Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

g. Another benefit is that one gets rid of all sorts of
troubles and dangers. Even disease may fail to attack a
person whose mind is centered purely upon devotional
practice. In a Commentary by Confucius on the Yi Jing,
he has written: "If three bad men burst into your room,
what will you do? Reverence will give you peace!"
Mr. Chen then smiled very sweetly, clasped his
hands together reverentially, and made little bows
to his imaginary intruders. "In this way, " he said,
"with a meek manner and humble mind, treat them
as honored guests. Very much trouble will then be
avoided. Even sinful people, if respected, will not
give one any trouble."
h. It also gets rid of misdeeds. When the impulse arises
to commit some unskillful deed, at that time the five
sorrows are uppermost in one's mind. However, when
the mind is full of devotion and the body occupied with
worship, while words of holy homage appear upon the
lips—at that time no precept can be broken, and no evil
committed.
i. Devotional practices make the gods happy and so it
becomes easy to attain rebirth among them. A good
friend of mine was a devoted Buddhist who repeated
Amitabha's name thousands of times every day. On the
vacant spaces on the walls of his room and on the walls
of many others, he wrote the holy name. Every time he
met a person, he asked them also to repeat this Buddha's
621