About 5 years ago, one of my disciples performed the initiation ceremony for the stepson of a General in the police force. Possibly because of his having heard about the wonderful, mystical experience from his stepson, the General invited the disciple to his house in order to find out more about the supernatural. Following some discussions and exchange of stories, the General and his wife decided to ask for the initiation ritual.

The initiation ceremony requires one to recite the name of God or a religious leader whom one worships, but when the General was asked in which Buddha’s name they’d like to pray to, he replied, without hesitation, that they would like to pray in the name of Uncle Ho, the North Vietnamese leader. The disciple was surprised by this request, but composed herself and suggested that they choose a Buddha or some other religious leader.
Finally, both of them agreed to pray in the name of a certain religious leader to comply with the ritual of initiation. Approximately 20 minutes later, the General stopped praying and shared the mystical experience he just received. He was very emotional when he recounted this long story:
On one occasion, as he was at Tan Son Nhat airport, catching a flight to Hue, in the central part of Vietnam, he saw the police stopping an elderly monk. The police were about to escort him back to the police station for further questioning. The General came over and learned that the monk was arrested because he had some bars of gold on him. He found out that the gold came from donations which the monk would be using toward repairing his monastery in Hue . The general decided to intervene, and the monk was released and free to board the plane to Hue .
From then on, they became close friends, a secular soul and a religious soul confiding in each other.
Later on, they rarely had a chance to meet, except for one occasion when the elderly monk became ill and was treated in a hospital in Saigon. When he was discharged from the hospital, he visited the General in his wheelchair, before going back to Hue .
A few years later, the general heard that the elderly monk had passed away.
Just then, during the initiation ritual when he did not know to whom to pray, he thought of the elderly monk and prayed to him. Then through his ‘third’ eye, he saw the elderly monk in a wheelchair smiling at him. He was both stunned and moved as he looked at the monk for about 5 minutes.
When the disciple said goodbye, the General and his wife personally accompanied her all the way from the house to her car, with their umbrella in their hands as it was raining. They sincerely thanked her for her help.

About 1 month ago, a disciple told me about a pilot, a family friend, who also wanted to pray in Uncle Ho’s name after he heard about Secret Buddhism’s Initiation. This disciple also was surprised, and told him to choose the Buddha’s name instead.
If only I had been there, I would have checked back with the Divinities and perhaps that General and the young pilot could have been granted with their wishes.

In truth, there have been cases whereby some of my disciples have asked to recite the name of Quan Thanh, a Saint, protector of the North, instead of a Buddha’s name as they felt much closer to Quan Thanh. They still received their spiritual confirmation.

Until next time
Old_Guru Sept. 7, 08