Stories and Experiences

Collected Stories

Along with the detailed personal accounts of cures of cancer, winning the lottery, becoming vegetarian, ending a rodent infestation, and quitting smoking, reciters have reported a number of other palpable effects of the sutra in their lives. The following two articles were published in Mandala, a Tibetan Buddhist journal, and collect stories from many people who have recited the sutra. They are reprinted for you here with the kind permission of the publisher.

Articles reprinted from June/July 2005 issue of Mandala 

"The Power of Stories in the Sanghāta Sūtra"

For more than a year now, many centers have been reciting the Sanghāta Sūtra, which can take up to three hours to read aloud. Here are some of their compelling stories of its potent effect.

Director of Losang Dragpa Centre (LDC) in Malaysia, Mr Jayabalan, reports that after members recited the sutra 150 times, a generous anonymous benefactor gave US$105,000 to the Rinchen Jangsem Ling Retreat Center fund, enough to complete the first phase of this massive project. After 256 recitations of the sutra, this benefactor (a charitable trust) later informed the center that it was considering placing LDC on their list of beneficiaries for future donations.
   
“The Trust would prefer to see its funds spent not just to benefit Buddhists, but Malaysian society in general, so to meet their requirements, and because our motivation is to work for the liberation from suffering for all sentient beings, we plan to expand Kasih Hospice Care into a full day care center with a full time doctor and nurse; to fully develop Rinchen Jangsem Ling Retreat Center to be open to all races and beliefs; to publish more books for free distribution; and to start an orphanage program for all races and religious beliefs based on the concept of Universal Education. The result: the benefactor credited our Account with a substantial donation towards our future programs based on our proposal, which was checked by Lama Zopa before we submitted it to them,” Mr Jayabalan said.
     
“This indeed is a tremendous boost to our financial position and should motivate us with discipline, ethics, patience, integrity and wisdom to serve the community even better than we have done in the past.  We should pray that this donation does not cause disharmony or contention amongst members but bond us closer together to achieve the mission of LDC and the vision of our guru, Lama Zopa Rinpoche.  After all, in the real scheme of things, we received these funds only through our Guru’s guidance (his advice to do the Sanghāta Sūtra recitations) and his blessings.”
   
Director of Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore, Hup Cheng Tan, reports that members recited the sutra 150 times last year on Lama Zopa’s advice. Result: a benefactor lent the center $US120,000 over 10 years, interest free; another donated US$10,000; and another lent US$10,000 interest free with no fixed repayment period. With other loans and donations, the center raised US$240,000
   
“To create the merit for our new building, we have printed 500 copies of the Sanghāta Sūtra in gold ink [hot stamped] at a cost of US$10,000 for free distribution,” Hup Cheng Tan said.
   
In December, after more recitations, the center received another S$100,000 for the ABC Building Fund. Members continue to recite the sutra to dedicate merits for those who died in the Tsunami tragedy. As other centers fulfilled Rinpoche’s request to recite the sutra 150 times within four weeks, the following comments began to flow in to Rinpoche’s office.
  
“Thank you for the opportunity to participate in such a powerful Sutra recitation. I feel very blessed.”
   
I strongly recommend you [in e-mailing to a group] to recite the Sanghāta Sūtra. It’s great, really great.”
   
“I recited the Sanghāta Sūtra three times and recorded it two times. After that I was better able to understand things written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which I had read many times, but until then I did not understand. It has helped me very much generally with my awareness of Buddhism which I am now finding to be more and more important.”
   
“I am truly enjoying the recitations. This was my first exposure to this sutra, and was extremely powerful for me. I cried a lot, but realized at some point during the recitation, that due to this Sanghāta Sūtra, everything is going to be all right.”
   
“The most powerful thing for me was to be made aware that it is merit that lives on, not consciousness. How wonderful that there are means to create a mass of merit. This Sutra is, and is going to remain, a part of my practice. I am also memorizing stanzas that have particular meaning to me. Actually the whole sutra does, but my memorization capabilities are limited! Thank you so much.”
   
“Personally, I am really amazed by the Sutra. The more I read it, the more its wonders unfold. On my fifth reading, my perception and understanding reached a whole new level, and indeed I feel I just can’t get enough of it! Last night we had an executive meeting till late, and even though I didn’t settle till 11-ish I had to begin the recitation again. Paragraph by paragraph, the words and pictures just kept jumping out at me clearer and clearer, and I can’t believe how profound it is.  I am so happily sharing my joy with others, inspiring them to read the Sutra.”
   
“The first time I did the recitation, last year, I had so many negative minds come up. The second time, at Sakadawa, I couldn’t stay awake. Now I am enjoying the recitation so much. Even if there is no immediate result, it feels without a doubt, that only great positivity can come from this.”
   
“We have just done thirty-four recitations of the Sanghāta Sūtra. The energy was amazing! I think it is a very skilful way to bring the students together with a motivation for helping the center, as well as for the long lives of our teachers. Even with the difficulties of doing it in English, people were very happy and inspired to do it nother four times as a group.”
    
 “The more you read it, the more profound it becomes.”  
     
“I really want to thank Rinpoche from the bottom of my heart because he gave us the great possibility to read this wonderful sutra that gives a special energy.”

Land of Medicine Buddha benefits from reciting the Sanghāta Sūtra
- from the June/July 2005 issue of Mandala 

By Sally Barraud

Initially, fulfilling the number of sutras (150) that Rinpoche suggested for LMB [Land of Medicine Buddha, Soquel, CA] seemed insurmountable.  In the past, when we have had instructions for doing various practices for the benefit of the center, sometimes the staff hasn’t seemed very interested in participating. But this time, right from the beginning, almost all the staff picked up the sutra reading, and took responsibility for doing the recitations. Many LMB students also committed to reciting a number of sutras in their own homes.
   
In all, LMB staff and students recited about 220 recitations of Sanghāta Sūtra. We did this in the following way:

    *  Our Spiritual Program Coordinator contacted individuals, asking them to commit to doing a certain number of recitations per person.
    *  Almost all our staff also made commitments to recite a certain number of recitations.
    *  We held group recitations at LMB.
    *  Two of our Chinese-speaking students organized gatherings at their houses, where people together came to recite the sutra in Chinese. Some of these gatherings were arranged in other people’s houses too – some even took place as far away as Los Angeles, recited on LMB’s behalf.
   
Some of the results I have noticed are:

    *  The energy at Land of Medicine Buddha underwent a very noticeable change. Previously there felt like a subtle veil of obstruction to accomplishing activities, and to the general smooth running of the Center.  Following the recitations, it feels as if that veil has totally been dissolved – things happen more harmoniously; small projects, which had not been accomplished, get done easily.  The right people turn up for the jobs when needed.  
    *  In general the staff noticeably became a tighter, more cohesive team working together.
    *  $214,000 was donated to help actualize the Medicine Buddha Temple.
    *  $11,000 was donated by the same person towards building a roof and house for the Ksitigarbha statue at LMB.
    *  $10,000 was donated by another person, also for helping to accomplish the roof for Ksitigarbha.
    *  Since we wrote a submission to be re-classified into a different insurance category for our Workers Compensation, Land of Medicine Buddha has now been reclassified, thereby saving the Center approximately $11,000 annually.
   
It seemed that many times, unexpected solutions to difficulties would manifest out of nowhere – so much so, that it became a sort of catch phrase at the Center whenever something special like this happened, we would all look at each other and say in unison, “Must be those Sanghāta Sūtras!” I think it’s true to say that, especially, most of our staff have developed some genuine faith in the benefits of reciting the Sanghāta Sūtra.

To download the text in English, click here.

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