吳亭玲端午節見證 (中文翻譯在下)

Two weeks ago, was the Chinese holiday, Duan Wu Jie.(端午節) On this day, the Chinese commemorate a poet,  Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan was born into a ruling family, serving in high offices. He was the most crucial advisor of the Kingdom of Chu, dedicating his whole life to assist the king in building a stronger kingdom. However, he was slandered by jealous officials and accused of treason, so the King dismissed and exiled him. During his exile, Qu Yuan wrote plenty of enduring poems showing his love and passion for his country, some of which are still very famous in China. When the Qin conquered the capital of Chu, Qu Yuan fell in great despair, committing suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. When the Chinese heard of Qu Yuan’s death, they were crestfallen. The people rowed out to the river in search of his body but were unable to find him. To preserve his body, the locals paddled their boats around the river, hitting the water with their paddles and beating drums to scare away evil spirits. They threw bits of rice into the river to feed the fish so they would not eat Qu Yuan’s body. An old Chinese doctor poured realgar wine into the river to poison the monsters that would harm Qu Yuan. Since then, people in the Miluo River area started following similar practices to commemorate Qu Yuan on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Gradually, the rowing of boats developed into dragon boat racing, the lumps of rice became sticky rice called ZhongZi, traditionally eaten during the festival, and realgar wine is now drunk in commemoration of the great poet, Qu Yuan.

Additionally, many other traditional activities are performed on Dwan Wu Jie. For example, a game of making an egg stand at noon. My family had another tradition of Dwan Wu Jie during the Wu hours (11 am to 1 pm) of the day. Water collected at this time of the day contains the highest Yang Energy and is also known as Wu Shi Shui(午時水).  Upon obtaining all the Water, members of my family’s temple would chant the Great Compassion mantra(大悲咒) repetitively 108 times, to give the water a medicinal power. Drinking  Wu Shi Shui is effective to alleviate heat, cure illness and strengthen the body. Moreover, mixing the Wu Shi Shui with the chants from our mantra is considered to be beneficial to health and personal well-being.

This day would be the first time where I participate in the chanting of the Wu Shi Shui. The night before, I promised my mom and Zu Shi (祖師) that I would finish the chanting of the Great Compassion mantra 108 times. To me, doing this was a piece of cake. Why? Because I’ve been in the temple since I was 3, and I’ve seen my parents and other members of our temple chant mantras for hours on Dwan Wu Jie. I’ve figured out my rhythm to the striking of the wooden fish (木魚) since I was 11. Every day, I would practice chanting and strike the wooden fish at my rhythm all at the same time. As a result, chanting became more natural for me, and I was determined to finish the chanting on Dwan Wu Jie. But I was wrong about myself. After we brought all the ZhongZi outside to contribute to our ancestors, the chanting began. As soon as I opened the Great Compassion Mantra, I sneezed three consecutive times. My mom, who was the oracle (傳音) of our temple, explained that our God wanted me to know of his/her presence near us. I didn’t think much of what she said and continued chanting. Then, I started yawning abnormally.  Seeing this, my mom relayed a message from our God again. She said, “Something may happen to you. You might cry or whatever it is that you feel, just let it out.” I nodded at her and still didn’t think much of the message given to me. I continued to recite the mantra for the twenty-eighth time until a supernatural force pushed me off the mat. I crawled back up to chant, and as soon as I looked at the mantra, it was all blank. “It can’t be!” I thought to myself. I blinked a few times and shook my head. When I opened my eyes again, I could only see white. I was pushed back again, and this time, my uncle next to me pulled me up and supported me with his hand on my back to keep me from falling backward again. I tried rereading the mantra, but my head was pinned to the chanting table. My mom called for my grandpa to bring me to the back of the temple. My grandpa had to drag me inside. He told me to rest, but I felt fine when I got away from the chanting site. I could see again. Refusing to believe in my failure, I got up and ran outside again and kneeled right on the mat to finish the chanting. The mantra was blank; I couldn’t find any words. My head was dangling from my neck like a drooping flower. I started crying because I couldn’t accept all of this. Grandpa came outside to see what was going on. My mom, representing our God, laughed at me and told me to finish the 28th time, go inside and rest. I followed what she said but was still confused about what went on. After my mom finished chanting, she came to comfort me. She knew that I was very stubborn. So if I promised to finish the mantra, I was going to finish it. I kept apologizing over and over again for not doing so. Relentlessly, mom spoke in first person to relay the message from our God. She told me,” You silly child. I didn’t want you to chant because you were willing to get up so early in the morning to help your mother prepare a lot of things. And I know you have a final exam tomorrow. Therefore, I will bless you and let you rest for tomorrow. I had to joke around with one of you, and I chose you because the others may not be people whom God wants to play with. I’ll ask you: Would you play with someone you dislike? Nope.  This is an absolute principle. You have been with Zu Shi for so long. Zu Shi knows that you can take a joke and you don’t mind. You should be happy that Zu Shi didn’t let you continue chanting for hours!” Upon hearing this, we all broke into laughter.

The power of God should not be underestimated. As long as you have a good heart and treat God truthfully, I believe that the encounter will not be unpleasant. My encounter with God did seem obnoxious to me at first. Right now, when I think about it, I remember distinctly that when I fell, I didn’t bang my head into anything. It almost seemed like I fell onto my bed. Miraculously, on that day, I specifically chose a spot where I would chant and it was the area with no furniture for me to crash into. Turns out, God had our encounter all planned out on Dwan Wu Jie.

In conclusion, the moral of my story is to serve God with a pure heart. There is a saying: “What goes around, comes around.” When you are kind to others, others are kind to you too. When you are treacherous, just wanting to seek benefits from others, others will treat you the same way. You would only want to be friends with someone who is faithful to you. Whereas, you would only joke around with people you like.  I believe everyone supposes worshipping God is just offering this and that. Though, never offering your sincerity to God is a big mistake. If you treat God diplomatically, God would unquestionably do the same.

兩星期前是中國端午節,這一天是許多人紀念詩人屈原的節日,屈原出生在一個屈原出生在楚國一個家道中落的貴族家庭。他被楚懷王選為左徒，這是兼管內形外交的重要職務，他一心想使自己的祖國強盛起來，相當於後代的副宰相。他把畢生的經驗奉獻在楚國，但是很可惜他在政治上，屈原以忠君愛國為出發點，積極入世。他堅持「美政」的理想，主張舉賢授能和修明法度。這種帶有法家色彩的政治主張，雖然能給國家帶來生機，卻衝擊了貴族的既得利益，因此遭到一些小人的誣害。原外交上的主張—–聯齊抗秦與懷王親秦的政策相悖，屢次犯顏諫止，得罪楚懷王和連橫派，因此被楚懷王放逐於漢水，當時楚國都城郢﹙今湖北江陵縣﹚的北邊。當時被放逐的時候屈原還是以忠君愛國為出發點，積極寫詩來表達對國家的忠貞與關愛,直到 秦國軍隊攻破了郢都，楚襄王倉皇出逃，已是六十二歲的老人屈原眼見亡國在即，不願做一個亡國之民，決定以死殉國。五月初五那天早晨，屈原深情地朝郢都方向凝望許久，然後抱著塊大石頭，跳進了滾滾的汨羅江。滔滔的江水激起悲哀的浪花，嘩嘩的江水聲奏起悲愴哀曲，詩人結束了自己悲劇的一生。屈原離開人世已有兩千多年，但是，人民記住了他，歷史記住了他。而每年農曆五月初五，人們就會包粽子祭祀屈原，划龍舟，紀念當年楚國人民打撈屈原的情景。這種紀念活動沿襲至今，人們把紀念屈原的這一天稱為端午節。

還有一些端午節的許多活動，例如正午的時候能把蛋立起，我的宮裡也有一些端午節的儀式，例如說正午時候我們必須準備午時水，念大悲咒一百零八遍，這源自於端午節的正午是陽氣最強的時候，當我們把水盛滿以後就拿到供桌上，必須念一百零八遍的大悲咒，據說這午時水非常有療效，可以驅魔避邪，所以我們如果在此刻念大悲咒一百零八遍，經過祖師作主替我們加持身體。 

今年是我第一次餐與念大悲水的儀式，在前一天我就跟祖師說好我要念大悲咒一百零八遍，對我來說這非常簡單，為什麼? 因為我從小三歲就在宮內，常看到父母與大人在端午節念經念好幾個小時，直到我十一歲時，我每天都會自動自發地去敲木魚，念經敲木魚對我來說是非常自然又簡單的事，所以我決定跟我母親一起年大悲水一百零八遍，也算是挑戰我的極限看我的能力到哪裡，但是我卻低估了我自己，當我們把粽子拿上供桌，我念完玉皇真經、藥師經後，當我開始要念普門品以後，我才翻開經書就連續打了三個噴嚏，我的母親她是一位傳音者，她告訴我說祖師可能會讓我感應，就是要讓我知道祖師在我身旁，我也沒有多想，當我開始念大悲咒時，就一直不停的打哈欠，然後我母親又跟我說等下你可能會有感應，祖師可能會讓你她哭或是流眼淚，就讓她流淚，我只有點點頭她告訴我訊息，當我念到第二十八遍的時候，忽然間有一陣力量把我推倒，我就又爬起來念經，我看著經書，裡面全是空白，我忽然看不見，全都是白色光芒，我一直眨眼，一直搖頭，當我張開眼睛我只看到白色金光，我又被一種無形的力量推倒，在旁邊念經的叔叔看到我無緣無故被推倒，就幫我推助背不讓我再被推倒，我又再念的時候頭又被壓在供桌上無法抬起，我的母親叫了我阿公把我帶到後面去，我的阿公把我拖到後面因為我走不動，他告訴我休息一下，但我覺得我還好，我又能看見了，我拒絕失敗，我不相信我念不了，我又不甘願，跑到外面又開始跪下來念經，我卻無法看到經書上的字，我的頭又被押到供桌上，像個塊凋謝的花，我看不到任何字，我開始哭了，因為我無法接受我不能念的事實，阿公又從後殿來了，我母親借口傳音告訴我，還一直笑笑地說我就只讓你念二十八遍，回到後殿去休息吧!我只好遵守我母親的傳音，但是我無法理解為何我念不了，為何這種事會發生在我身上，當我母親唸完一百零八遍後，她到後殿來安慰我，她知道我個性跟她一樣好強不願這麼容易就服輸，我哭了因為我沒念完，平常如果我答應要念完我一定會唸完的，但是我一邊哭一邊跟我母親道歉我念不了，忽然間我母親又傳音了:師說:你這傻孩子，我不要你念了因為你一早起來就幫媽媽準備很多東西，我知道你明天有期末考，你放下身旁事來幫忙宮內，明天考試祖師會讓你考得很好，讓你休息有何不好呢?祖師只是跟你開個玩笑，祖師選擇你因為師喜歡你這個孩子才會跟你開玩笑，你想想看，你會跟你不喜歡的人開玩笑嗎?我回答:不會啊!然後師說: 這就是道理，你跟祖師這麼久了，你不會介意祖師跟你開玩笑，你應該高興祖師沒讓你跪在那念經，結果大家都笑了，我也破涕為笑!

上天的力量真的很大而且無法低估，如果你有一個善良的心，對祖師真心，那種回饋的感受是甘之如飴，當我回想那天我與祖師的經歷並不會讓我討厭或生氣，我很清楚的知道我被吹了一陣風就往後跌倒，我的頭並沒有撞到任何東西，就好像我被推倒在床上一樣，很奇蹟的事是我選擇跪念的地方，後面並沒有甚麼障礙物，會讓我撞傷，相信祖師早知在端午節會讓我與祖師的感應!

總之，我要說的是你要怎麼收穫就先那麼栽，種瓜得瓜種豆得豆，你對祖師如何用心，祖師也會這樣對你，當你用心機對祖師，只想從別人或祖師求得利益，相信別人或祖師也會如此對你，所以我們只會物以類聚，你會跟甚麼種的人快樂地一起相處在一起是有一定的定律，我相信很多人都會對祖師奉獻自己綿帛之力，但是若不曾把真心奉獻給祖師就是一個最大的錯誤，你如果對祖師用很虛偽的方法，祖師同樣也會用虛偽的方法對待你的!