In ancient Chinese beliefs, righteous and honest livelihood is important. In this article, I would discuss on how wrong livelihood (that involve killing beings, immoral or harmful activities) can bring ill luck and misfortune to future generations. I would also quote cases from the late Master Lu Jun Hong, where he had attributed cases where some children who suffered mental deformities or mysterious illness were caused by deeds of killing (hunting, killing, etc).
Drugs trafficking and opium trade
If you are visiting Malaysia, each time before the airplane lands, the air stewardess will make the service announcement that drug trafficking is viewed as a grave offence and punishable with the death penalty. Both Malaysia and Singapore have executed a number of people, including foreigners who are found to be trafficking drugs.
There is a good reason why both countries decide to impose the capital punishment if illegal drugs exceeding certain grams are found in the person. Because when drugs destroy lives, many of them being youths. Drugs can turn a hardworking and honest individual into a lifetime addict who sometimes even may kill their own family members to get money for their fix.
Capital punishments aside, karmically livelihood that caused destruction of lives of others would likely bring misfortune to descendants for minimum of 3 generations. I want to tell you a true story.
My mother’s birth mother (my maternal grandma) and father had came down to Malaya from China. It was said that one side of their ancestors were involved in the opium trade but my grandparents had nothing got to do with those activities. My grandma was not able to have a son by birth. She gave birth to 7 daughters. Just read below to see if it seemed to be a jinx or not:
My mom’s grandparents
- Maternal grandfather- caught by Japanese during the Japanese occupation in Malaya in the 1940s. Was tortured and finally died by being made to drink a lot of water till the stomach got bloated and being stepped on. He died shortly after my mother, the youngest of 7 daughters were born. That was why my grandma, a widow at a young age, could not afford to keep my mother and sold her to a servant family.
- Maternal grandmother- My grandma worked hard all her life, by tapping rubber. Being active, she still developed diabetes till she had to amputate her legs. First, amputation on both knees, then when she passed, she had half her upper thigh left and was wheelchair bound.
My mother and her sisters (photo below)
Each one of the sisters were afflicted by illness. Those who died were prematurely and suffer from illness. The above is the only complete photo of the 6 sisters taken at my cousin’s wedding. Within 5 years from the photo taken above, my mom had tonsil cancer and three of her sisters had passed away due to illness. It is as follows:
- Eldest sister- paralyzed and passed away due to stroke complication
- Second sister (not in picture)- pass away from leukemia when I was in my teens
- Third sister- passed away from nose cancer
- Forth sister- passed away from dementia
- Fifth sister- passed away from stroke (her entire body was paralyzed, she was only able to move her eyes)
- Sixth sister- still alive but had stroke and paralyzed
- Seventh sister- my mom who had tonsil cancer 21 years ago and nearly could not make it. Now she has late stage Alzheimer’s and is on nasogastric tube feeding.
Livelihood of harming others, bribery or selling one’s own body
My mom worked as a nurse and was briefly involved in patient counselling. She used to remark that the offspring of the women who sold their body to earn usually do not end up good. She believed that if children raised by money earned through unwholesome deeds, generally they would not end up good. The children may be disobedient, defiant or suffer from many illnesses.
On the contrary she said, women who lived in poverty raised their kids through washing clothes and plates or any hard and honest labor usually end up with successful and filial children. It is as if the mother’s hard work and resilience brings luck to the children.
Kind to others
My mom herself was very kind to her friends. When all of them were young mothers, sometimes a colleague’s child may fall sick and the mother was worried and distressed. My mother would always ask them to go back early and she would cover for them. She used to make the aspiration that in future, may her children be given a chance and a break. When I came out to work after graduation, I landed in the one of the top company in my industry. I do not flatter, nor bother with dressing up and makeup. Yet in my career, I had been blessed to have helpful people who noticed and look a liking on me and gave me chances. I always felt the breaks I got was due to the blessings from my mother.
Bribery and harming others
Some people amassed money illegally through bribery and misuse of power. They may also harm others, for example get people sacked even though it is not justified to do so. It is akin to breaking other’s ricebowl. They may not suffer the retribution but I have seen retribution on their children, which is where it hurts the most.
Some people are tough and fearless, they are not afraid of sickness and pain.
But if they see their children suffer, or become defiant and cheat away their money, it breaks their heart like no sticks, bones or illness on their body would. I have another post where I have written about real cases from Master Lu where children and person who develop paralysis and degenerative illness due to deeds of killing within the family and ancestor line.
Fisherman and illness in the son:
The man’s child suddenly develop mental and neurological disorder. The boy has lose his hearing ability and is slowly becoming mute. The man (from Sabah) told Master Lu that his grandfather, his father and he himself worked as fisherman as their occupation.
The man said originally when his son was a child, he had high fever and was in a vegetative state. Doctors could not help him and he had sought some help of some spiritual practitioners who managed to heal the son completely. Master Lu said if the child is healed completely, he would not have hearing and neurological issues. Master Lu mentioned if he really healed, then there would not recur. He said in order to heal, need to do chanting to transcend these spirits of animals that they have killed. He said there are a tonne of fish spirits in his son’s body and if he did nothing, his son’s condition will not improve and eventually he would become mute.
There was also other videos where children have mental issues where the family were butchers.
Case below, the husband’s family slaughtered pigs. Master Lu saw spirits of many animals residing in the body of the boy. He also warned that the lifespan of her husband would not be long because of the deeds from slaughtering animals in his family, and his father’s health by now would be very bad.
Below, the case of a child who is very hyperactive with low IQ. The lady’s father had killed many cows.
Master Lu also warned that the boy had a very very bad karmic ties with his mother. If she did not chant the “Mantra to Untie Karmic Ties” and perform spiritual practice, the child would cause her a lot of harm in future. He said he hope not to read the case in the newspaper one day. Hence, sometimes cases where we read about people killing their family members is actually a ripening of the past grave kamma. It can be prevented if they do spiritual practice to reduce the severity of the kamma.
Isn’t it unfair for descendants to suffer from the bad deeds of ancestors and parents?
On the surface, it may seemed unfair that an innocent child is to made to suffer due to the deeds performed by others.
However, the truth is, the child is also born with the supportive karma to receive that type of retribution, ie being afflicted with illness or developing physical and mental health issues that caused the parents a lot of anguish and money. It is said that some children had bad karmic seeds which would likely ripen one day but is now ripening earlier because they are born in that family.
A way to understand is this: As Buddhist, we believe that there are 6 realms of birth: Hell, Ghosts, Animals, Asura, Heaven and Human realms. If one is reborn in a good place, ie heaven, then the bad karma would remain dormant and would not ripen during that duration there. But if one goes to an unfortunate rebirth, then the condition of living makes it easier for the bad karma to ripen.
In some cases, the children born to that family are ‘karmic debt collectors’, ie they come to collect debts- either amassing the family wealth, breaking their parent’s hearts or displaying strong behaviourial issues (which normally come into fruition because spirits had occupied the child’s body).
Conclusion
I have lived long enough to see retribution falling on people who did bad deeds. Usually, these are seen years later in their old age (illness) or in the form of heartbreak due to their children.
For example, my mom had a few nasty bosses during her time who had abused their power and acted based on their whim and fancy. After my grandaunt passed away when I was 9 years old, there was no adult who could look after me and my younger brother (my late dad worked in the press so he came home after midnight only). My mother went to her superior, cried and begged to be given an office hour clinic (my mom was working on shift in a medical ward that time) so that we would not be left alone at night.
Her boss could have just rejected her application. But instead, the boss was so nasty and transferred my mother to of all places, labor room. Labor room is one of the toughest unit to work in and it is a 24 hour shift. It was worse than the spinal ward where my mom was based at. My mother was forced to leave me and my brother, then 9 and 7 yrs old respectively and go to work at night shift (those days it was not as dangerous as now). It was just the two of us but my mom had no choice- she could not get any help. Few times, I cried in terror as electricity was suddenly cut off just as she was leaving for work. My mom told me she cried all the way while she walked to take the night bus to work. That time we did not have a housephone. Handphone was not yet invented yet.
Many years later, a few of them, who were known to be nasty during their heyday developed stroke and got paralyzed in their older age. One of them was sleeping one day and had a dream she was travelling in a car, got into an accident and was thrown off the car. As the dream was so real, she moved and fell of her bed. She broke her neck and remained in a vegetative state.
Therefore, we really need to reflect carefully on the deeds that we are doing. If it is harming others, we seriously need to stop. Do not cheat others, hurt or destroy livelihood of others. All these can come back to kick us in the face one day. Maybe we do not see it now, as our children may be now top scorers and obedient. But with time, they may suddenly change when they suddenly get caught up in the wrong company that leads them towards a downward spiral of addiction and depression.
If we have been honest and good, when we encounter life issues and prayed sincerely, our prayers may be answered because we are not so weighed down by the unwholesome kamma that we have performed.
