Through the Surgery, the Buddha's Blessing
True Account
Through the Surgery, the Buddha's Blessing
With reverence to the Dharma masters of Amitabha Temple, Namo Amitabha Buddha.
With a heart full of gratitude and joy, I wish to report to the masters what I myself experienced during my cervical spine surgery on 18 August—how I was blessed by the compassion of Amitabha Buddha. If there is anything in this account that is not in accord with the Dharma, I humbly ask the masters to correct me.
For many years I have suffered from a cervical spine condition. The nerves were compressed, and my right arm was often numb and painful. This year an examination found that the disc between C7 and T1 was severely herniated, and surgery was necessary. At the same time I had an old rotator cuff tear in my right shoulder; the doctor told me that the surgery carried considerable risk, and that the shoulder injury would have to wait three months after the operation before it could be treated.
The surgery took place on the morning of 18 August. Lying on the operating table, I felt afraid, and so I kept reciting "Namo Amitabha Buddha" silently in my heart.
After the surgery I was taken to the recovery room. As the anaesthetic gradually wore off, my right arm hurt beyond all bearing—like being cut with a knife, like being burned by fire. Thinking that the shoulder injury could not be treated for another three months, and that the doctor had said there was "only so much that could be done," I could not hold back my tears and wept, feeling utterly helpless.
And then, as I lay there weeping, something I could never have imagined happened: I saw, clearly and distinctly, Amitabha Buddha appear before me! The Buddha was towering; only the upper part of his form was visible, standing before my bed, his face compassionate and majestic. Amitabha Buddha slowly reached out his hand: first he gently stroked the crown of my head, and then he lightly touched my right arm, where the pain was.
It is beyond belief, but where the Buddha's hand touched, the terrible pain at once eased by more than half. My eyes filled with tears. I wanted to look more closely, but the Buddha's form gradually faded away. Just then a nurse came over, wiped away my tears, and asked how I was feeling—and only then did I realize that my arm truly did not hurt so much any more.
At the moment when I was in the greatest pain, the Buddha came. I deeply believe that this is the inconceivable merit of this Name—Amitabha Buddha is compassionate, and never forsakes the children who recite his name.
On 23 August, the Master kindly sent a message to ask after me. I am well; the wound has not hurt at all since, and I am now recovering in hospital in Singapore. I am grateful for the Master's concern, and grateful too for the compassionate care of Amitabha Buddha.
Namo Amitabha Buddha
With palms joined, Fo Ting Submitted to the Pure Land Amitabha Temple, Singapore
A Note from Master Jingben
It is in sickness and pain that we see most clearly how powerless we are. Lying on the operating table, all the learning, wealth and standing of this world can do nothing for us; we cannot even command our own bodies. Fo Ting says so herself, quite honestly: as she lay there, she was still afraid. This is exactly what we ordinary beings are like. And Amitabha Buddha's compassionate deliverance does not despise us for it: he does not ask whether you are afraid, nor how deep your practice is; he asks only whether you have recited this Name. The moment the Name leaves our lips, the Buddha hears it.
That the Buddha's hand touched her and the pain grew less is a showing of Amitabha Buddha's compassion, and we rejoice with her. If the Buddha could come to her bedside at the moment of her greatest pain, how much more will he come to us who recite his name at the end of our lives? For this one illness, the Buddha reached out his hand to comfort her; for the great sickness of birth and death, Amitabha Buddha comes himself to deliver us. The illnesses of this life will pass in the end; but the great sickness of birth and death—only this Name, "Namo Amitabha Buddha," can cure it.
May all lotus friends who are suffering from illness do just this: recite the Buddha's name when you are afraid, recite when you are in pain, and recite when all is well. Namo Amitabha Buddha.
This article was finalized in September 2026.
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