【Audio File】 

Q: I am a beginner and have never recited Little Houses before. I recently began reciting the Great Compassion Mantra, the Heart Sutra, and the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance. Can I now recite the sutras and mantras of the Little Houses?

A:

As a beginner, you can recite the sutras and mantras of Little Houses as soon as you begin performing daily recitations (i.e. the Great Compassion Mantra, the Heart Sutra, and the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance). Initially, you can recite 7 Little Houses, addressing them to your karmic creditors. Afterwards, you should continue to recite Little Houses (the exact number of Little Houses required depends upon your individual situation).

In general, as you continue your daily recitations, you could recite and burn around 3 Little Houses each week addressed to the “Karmic Creditor of <your full name>” to prevent misfortune. ­You will need to give additional Little Houses if you come across the following situations: Deceased people or aborted babies appear in your dreams, you have nightmares, sudden illnesses or misfortune, or you constantly lose your temper for no reason. These situations indicate that you have karmic creditors, so you will need to give additional Little Houses to them.
The following scenarios provide a useful rule of thumb for Little House recitation:

• If you dream about deceased people, you will need to recite 7 to 21 Little Houses for each of them, and address the Little Houses to “<full name of the deceased>”. If you do not know the name of the deceased person, you can address them to the “Karmic Creditor of <your full name>”.

• If you dream about being paralysed and are unable to move due to a spiritual attack, or if you dream about someone chasing after you, giving or asking for money or gifts, treating you to a meal, etc., then you can recite 7 to 21 Little Houses first and address them to the “Karmic Creditor of <your full name>”.

• If you experience sudden illnesses or misfortune, you can recite 7 Little Houses first and address them to the “Karmic Creditor of <your full name>”.

• If you lose your temper easily, or if you have frequent conflicts with people around you for no particular reason, you can recite 7 Little Houses first and address them to the “Karmic Creditor of <your full name>”.

• Your intuition is very important. If you sense that foreign spirits are occupying your body, you can recite 4 to 7 Little Houses first and address them to the “Karmic Creditor of <your full name>”.

• If you have had an abortion, miscarriage, or ectopic pregnancy, you need to recite at least 7 to 21 Little Houses for each child. You can address them to “Child of <mother’s full name>”. Avoid adding any extra phrases, such as “Aborted child of <full name>”, or “Nth child of <full name>”, etc. If you dream about well-dressed and happy children after you have recited the Little Houses, this means that they have most likely ascended to a higher spiritual realm. However, if the children appear to be in an unfavourable condition in your dream, then this means that they have not yet ascended to a higher spiritual realm, so you should continue reciting Little Houses for them.

Back to top

【Audio File】 

Q: Should we burn the Application for Change of Name[1] after praying to Guan Yin Bodhisattva for her blessing? When, where, and how should we proceed with this? I just downloaded the form and would like to use it for my child and myself. Please advise me on how to lodge the Application for Change of Name.

A:

• A person’s name represents his or her spirit, meaning that whenever a person’s name is called, his or her soul and spirit will follow. Our original names that were given to us upon birth are not only written down on our birth certificates, but are also registered in the spiritual realms: the Heaven and Underworld. If you have changed names and used your new name for years, it is likely that your new name has become active spiritually. In this case, you can use your new name in performing your daily recitations and addressing your Little Houses. However, it would be best to lodge the Application for Change of Name to ensure that your new name is registered in the spiritual realms.

• When you lodge the Application for Change of Name, you are updating your new name with Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and officers who oversee matters related to name changes in the Heaven and the Underworld, and with other spiritual beings. Note that there is no need to update your name on your birth certificate, IDs, or any other documents.

• You can download the Application for Change of Name form at www.GuanYinCitta.com. Use yellow A4 paper to print out the form.

• Use a black pen to fill in both the applicant’s original and new name on the application form.

• Write the original name where it says, “Devotee’s original full name”, and the new name where it says, “Now changed to” and “Devotee’s full name”. If the applicant’s family member is to burn the application form on behalf of the applicant,  make sure the “Devotee’s full name” remains the applicant’s new name, not the name of the family member.

• Fill in the applicant’s date of birth according to the Gregorian calendar.

• Fill in your current location, which is the location where you are going to perform the ritual to lodge the Application for Change of Name, in the “Location” field (e.g. “Beijing, China” or “Sydney, Australia”). Finally, fill in the date field, using the date of burning the application form.

• It is best to burn the application form on sunny days. The best times are 6am, 8am, and 4pm.

• You can also hand-write, instead of printing, the form on a piece of yellow paper based on the Application for Change of Name form at www.GuanYinCitta.com.

• You can lodge the application form at home if you have a Buddhist altar. First, light the oil lamps, offer incense and read out the application in front of your altar (you may kneel while reading it). Then recite the Great Compassion Mantra 7 times and the Heart Sutra 7 times before burning the application form (from top to bottom).

• If you do not have a Buddhist altar in your home, you can go to a Buddhist temple to lodge the application.
  You should first kneel and bow to every Buddha and Bodhisattva at the temple, then read out your application in the Guan Yin Hall, in front of Guan Yin Bodhisattva, “I, <your full name>, come to <name of the temple> today, to pay my respect to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in this temple. May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva be my witness and verify that my original name <old name> has been changed to <new name>. May all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in this temple be my witnesses.” Next recite the Great Compassion Mantra 7 times and the Heart Sutra 7 times before burning your application form (from top to bottom) in the container where incense sticks or papers are burnt.

• Generally speaking, you only need to lodge the application once. If, for some reason, you think that your change of name application did not go through, you can lodge it again.

• It is best to lodge your Application for Change of Name yourself. If the applicant is a child who is too young to perform the ritual, his or her parents or elders may lodge the change of name application for the applicant.

• There is no need to lodge a change of name application for a deceased person; just use the name that they used most often while they were alive.

• If you have been called by several names in the past, and now you want to lodge the Application for Change of Name, you can pick the name that has been used most often as your original name (generally names that have been used for more than a decade are already active spiritually), or you can write all the names ever used in the past under “Devotee’s original full name.”

• If you are unsure of what your original name is, in cases of adoption where you never found out your birth name, you may lodge the Application for True Name. Download the Application for True Name from www.GuanYinCitta.com. A sample can be found in Appendix C.

• To determine whether your Application for Change of Name has been successfully lodged, address your Little Houses to the “Karmic Creditor of <your new full name>” and assess their effectiveness after burning those Little Houses. Suppose you have been unwell physically, lacking energy, or experiencing nightmares, but you feel much better after burning the Little Houses with your new name on them, this indicates that your application for a change of name has been successful. Please refer to Q&A 81: How to determine if an Application for Change of Name is successful.

Back to top

【Audio File】

Q: Master Lu, how do we resolve “predestined conflicts”— conflicts between couples or conflicts in marriage? We follow the instruction of  Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door to recite sutras and mantras. But I still cannot wrap my head around the issue.
I recite the Mantra to Untie Karmic Knots every day, but still hope that you could give us a clear solution to this problem. “Predestined conflicts” in relationships can be damaging, as I’ve seen many couples around me breaking up because of them.

A:

“Predestined conflicts” between married couples do exist. If the result of fortune-telling confirms that a husband and his wife are in conflict based on both their birth dates, you could consider employing the following methods to resolve the conflict:

• First, it’s recommended that the couple sleep in different rooms.

• Each person should recite the Mantra to Untie Karmic Knots 21 or 49 times per day to resolve their karmic conflicts.

• The rate of effectiveness for resolving a couple’s conflicts by reciting the following sutras and mantras could be around 50% (results vary from person to person):

  • Recite the Heart Sutra for each other 7 or 21 times per day.

  • Recite the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance to repent and eliminate the karmic obstacles that lead to the conflict in marriage or in a relationship.

• If the situation has not been turned around after practising all the above-mentioned methods for quite some time, you will need to recite Little Houses for each other. Address the Little Houses to the “Karmic Creditor of <your partner’s name>”. You can recite more Little Houses if necessary.

Back to top

【Audio File】

Q: The telephone line of Master Lu’s call-in radio programs is very busy, so we are not always able to get through and ask him to perform Totem Readings for us to solve our issues related to foreign spirits. We would like to know when we no longer need to recite Little Houses?
What would be the signs indicating that we can solely focus on our own spiritual development and no longer need to recite sutras to help karmic creditors ascend to a higher spiritual realm? 

A:

• If you experience headaches while performing recitations (and not at any other times), this is a sign that your karmic creditors need you to recite Little Houses. You should recite 7 Little Houses first, addressed to the “Karmic Creditor of <your full name>.”

• If you dream about deceased family members or friends, you should recite 7 Little Houses for each of them, and address the Little Houses to the <full name of the deceased>. It is best to recite 21 Little Houses for each of your deceased family member/relative.

• If you are sick, for example, having a fever, it usually means you have karmic creditors. You should recite 7 Little Houses first, addressed to the “Karmic Creditor of <your full name>.”

• If you constantly lose your temper, or if you have frequent conflicts with people around you for no reason, you should recite 7 Little Houses first, addressed to the “Karmic Creditor of <your full name>.”

• If you hear strange noises at home, in your kitchen, from your television, or if the lights go on and off on their own (and they are not faulty), you should recite 4 to 7 Little Houses, addressed to the “Karmic Creditor of the house of <full name of the occupant>.”

• If you have been experiencing a lot of bad luck for a period of time, you can recite 7 Little Houses first, addressed to the “Karmic Creditor of <your full name>.”

• If you recite the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance 3 times a day as part of your daily recitation, then you should recite approximately 3 Little Houses every week, addressed to the “Karmic Creditor of <your full name>.”

• The number of Little Houses required can be determined instinctively. In any of the above situations, if you find that your problem is not completely resolved after completing the first batch of Little Houses, you will then need to recite more.

• If everything is going smoothly in your life, you are in good health, and have pleasant dreams every night, it is best not to recite too many Little Houses. You can offer around 3 Little Houses every week, addressed to the “Karmic Creditor of <your full name>,” to help you stay safe and prevent misfortune.
  Do not burn more than 5 Little Houses per day to your karmic creditors when everything is going smoothly.
  In emergency situations, or when experiencing a chronic illness, you can burn more Little Houses, but no more than 21 Little Houses a day.

Back to top