Stories and Experiences

Recting the Sanghāta in a Former Slave Market

Teresa del Giudice recited the Sanghāta Sūtra at the site where thousands of African slaves were bought and sold during the years of slavery in North America.

I decided to recite the Sanghata Sutra at a place called the Market House, in the center of historic downtown Fayetteville in North Carolina. I chose this location because it is where slaves had been sold in the past. I hope to overcome the massive negative karma accumulated there. My dedication was for, among other things, the healing of racism and the wounds of slavery.  I recited alone, in English, on November 23, 2005, which is a karmic multiplier day, as it is the anniversary of the Buddha's descent from Tushita. 

Almost immediately when I began reciting my back began to hurt; I became incredibly hungry.  The weather was cool but sunny -- at some times my legs were burning from the sunlight while my hands were cold.  My nose ran the whole time, and my neck, head, and whole body began to really ache.  I noticed the many passages where the sutra talks about loving the pleasures of the body!  My physical discomfort reached a point about halfway through the recitation where I really, really wanted to leave.  However, I felt that the dedication was very important, much more important than my personal comfort, especially in light of what the sutra itself says about physical comforts.

I also wondered if the intense physical discomfort were not a reflection of the vast amount of negative karma accumulated by the slave trade, almost as if the demons who have inhabited that spot for so many years were trying to punish me for sending them into that long night by way of the sutra.  As I was leaving the Market House I felt dizzy and lightheaded.  After I got home I felt really bad. I had to take a shower and go lay down. 

I cannot quite grasp the fact that I manifested the Buddha in that soiled spot. It's too big for me to quite wrap my head around right now. Thank you for this opportunity.

Afterwards, she writes:

I was left with a certain uneasy or unsure feeling for a while afterwards. I felt kind of queasy and lightheaded for about a day after that.
 
Then, maybe three days later, I was laying in bed, and as soon as I closed my eyes I had an image in my third eye, clear as a bell, of an enormous golden buddha dropping on the market house like it weighed some unknown number of tons, gleaming gold, much bigger than any of the buildings there. I tried to estimate what size it was, and every time I'd try to estimate how big it was it would shift to much huger than I could conceptualize. 

It brought tears to my eyes.  

More about the Market House at Fayetteville

Among those human beings who were traded as property at this site was an educated African Muslim who was able to read and write in Arabic, named Omar Ibn Said. For photo, click here.
 
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