How to Make Extraordinary Wishes

on Heaven Descending Month?

Heaven descending Month is a very special month because it contains the festival to respectfully welcome Shakyamuni Buddha back to the human world — Heaven descending Day.

Seven days after the birth of the Buddha, his mother Maya passed away and was reborn on the thirty-third day. After the Buddha attained enlightenment, he realized through his supernatural powers that his mother had become a heavenly being, so he went to the Thirty-three Heavens in person to teach Dharma to his mother for more than three months. During this period, many heavenly beings and Lady Maya accompanied and surrounded the Buddha, and Buddha graced them with the supreme blessing of the dharma. After finishing his teaching, the Buddha returned to the human world from the top of Mount Sumeru. The 22nd day of September in the Tibetan calendar is the day of Heaven descending Day.

Therefore, the entire September of the Tibetan calendar is different because of the Buddha's festival. During this period of time, if we recite Amitabha Buddha, or Six-Character Great Bright Mantra, or other good deeds, our merits will increase one hundred thousand times. From the perspective of the Buddha's Birthday Dharma Ceremonies, September is one of the branches. The main ceremonies are the entire month of June. There are three months for the Buddha's Birthday Dharma Ceremonies, namely January, June, and September in the Tibetan calendar.

Since September of the Tibetan calendar is the special month for our fundamental dharma and spiritual teacher Shakyamuni Buddha, to help his mother escape reincarnation and ascend to heaven to preach the dharma, we, as disciples of the Buddha, must also follow the example of the Buddha's behavior of repaying his kindness to his mother. Make a vow: to do your best to take good care of your parents in this life, never say bad or rude words to them, and serve your parents with gentle words and deeds at all times.

Let’s take a look at two cases.

The story of the Venerable Moggallana

The Venerable Moggallana was number one in supernatural power among the ten top disciples of the Buddha. But even so, he could not escape the reincarnation of cause and effect, and was eventually killed by heretics.

Once up on time, Moggallana and Sariputta used their supernatural power to go to the realm of hells and the realm of hungry ghosts to benefit sentient beings. They saw a heretic master who was reborn in hell after death and suffered endless pain.

The heretic master asked these two Venerables to return to the human world and tell his heretic disciples that the teachings of heretics were incorrect and upside down. The true and accurate Dharma and deeds were taught by the Buddha. He expected his disciples to give up the heretics and follow the teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha.

When the two Venerables returned to the human world, Sariputra first went to tell the pagans, but because Sariputra had no mind connection with the pagans, they did not hear them. Later Moggallana knew that Sariputra conveyed to the heretics but with no effect, so he went there alone and told the heretics the message conveyed by their master.

Unexpectedly, these heretics were very angry when they heard this, thinking that Venerable Moggallana was deliberately insulting and slandering their master. So the heretics gathered all the disciples and beat Moggallana with wooden sticks until his flesh and blood were vague and he was dead. His corpse was abandoned among the reeds and grass.

In fact, according to Moggallana achievements in cultivation and supernatural power, even the combined power of all sentient beings in the ten directions and three realms cannot move a hair on his body, let alone only these heretics?

This is because Moggallana had scolded his mother in his previous life, saying that she should be beaten to pieces like reed grass. This verbal karma has not been fully repaid in many lives and calamities. After becoming an Arhat, he still had to receive retribution. Therefore, because of the mature bad karma, Moggallana was as fragile as an ordinary person and had no ability to resist and escape the attacks of heretics.

The story of Buddha

The Buddha was reincarnated as the son of an Indian businessman in the past, named Zayao Ziniu. In ancient times, India had a special caste system. Whatever the fathers did, the children must inherit the father's legacy.

The mother of Zayao Ziniu kept him at home in order to prevent him from going into the sea to hunt for treasure like his father, which would put his life in danger. When Zayao Ziniu grew up, he asked his mother: "What kind of business did my father do before?" His mother lied to him: "Your father used to sell grain."

When he knew that his father was not a grain seller, and at that time, his mother made up another lie and said: "Your father sells incense," and so on. His mother made many lies to conceal his father's true business. When he knew the truth, he returned home angry and said to his mother: "Since my father is in the business of fishing for treasure in the sea, I must also go to the sea to fish for treasure."

Before he was about to set off on the boat, his mother held him tightly by the corner of his clothes, cried, and told him: "Although your father is in the business of fishing for treasure from the sea, you must not do it anymore, otherwise you will die in the sea like your father."

However, He had made up his mind and had to go. He thought to himself: "Now I am going to go fishing for treasure in the sea, and my mother is still crying and saying such unlucky words!" At that time, he was very angry and kicked his mother in the head. After that, they set off with the fleet and headed to the sea to find treasures.

Because Zayao Ziniu kicked his mother in the head, he was reborn in hell next life, suffering the pain of an iron wheel spinning above his head, causing his brain to burst and the brain plasma to spew out. At this time, he felt great regret for kicking and beating his mother during his lifetime.

Zayao Ziniu made a wish: "I hope that I can bear the sins of all those who have kicked and beaten their father and mother on their behalf, and I hope that these sentient beings will no longer suffer the pain of the iron wheel spinning on top of his head!"

When he made vow like this, the iron wheel on his head suddenly "popped!" and fell to the ground. He was immediately relieved from the boundless pain, rose into the sky, and enjoyed the peace of liberation.

According to esoteric Buddhism Sutras, killing parents is an evil karma and one will be in Endless Hell forever. So we must make a good vow in September, the month when Heaven descends: In this life, we must take the best care of our father and mother. Do not say anything that would displease the parent. Do not do things that annoy the parent.

The living conditions of many elderly people today are not very good. When they call their children, very often no one answers their calls. When they are sick, they can only defecate and urinate in bed, which is great suffering. Therefore, we must follow the example of Lord Buddha, maintain it with Bodhicitta, serve our parents very well, and repay kindness to our parents. It is also mentioned in <The Words of My Perfect Teacher> that supporting and caring for elderly parents, taking care of bedridden people, and supporting guests from afar just as the same as practicing great compassion with emptiness, have very great merits.

How can we serve our parents properly? The Buddha said in the Sutra: "It is difficult for a son to repay the kindness of his parents even if he carries his parents on his left and right shoulders and circles the earth three times. If he can bring his parent into the right Dharma, he can repay the kindness."

Therefore, the best way for us to repay our gratitude to our parents is to guide them to recite Amitabha Buddha, and Avalokiteshvara's Mind Mantra, and ask them to eat vegetarian food as much as possible. If they cannot do it, we cannot kill any animal for them. We can buy three pure meat (not kill for them, not see or hear the killing, already cooked meat) for parents to eat. Since beginningless time, we have been constantly in the circle of birth, aging, sickness, and death, so we must not only support our parents in this life but also accumulate merits through listening, thinking, and practicing Dharma and dedicate them to our parents in past lives.

So how can Heaven descending Month help them? That is to make a vow to eat vegetarian food and release animals, and then dedicate the merits of practicing good deeds during this special month to our parents of all generations, wishing them to be liberated from reincarnation as soon as possible.

The kindness of our parents to us is indescribable. From the perspective of human beings, if the child is seriously ill, the mother is willing to sacrifice her own life to save the child. From an animal perspective, when a young yak is besieged by a lion, all the other yaks are scared away. Only the mother of the calf rushed over to protect her baby and endured the pain of being eaten. Is this because mothers don’t cherish their lives? No, it's because the existence of children is greater than the meaning of one's own life.

Master Padmasambhava once said: "Don't make the elderly worry, but respect them and protect them."

Therefore, we should not say a single harsh word to our mothers and fathers, let alone beat or scold our parents. We must take care of them with all our hearts so that they can spend their old age peacefully.