Dharma Master Daozheng
Knowing that this ward was usually not open to visitors, I did not dare to enter. We took another elevator, again pressing the button for the surgical department. Strangely enough, when the doors opened, it was again the terminal cancer ward.
The third time, the same thing happened. This time, however, there were Tzu Chi volunteers waiting outside the elevator with warm smiles. They invited us to watch their sign-language performance for the terminal cancer patients, with the title "Spreading Love to the World". Finding it hard to decline such a warm invitation, we accepted and took our seats to learn from the event.
A patient before us had a large tumor on the face was sitting there listening to the volunteers' songs…(during the performance,) I could not hold back my hot tears. Just as I was wiping them away, a woman I never met before suddenly approached and respectfully knelt before me, saying, "Master, could I invite you to the ward to give my mother some Dharma guidance?"
Seeing a monastic in the ward, she had seized the opportunity to make a request. I thought that since most cancer patients are in low spirits, the family was probably asking me to encourage and comfort the patient. Of course, I was duty-bound to oblige. However, observing Tzu Chi's rules, I first asked the volunteers for their permission.
When I entered the ward, this patient had already been unconscious since that morning. Furthermore, her eyeballs would occasionally roll back and move around while she was moaning, looking like she was in considerable pain.
When I first laid eyes on the patient, I found her looking somewhat familiar. Amitabha! Then I remembered. We had briefly crossed paths in the past. A few months ago, I visited Tzu Chi for another reason and coincidentally walked past her hospital bed. She had been lying down, but upon seeing a passing monastic, disregarding the many IV tubes inserted into her body, she immediately struggled to prop herself up, wanting to get out of bed to prostrate to this monastic she had never even met before.
Seeing this, I could not bear it and hurriedly said, "Please, no need to bow." As I stepped forward to help her lie back down, she compliantly did so, pressed her palms together and smiled, apologizing for "not prostrating." I was very moved at the time and praised her.
Consequently, a volunteer standing nearby took the opportunity to introduce her, saying: "This patient is a Tzu Chi committee member, she has already signed papers to donate her body for medical school studies." Due to her natural reverence for the Three Jewels and her body donation, she left a particularly deep impression on me.
I never expected that months later, when we met again, she would be unconscious and approaching the end of her life… I asked her daughter, "Does your mother usually have any attachments or worries?" Her daughter replied, "No, she usually keeps repeating: I hope the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will come sooner to bring me to the Pure Land."
But I recalled her "body donation" and wondered if the physical agony at the end of life (due to the autopsy or extraction of organs) might cause her mind to become chaotic and attached. However, donating her body was already a fact, and at that critical juncture of impending death, it was not a time for analysing whether it was appropriate or not.
Rather than worrying blindly, it was better to quiet down, give rise to faith and recite Amitabha, praying to the Buddha. Therefore, I sat by her and quieted my mind, chanting Amitabha, praying for Amitabha Buddha to compassionately receive her and bless her transition to be free of any obstacles. I also prayed for Amitabha to guide me so that I would know what to do for her.
Everyone chanted Amitabha together. Strangely enough, her ward was filled with a group of people devoutly reciting Amitabha, who had actually arrived there by taking the wrong elevator! The elevator might stop at the wrong floor, but the law of cause and effect makes absolutely no mistakes! Even the Tzu Chi nursing assistant who usually cared for her knelt by her bed and chanted along. This was truly the inconceivable response from her daily faith and aspirations!
After chanting for a while, I said softly in her ear: "You are a great Bodhisattva, and we all respect you deeply. Since you have already donated your body, your body is now a 'body of Great Love'; it is no longer yours. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will naturally make arrangements for the body of Great Love. Therefore, you no longer need to worry about it, nor do you need to suffer for it. Just entrust this body of Great Love safely to the arrangements of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Amitabha Buddha and his ocean of retinue have already prepared a grand welcoming party to welcome you and present you with an award. Hurry up and go to Sukhavati to collect your award.”
As I said this, amazingly, she stopped moaning and even smiled. She reached her hand out from under the quilt, fumbling to shake my hand. However, her eyes still could not open. I brought the Great Compassion Water blessed by my benevolent master, Master Chanyun.
Dipping a cotton swab into the Great Compassion Water, I wiped it around her eyes, silently praying in my heart for Amitabha Buddha to bring her illumination and mindfulness. I hadn't expected it, but just as I finished wiping, she blinked her eyes, her rolled-back eyeballs returned to their normal position and she opened her eyes!
Honestly, I never anticipated such a dramatic turnaround. The Buddha's power is truly inconceivable! This also proves that through her daily faith in chanting Amitabha and her vow to be reborn in Sukhavati, even though she fell unconscious at the end of her life, Amitabha still had a way to help her. Amitabha's great vows will definitely be fulfilled and everything will be wondrously arranged. The Buddhas-Bodhisattvas not only arranged her deliverance but also helped our group by increasing our faith and aspiration.
Think about it, none of us in the group had ever met her and I was originally going to visit someone else. Yet, due to the karmic condition of the "elevator", we all ended up going to assist her with chanting. Isn't this incredible and interesting? Furthermore, her dramatic transformation after the chanting gave us tremendous faith and encouragement.
After she woke up, she asked the doctor, "Is my body completely useless now?" The Tzu Chi doctor was very compassionate and answered tactfully, "We all love you very much, but this is a natural process." She accepted this response calmly and requested supportive-chanting for her rebirth in Sukhavati.
We started chanting in the supportive-chanting room of the terminal cancer ward. It was a conducive and welcoming environment. Later, she passed away with a clear mind of mindfulness!
If it were arranged by human effort, it would be extremely difficult for our group to gather from everywhere in Taiwan to Dalin to chant for the duration of one incense stick. She didn't know where we lived or how to contact us either. Yet, her daily faith and chanting naturally invoked the blessing of Amitabha, causing everyone who took the wrong elevator to gather and assist in chanting.
I am sharing this story to encourage everyone. Amitabha’s vows are not empty promises. There will naturally be wondrous arrangements. We just need to believe in Amitabha’s power, rely on Amitabha’s power and chant Amitabha!
Whether there is intubation or not, whether the body is donated or not, Amitabha will arrange for our rebirth in Sukhavati. There is no need to waste energy doubting or debating on it. Those who worry too much simply lack sufficient faith; they should put more effort into "faith."
By focusing the mind's attention on faith in Amitabha, there will naturally be no obstacles. The Buddha can even save us from the hell realms —the mountain of knives and the forest of swords —blessing us to feel peaceful and be reborn in Sukhavati. How could trivial issues like intubation or body donation pose a problem to Amitabha?
If ordinary doctors can use anesthesia to stop pain, how much more so can Amitabha stop your pain when he comes? His blessings can certainly free one from pain and confusion.
One must believe that Amitabha has his own ways. Only then can one truly chant the Buddha's name peacefully without distraction. An undistracted mind at the end of life is achieved only through the compassionate blessing of Amitabha and the holy assembly.
It is the blessing of Amitabha that keeps us undistracted. Since it is the Buddha's power, what is there for us to worry about or debate? Rather than worrying blindly, it is better to chant Amitabha with faith.
Whether you are intubated or not, you are embraced by Amitabha’s vows and will be received by him. At the critical juncture of death, one only needs to raise one's faith and chant Amitabha. There is no room to discuss too many minor details. If the mind is consumed by thoughts and debate, it is not on chanting Amitabha, then it would be a great pity to miss this chance.
*About resuscitation and life-support*
Of course, if it is clearly known that the patient is on the verge of death, I do not recommend the extra act of "intubation." However, the problem is that this is very difficult to determine in advance. From the standpoint of the medical personnel or family members, they can only do their utmost to save the patient.
Whether it is the end of life depends on the outcome of the rescue efforts—if they can be saved, it naturally doesn't count as the end of life; if they cannot be saved, it is the end of life. In fact, there are also many people who were critically ill and were saved.
Therefore, if one is always telling people “do not resuscitate", there might also be the fault of "costing a person's life" or "treating human life with utter disregard." Unless the patient and their families decide beforehand to sign a refusal of resuscitation, medical personnel will be blamed if they do not attempt a rescue.
Thus, it is very difficult for bystanders to make this decision on their behalf. One should not decide for others as ordinary beings lack the clairvoyance to know the wish of the dying person. Using our scattered and delusional mind to self-righteously make any decisions on the patient’s behalf is not wise.
It is better to be humble and respectful, and to single-mindedly chant the Buddha's name. Then there will naturally be a good path forward.
For someone who is "already intubated," if one deliberately pulls the tubes right before death, from the perspective of their physical body, how is "pulling it out" not the trigger (that leads to death)? Everyone knows that touching a wound hurts more than leaving it alone, right? The patient might feel that they are being "suffocated", "deprived of their chance to live" or even "murdered".
If they have faith and seek rebirth in Sukhavati, of course there is no problem. But, suppose they do not wish to be reborn in the pureland and simply wish to live on in this world. If others act on their own initiative and forcefully remove the tubes, the patient might give rise to anger and resentment. They won't necessarily be freed from suffering just because they stop breathing due to removal of the tubes.
Therefore, I feel it is better to remain still than to do something (reckless),
concentrating all my energy on faith in Amitabha and chanting his name.
