[97] In The Night When Sleeping Mindful Of The Buddha Seeing His Light
夜间睡中念佛见光
Testimony:
When asleep at night with lights off, I heard ‘myself’ chanting Āmítuófó’s (阿弥陀佛: Amitā[bha] Buddha) name aloud. Suddenly, I woke up and saw my room filled with orange light for a few seconds, before it returned to darkness. With this experience (and the explanation below), I will sincerely practise Niànfó (念佛: mindfulness of Buddha) till the day I reach his Pure Land (净土).
🙏 南无阿弥陀佛 🙏 Námó Āmítuófó : Serene NHP
14 March 2023
Notes:
[1] Extraordinary yellow-gold light (黄金光), which might resemble orange in part at times should be the Buddha’s light (佛光). As the room was actually dark, the light should be from him, not somewhere else. Vajrayāna (金刚乘) practitioners who might be more accustomed to thinking of Amitā[bha] Buddha being deep red in colour might see his light appearing similarly. As firm connection to the Buddha in our world is usually only for a while, experiencing the light for a few seconds is already remarkable. If we can see it all the time, we would be in Pure Land already.
[2] Experience of auspicious signs due to everyday life practice is most common in terms of extraordinary fragrance filling the room (异香满堂) and/or bright light (光明). Seeing the Buddha (见佛) is much more rare. There is no need to pine to see him now, as he will surely arrive when departing with sincere Niànfó, with Faith (信) and Aspiration (愿).
[3] What heard was a variation of ‘heavenly’ music filling the sky (天乐盈空), as the chanting was in terms of one’s own voice. More common forms of heavenly music filling the sky are in terms of another extraordinary voice or more heard together, sometimes with extraordinary musical accompaniment too.
[4] It is with adequate practice of Niànfó in everyday life, that it even seeps into the dreaming (or subconscious) state habitually, functioning like auspicious ‘echoes’ from waking life. Of course, the more wakeful mindfulness there is, the better it is, with firmer connection.
What probably happened was that with your regular Niànfó practice, it became so much a part of your life, that you even dreamt of yourself practising it when sleeping, as if becoming your own fellow practitioner (同修) and support-chanter (助念者).
It could also be that the Buddha manifested the sound of Niànfó in the most familiar voice, your own. When hearing Niànfó wholeheartedly, you are practising Niànfó too, thus able to connect to the Buddha’s blessings. This Niànfó was also blessed by the Buddha’s light, as his way of assuring you, encouraging you to continue with your sincere practice.
[5] This is great assurance, a reminder that when we have sincere Niànfó, Āmítuófó’s blessings are always around, whether we experience them in obvious and expected ways or not. We will never be alone, not even when sleeping and dying. There is thus no need for us to worry about possibly departing alone without support-chanting (助念) if we already practise sincerely and regularly in everyday life, as there will be support-chanting due to our practice, functioning as ‘wake-up calls’ guiding us, as manifested by the Buddha, or offered by Bodhisattvas (菩萨) and Dharma-protector gods (护法神).
[6] If we keep experiencing auspicious signs (瑞相) in everyday life, we might take them for granted, become complacent and lazy, thus backsliding (退转) in our practice, making it less likely to reach Pure Land. Thus, we should not keep pining for signs out of greed and impatience, with which they will not arise. We should simply practise sincerely, with any auspicious signs that then arise being surely authentic and not imaginary, hallucinatory or demonic.
相关感应录
Related Testimonies:
[114]: In The Early Morning Waking, Seeing Golden Light
早晨醒时见金光
https://purelanders.com/2024/10/02/114-in-the-early-morning-waking-seeing-the-buddhas-light
[84] How I Guided My Mum To Āmítuófó’s Pure Land
https://purelanders.com/2021/12/13/how-i-guided-my-mum-to-amituofos-pure-land
[75] How I Did Group Cultivation With Niànfó Alone
独自共修念佛记
https://purelanders.com/2021/02/17/how-i-did-group-cultivation-of-nianfo-alone
相关教理
Related Teachings:
Āmítuófó Has Long Since Prepared How To Save And Deliver Us
阿弥陀佛早已预备如何救度吾人
https://purelanders.com/2024/09/17/amituofo-has-long-since-prepared-how-to-save-and-deliver-us
(Image by starline on Freepik, for illustration only)