Karmic Debtor Children 债主儿女



Recently there was a 19yr old boy who passed away right after he thanked his parents and bid them goodbye. He had been autistic and suffered from muscular atrophy since very young, and thus required full time care from his mother for the entire span of his short life. What is amazing is that this boy himself knew his time was up; which means he had finished claiming his debt from his parents, and it was time to leave them. This is another example of those karmic debtors who come to be reborn as our children. Typically they will suffer from all sorts of long term medical conditions which require a lot of money, time, effort and tears from their parents to take care of. But these parents will have no choice but to take up the responsibility as a result of their own karma. These debtors are sometimes the animals, slaves, servants that worked for us in our past lives, and died without being well taken care of. As such they bear a strong grudge in their minds, and will one day find us again in future lives to become our children. And at that time we will have to pay them back all that we owed them both financially and emotionally.

Is there no way to free ourselves from such a vicious karmic cycle? The Ksitigarbha Sutra offers a solution:

"If inhabitants of Jambudvipa in future times shall, at the advent of newly-born children, cause the parents to chant the Ksitigarbha Sutra and his name ten thousand times, then the newly-born children, whether male or female, will achieve expiation of the sins of their previous lives and will live long and happy lives. If all those about to be born into this life have done meritorious deeds in their previous existences, their lives here will be even longer and happier."

This means that if the parents can chant the Sutra as well as the Bodhisattva's name "Namo Dizang Wang Pusa" 10,000 times for their unborn children, this great merit will appease those that come as debtors, dissolving their bad karma. They will be able to grow up as normal and healthy children. If they come as creditors, their good karma will be multiplied and both parents and children will grow in prosperity and happiness. Or if one prefers the Theravada method as taught by LP Jaran, one can also chant the "Bahum Mahaka" katha as well as "Itipiso" katha your age plus one times and transfer merit to one's children regularly. The effect will also be similar.

This is a teaching of excellent benefits and may all new parents learn it well for the sake of their children, sadhu.