A Lotus Comes to Receive, Amitabha Buddha Appears: Two Accounts of Buddha-Recitation for the Deceased
True Account
A Lotus Comes to Receive, Amitabha Buddha Appears: Two Accounts of Buddha-Recitation for the Deceased
Reciting the Buddha's name for the departed is one of the Dharma services our center carries out throughout the year: at the request of the public, we go out—to funeral halls, or to people's homes—to hold Buddha-recitation services for the deceased. In the course of two such visits in 2025, family members shared with the center what they had seen with their own eyes. We record it here just as it was told, to share this affinity with all.
On 21 May 2025, a family member contacted the center, requesting that a Dharma master come to a funeral hall in Shah Alam, Malaysia, to hold a Buddha-recitation service for the deceased for her late father-in-law. The service began at eight o'clock each evening.
Unexpectedly, in the course of those few days of services, something happened that the family found inconceivable. After the second evening's recitation service had ended, one family member came hurrying over to ask: "Master, yesterday the umbrella on the coffin suddenly fell down—there was a loud thud, and we thought the coffin itself had toppled over. It gave us such a fright! Master, why would the umbrella fall down? Could there be some other ‘friends' around? It's so frightening… Should we put the umbrella back or not?"
The Dharma master replied: "Perhaps it was not placed properly, or someone brushed against it in passing, or perhaps a strong draught blew it down. Please set your minds at rest; there is no need to be afraid—Amitabha Buddha is here. As for whether to put the umbrella back, you may follow the funeral home's customs, or arrange it as you see fit."
The family member said: "I don't think so. The umbrella had been there for several days, and nothing happened; and it couldn't have been the wind—there isn't even any air-conditioning back there, so where would a draught come from?"
The family were still puzzled. The Dharma master offered a few more words of comfort, and encouraged them to recite the Buddha's name.
After the third day's service had ended, the family came over in great excitement and said: "Master, about the umbrella falling that we told you of yesterday—we know the reason now! One of our family members, while Master was leading us in reciting the Buddha's name, saw a great, great lotus flower, shining with light, come down from the sky and settle exactly where the umbrella had been placed on the coffin. We tried afterwards to put the umbrella back, but each time we put it there it kept falling down, so we left it off."
The family then asked: "Why was the lotus so large? So big, so very big… What does this mean?"
The Dharma master said: "This should be the departed ascending the jewelled lotus, received by Amitabha Buddha, and reborn in the Land of Bliss. In the Amitabha Sutra the Buddha says that the lotus flowers of that land are ‘as large as chariot wheels.' What was seen accords with what the sutra describes. So please recite the Buddha's name with peace of mind, and we shall all meet again in the Land of Bliss." The family went on to request the center to come and conduct services for them again.
On 29 May 2025, another family member contacted the center: her husband had passed away and the funeral had been held, and she hoped the center could arrange for Master to come to her home to hold a seventh-day service for him. At six o'clock that evening, a Dharma master and volunteers went to the home to hold a Buddha-recitation service for the deceased.
A few days later, this family member contacted the center again, and passed on what her nineteen-year-old daughter had experienced on the day of the service. The daughter said: "During the first round of recitation, with my eyes closed, I saw a Buddha standing before me—all white, shining with white light, standing upon a pink lotus flower. During the second round, with my eyes closed, I saw the upper half of the Buddha reaching out his hand to me. I placed my own hand upon the Buddha's hand, and then I saw that my body too was shining with white light. During the third round, with my eyes closed, I again saw the upper half of the Buddha—only this time, his hand was resting upon my head."
The daughter also said: "Each time I saw that Buddha, his eyes were like two fine lines, and his hair seemed to be curly." She recited along with the Dharma master, and felt that the Buddha was looking at her all the while.
Both of the accounts above were shared by family members during the center's outside services in 2025. In truth, on every such visit, the Dharma masters and volunteers do nothing more than recite this one Name, "Namo Amitabha Buddha," with an ordinary mind. Responses of this kind are never what we set out to seek; what is recorded here is simply what the families saw. May all who read this share in the joy of the Dharma and recite the Buddha's name with peace of mind—protected by the Buddha in this life, and reborn in the Land of Bliss at its end.
Namo Amitabha Buddha
Respectfully recorded by the Pure Land Dharma Center, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
A Note from Master Jingben
There are many ways of holding services for the departed; and among them all, reciting the Buddha's name for their sake is the most direct and the most excellent. Why is this? Because the Name "Namo Amitabha Buddha" is the Name of myriad virtues, which Amitabha Buddha perfected in order to deliver all beings—and wherever this Name reaches, there the light of Amitabha reaches. When we recite the Buddha's name in a funeral hall, it is not that we ordinary beings have any power of our own to deliver the departed; rather, through this Name we place the departed into the hands of Amitabha Buddha: the Buddha's light embraces them, old enmities are dissolved, and hearing the Name, they are received by the Buddha. As Master Yinguang said, "Know that of all Buddhist rites, reciting the Buddha's name carries the greatest merit." This is precisely his meaning.
So when a loved one in your family passes away, the most important thing is to recite the Buddha's name for them. To invite a Dharma master to lead the service is good; but even when conditions do not allow for that, and only the family themselves recite, the merit is just as real. Each recitation of "Namo Amitabha Buddha" reaches the ear of the departed, and every one of them is Amitabha's own call. Namo Amitabha Buddha.
This article was finalized in August 2026.
微信分享
扫描二维码，或复制链接分享
