The Singapore Bedok Reservoir became the talk of town since Jun 2011 till Feb 2012, after a series of suicides occurring in the reservoir where 8 lives were claimed. The whole nation was shaken. A group of grass root leaders invited representatives from the 8 largest religious groups to perform a soul deliverance ritual on site, but on the very same day, another body floated on the surface of the water. There was a feeling of fear in the air. On 11 Mar 2012, Acho Rinpoche came to the reservoir with a few of his students; quietly, he performed a soul deliverance ritual for the deceased. The ritual subsequently unveiled, yet again, the inconceivable power of the Dharma, and the state of existence of the Six Realms yet to be understood by many. ~~ By The Editor
Acho Rinpoche:
Last night I mentioned about the many strange things that happened at the Bedok Reservoir recently, and the person-in-charge requested me to help bless the place. Today, a few people followed me to the reservoir and I will let them do their sharings. First, I would like to invite Dharma Sister Bing to do her sharing because she felt very sick after our prayer last night. Could you tell us about how you feel last night and how do you feel today?
Dharma Sister Bing:
Last night after prayer, I suddenly felt that my head had become weightless and that I could not feel its existence. It was a very strange feeling. I could still touch my body and my head, but I just could not feel my head. I could not go home because of that funny feeling – it was like a balloon that is so easily blown away the moment it is being touched. I did my blood test recently and there was no sign of low blood pressure, and my health has been in pink all the while, neither did I skip my meals. I used to go home early after the prayers but I just could not make it home last night. So, I decided to stay on longer and ate something. I thought I would feel better after eating but nothing had changed. Finally, I thought I must go home and so I told Acho Rinpoche about my situation. He gave me a special blessing, after which I regained some strength and could finally took a taxi home.
I continued to “float” when I reached home. When I lied down in my bed, suddenly I felt extremely dizzy and the world swirled around me – it was a very terrible experience! I told my head, “I will ignore you now! I am so exhausted and I must go to sleep! I need to follow Acho Rinpoche to Bedok Reservoir tomorrow.” I fell asleep and woke up the following morning. I felt slightly better in the morning but the floating sensation still persisted – it only disappeared after 1pm today.
We arrived at the Bedok Reservoir around 3pm. When I closed my eyes and recited the Heart Sutra, I had a vision of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. He appeared in the space before us, and I “saw” a very huge bright light, flashing like camera flashes. It was a very pure and bright light of white color, continuously flashing and blessing the sentient beings. The light remained visible during our recitation of the High King Sutra. After the soul deliverance rite, I felt completely normal and comfortable again.
I am not sure if this has to do with what I did about 1 to 2 years ago? After participating in a Smoke Offering Ceremony here, I took some of the holy water and poured them into the Bedok Rerservoir, with the intent to share it with the sentient beings there – after all, it is a public place. I recited the heart mantra of Acho Rinpoche while pouring the holy water into the reservoir. I am not sure if these 2 events were related.
Dharma Brother Shao:
After I got the notice from Dharma Sister Sim on our planned visit to the Bedok Reservoir 3 days ago, I volunteered to fold 7 paper lotuses to be used in the soul deliverance rite. After working on it for the second day, I left some of the finished products in my living room and went to sleep. I had a dream where I saw an old woman sleeping right next to me – giving me a shock! I woke up from my dream but slept soon after, as I did not bother about it. However, I had a second dream next. In my dream, I found myself in the living room, and I saw a few children intruding into my house with their mother. I tried to stop them but they just refused to leave. I understood the meaning of the dream – the spiritual beings were quick in knowing our intent and they came even before the paper lotuses were done.
I went along with Acho Rinpoche and few others to the Bedok Reservoir today. It was a very powerful soul deliverance rite. When Acho Rinpoche was performing the rite, I just stood there and made my own observation. I meditated and “entered” the water – the water was dark and murky. There was an invisible force of suction that perpetually entrapped the sentient beings within the water – it was where their negative karmas entangled together. I saw an invisible layer of mist above the surface of the water slowly ascending upward – they were the spiritual beings. In the space above my right hand side, Bodisattva Avalokitesvara appeared, emitting the brightest white light on the surface of the water, bringing them away.
Acho Rinpoche:
So, you can now correlate the events: About 2 years ago, Dharma Sister Bing poured the holy water into the reservoir and recited my heart mantra at the same time, thus sowing the seed of affinity and causing the maturity of the condition for a soul deliverance rite to be performed today. Her feelings of “no head, dizziness etc’ were the exact feelings of the sentient beings stranded in the water. It was telling you about their terrible feelings of floating, rocking and great discomfort. They lived constantly in pain. Imagine if a person is to live in such pain every moment, what will it be like? It will be very terrible! We, the practitioners, should be compassionate and help to free them from the sufferings. Your constant feelings of floating, headlessness and dizziness are a mere reflection of their sufferings. It was very fortunate that you acted out of compassion and bodhicitta to help them, and that created the condition for the soul deliverance rite today.
The representatives from the 8 main religious groups were invited to help in vain. One of my colleagues subsequently requested my help because he is in-charged now. In the past, he used to seek my help instantaneously whenever he encountered some problems. One of his staff personally saw a foreign worker walking into the water and his body floated on the surface of the water on the following day. (The foreign worker continued to walk into the water despite being stopped by the staff. The worker even told the staff to go ahead and report it to the police.) His staff felt very bad, for the worker just died like that. Several of his staff also saw other inauspicious events happening around the place. So, my colleague requested me to go some time ago but I was too busy with my work that I could only go today. And I asked Dharma Sister Bing to come along.
Well, you have heard the stories about what happened today. Today is the birthday of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. So, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was the one who would bring them away. We just recited the Heart Sutra to let them hear the teachings, and let them know the emptiness of this world – there is nothing worth being attached to, they should quickly take a rebirth and leave this human world as well as the spiritual world. They know full well the state of sufferings in that space, and only the power of the Buddha and Bodhisattva could help free them. It was exactly as told by Dharma Sister Bing, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara showered upon them the bright light and brought them away. Finally, when the paper lotuses were burnt, we saw a big piece of ash rising into space when there was no wind blowing at the time – it was meant to tell us that these sentient beings were delivered by Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara.
In the evening, when we went for dinner, we saw a double rainbows appearing in the sky. Rainbow appearing after a soul deliverance rite is an auspicious sign that tells us “These sentient beings were already delivered by the Buddha and Bodhisattva to the Western Blissful Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha.” Take a look at the sufferings of these sentient beings trapped in the water. Our Dharma Sister Bing only suffered for a very short period of time and she could not take it. Could one imagine the level of pain when one has to face such situation everyday? So, I am telling everyone now – DO NOT COMMIT SUICIDE! Once a person commits suicide, he will perpetually live in that state of suffering at the point of death. He can only be freed by a Buddha or Bodhisattva. I would like to thank Dharma Sister Bing for her act of compassion and bodhicitta, creating a good spiritual connection between the sentient beings and the Dharma.
A discourse given by Acho Rinpoche on 11 Mar 2012
