite often ,

This spiritual response was puzzling and full of fun. I liked the Dao He gods. I would not run away, as I knew they came with good intention. When I wrote this article on the Dao He God, I want to highlight the fact that all sentient beings have Buddha nature, even the souls of animal are no-exception. I treasured the good time I had with them.