From the Buddhist point of view, there are two kinds of illness. One is caused by your physical body itself, and the other is caused by foreign spirits. Spirits and ghosts are commonly associated with the spirit world. Foreign spirits that occupy a living person are usually deceased relatives, aborted or miscarried children, deceased close friends or foes, and foreign spirit(s) from their houses. If foreign spirits occupy a person’s body for an extended period of time, this person can experience physical illness, bad temper, misfortune, and difficulty in career or studies.
Buddhist Master Jun Hong Lu, an Australia-based Chinese Buddhist cultivator, has obtained transcendental abilities thanks to the blessings of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Under the guidance of Guan Yin Bodhisattva, Master Jun Hong Lu gives people advice on how to change their lives for the better, be free of suffering, and attain happiness. He teaches people to recite sutras and mantras, as well as Little Houses, to help spirits ascend to a higher spiritual realm so that they can recover from the illnesses caused by foreign spirits. The Little House (a sample can be found in Appendix A) can also be used to help deceased relatives ascend to higher spiritual realms, including heaven.
The Little House is one of the valuable methods the Greatly
Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva bestows upon us to help spirits ascend to a higher spiritual realm and to eliminate our karmic obstacles in this Age of Dharma Decline.
In the spirit world, the Little House is like a high value cheque. By way of the recitation of Little Houses, we are able to repay karmic debts from previous lives. They provide spirits, including deceased loved ones, with the power to ascend to a higher spiritual realm. Therefore, the Little House is a great tool for helping ourselves as well as others. It works miracles!
For more details, please refer to another of Master Jun Hong Lu’s publications: A Guide to Reciting the Combination of Buddhist Scriptures: Little Houses.
2.1 Examples of how to fill out Little Houses
2.2 Important information about Little Houses and general practices for helping a karmic creditor ascend to a higher spiritual realm
- On a plain piece of yellow paper (use normal copy paper), regardless of the thickness, draw a rectangle, 3 inches in width and 4 inches in height. On one of the shorter lines, draw an isosceles trapezoid to make the shape of a house with a slanted roof. This is why this is commonly referred to as a Little House.
You should download the template from the website, www.GuanYinCitta.com, and print it on a piece of yellow A4 paper. Cut the paper into four pieces so that each Little House is a rectangular piece of paper. Do not remove the printed borders from the Little House when cutting.
You must follow the version published on the official website as this is the standard version of the Little House. Do not make any changes to the typesetting. The dimension of the black borders should be 9.1cm x 13.95cm, with an error margin of less than 5mm. The colour of the Little House should be lemon yellow or other similar shades of yellow. - The “Little House” consists of a combination of sutras and mantras. It consists of the Great Compassion Mantra (to be recited 27 times), the Heart Sutra (to be recited 49 times), the Amitabha Pure Land Rebirth Mantra (to be recited 84 times), and the Qi Fo Mie Zui Zhen Yan (to be recited 87 times). The number that you recite should not be fewer than the required number. It is fine if you recite more than required, but do not recite it excessively.
- The Great Compassion Mantra and the Qi Fo Mie Zui Zhen Yan can be recited any time at any place. The Heart Sutra and the Amitabha Pure Land Rebirth Mantra can be recited until 10pm under good weather conditions. If it is cloudy or rainy, you can recite them during the daytime. If you are in the countryside, in a car, or in a crowd, you should be extra careful, and recite them quietly. It is best to avoid reciting them after 10pm. Nevertheless, if you have filled in the “Offer To” field, you may recite them until 12am. Furthermore, avoid reciting them under extreme weather conditions, such as dark gloomy days, heavy rains, thunderstorms, or lightning. In addition, if you feel weak or uncomfortable when reciting these sutras and mantras, then you should try to recite them during the daytime on a sunny day.
- Each time before you recite a Little House, you can recite the Great Compassion Mantra several times to enhance your spiritual power. This will make your recitation of the Little House more effective. It is best to avoid reciting the Little House when you are feeling unwell or emotionally unstable. This is because reciting the Little House consumes energy. If you cannot maintain focus, it will not be as effective.
However, if these symptoms are caused by spirits, you should recite Little Houses to help them to ascend to a higher spiritual realm as soon as possible. When you feel tired or feel discomfort in parts of your body during recitation, you can stop reciting the Little House and recite the Great Compassion Mantra instead to enhance your own spiritual power before continuing your Little House recitation. If you are so keen to help the spirit ascend to a higher spiritual realm that your lips begin to have sores and blisters due to recitation, this is a sign that you are stretching beyond your limits. This is not permissible.
The four scriptures in the Little House can be recited in any order. You may observe the following order if you prefer: start and end the recitation of the Little House with the Great Compassion Mantra; recite the Great Compassion Mantra before commencing the recitation of each of the other three scriptures. For example:
o Start by reciting the Great Compassion Mantra 9 times;
o Follow this with the Great Compassion Mantra 3 times and the Heart Sutra 49 times;
o This should then be followed by the Great Compassion Mantra 3 times and the Amitabha Pure Land Rebirth Mantra 84 times;
o Continue to the Great Compassion Mantra 3 times and the Qi Fo Mie Zui Zhen Yan 87 times;
o Complete your recitation with the Great Compassion Mantra 9 times.
Using this approach will make the Little House very powerful. As the Great Compassion Mantra envelops the other scriptures, it not only enhances their power but also safeguards them. - On the upper right-hand side of the Little House, write the name of the recipient in blue or black ink. If it is to be offered to your karmic creditor, address it to the “Karmic Creditor of ”. If it is to be offered to a child that was aborted or miscarried, address it to “Child of ”. If it is to be offered to a deceased relative or friend, address it to “”. You may also write the relationship between yourself and the deceased e.g. “Grandfather XXX”. If your purpose is to resolve karmic conflicts, you may address it to “ resolves karmic conflicts”.
The “Offered by” (the reciter) field on the left-hand side of the Little House must be filled in with a blue or black pen by the person who is going to recite; the name must be that of the reciter. This field should be completed prior to commencing recitations and filling in the red dots. Otherwise, the power from the recitation can be easily lost. The Date field on the left-hand side must only be filled in after the Little House has been completed. The date can be the day you complete the recitations or the day of burning the Little House.
The sutras and mantras must be recited before the red dots are added; dots must not be added before the
recitations are completed. Each time you finish reciting a sutra or mantra, use a red marker to fill the corresponding circle. Alternatively, you can add the dots after reciting a series or an entire section of sutras and mantras. The number of sutras and mantras recited can exceed the number of circles on the Little Houses but must not fall short of the required number.
Do not tick, cross, or dot outside the edge of the circle or fill the circle right to its rim. You are only allowed to fill red dots. When adding the red dots, it is best to start from the bottom, moving towards the top of the Little House. You can add dots for each individual section of sutras and mantras, or you can add dots across all four sutras and mantras from the bottom to the top. This is like building the foundation for a house. The house will be more stable with a solid foundation. - Before you recite the Little House, you can say your prayer as follows, “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless me, , help me to give these Little Houses to XXX (being the recipient of the Little House that is written under “Offer To:” on the right-hand side, i.e. Karmic Creditor of , Child of , , Karmic Creditor of the house of ).” For a Little House used to resolve karmic conflicts, say, “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless me, , help
me to resolve my negative karmic affinity with . (Note that “the other party” can be your relative, friend, or colleague.) Generally, only your name will appear on the Little House and not the name of the other party.
Generally, beginners can recite 4 to 10 Little Houses and address them to the “Karmic Creditor of ”. If you have previously had an abortion, miscarriage, or ectopic pregnancy, you need to recite at least 7 Little Houses for each child (it is best to recite 21 or more Little Houses). If the child was destined to claim karmic debts from you, you may need to offer more Little Houses. After having burnt the Little Houses, if you dream about a child dressed beautifully and leaving happily, or being led away by someone else, it means that the child has left. Conversely, if you dream about a child in an unfavourable condition, you have to offer more Little Houses to help the child ascend to a higher spiritual realm. If you dream about the deceased, you will need to recite at least 7 Little Houses for each of the deceased you dream about. Generally, you should offer 21 Little Houses or more if the deceased is a relative. - Generally, you should use the name that is on your birth certificate. However, if you have changed your name for over one year, it is likely that your new name has become active spiritually. To err on the side of caution, it would be best to lodge the Application for Change of Name after you have changed your name. After that, you can use your new
name when you recite Little Houses. However, after you lodge the Application for Change of Name, you do not need to change your name on your ID card, passport, driver’s license, etc. - Find a suitable time and a quiet place at home to perform recitations and avoid interruptions such as calls, visitors, etc. If you are interrupted while reciting a long sutra, you should excuse yourself by reciting “Ong Lai Mu Suo He” once to pause your recitation. Once you have finished attending to the tasks that interrupted you, you may resume your recitation by reciting “Ong Lai Mu Suo He” once again. For short mantras, it is best to start over.
- You can perform recitations aloud or silently. However, if you recite too loud, you will hurt your Qi, or energy flow. On the other hand, if you recite completely in silence, your blood circulation will be affected. The best method is to recite softly. The full title of each sutra and mantra should be recited each time before you recite the sutra and mantra. For example, before reciting the Great Compassion Mantra and the Heart Sutra, you should recite the full title: Qian Shou Qian Yan Wu Ai Da Bei Xin Tuo Luo Ni and Bo Ruo Bo Luo Mi Duo Xin Jing respectively. Some slight pronunciation variations are acceptable, as long as they are not too far from the correct pronunciation. You can recite the Mantra for Rectifying Errors in Recitation 3 to 7 times at the end of your recitation. English speakers can recite the sutras and mantras according to the Wade-Giles Romanization or Hanyu Pinyin and achieve the same effects. It is best if you can recite the sutras and mantras from memory, but do not leave out the words and phrases.
- For a Little House, you do not need to finish reciting all four sutras and mantras in one day. While there are no specific requirements regarding the time period needed to complete the recitation of a Little House, you should avoid prolonged delays.
Fill in the completion date (according to the Gregorian calendar) once you have finished, and you can burn it on the day or a later day. If you are not burning it on the day, keep it in a red envelope or wrap it with red coloured materials (e.g. red paper or red fabrics) to prevent its energy from being dissipated. - When you are burning Little Houses and you have an altar at home, you can use an oil lamp, lighter, or matches to burn it. But generally, avoid using the oil lamp on your altar to light it. If you do not have an altar at home, you may use a lighter or matches. It is best to burn the Little House from the upper right-hand corner where it says “Offer To”, or burn it from bottom to top. If the karmic creditor is very eager to obtain the Little House, you should burn it from the corner where it says “Offer To”. Under normal circumstances, you may also burn them from bottom to top. You should burn the Little House in a white bowl or plate made from ceramics, such as china and porcelain. Metal and alloy containers should not be used. The bowl or plate used for burning the Little House should not be placed on the altar or directly on the floor. You can place a wooden plank or a small stool designated for burning Little House in front of the altar. Do not hold the Little House with your hands, instead, you can use tweezers or chopsticks (metal ones are acceptable) to hold the Little House and burn it. Ensure that the entire piece of paper is thoroughly burnt, and then you can wrap the ashes up and discard them. Please note that you should not flush the ashes down the toilet or scatter the ashes in the open. For your dedicated white bowl or plate, you can clean it and use it again next time.
- The best times to burn Little Houses are 8am, 10am and 4pm. Any other time during daytime on a sunny day is also alright. Generally, the period between 6am and sunset is suitable for burning Little Houses if the weather is good. Do not burn them after sunset, or on a cloudy and rainy day, unless it is urgent, for example, if the Karmic Creditor is being very demanding, or during times of severe illness, etc.
- If you have an altar at home, you must make incense offerings before you burn Little Houses. First of all, you should make incense offerings, and then make prostrations and say, “I express my sincere gratitude to the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva” three times. Raise the Little Houses slightly above your head, and then place them on your altar. Kneel down and say the following prayer: “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless me, , help me give the Little Houses to ”. The name can be your karmic creditor, name of a deceased person, an aborted or miscarried child, or the karmic creditor of someone’s house.
When you are burning Little Houses (it is best to burn from top to bottom, starting from the upper right-hand corner where it says “Offer To”), you can say the following prayer, “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless me with your compassion.” You can then light the Little Houses. While you are burning Little Houses, please do not recite or say anything extra. Simply say, “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless me with your compassion.”
After you finish burning Little Houses, you can say the following, “I bow in gratitude to the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva for helping me give these Little Houses to . I express my deepest gratitude to the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva for protecting and blessing me.” (with one full prostration). You could also say corresponding prayers. For example, if you give Little Houses to the karmic creditor of , you could pray to Guan Yin Bodhisattva to grant this person good health, safety and good fortune. If you use a Little House to resolve X’s karmic conflicts, you could pray to Guan Yin Bodhisattva to help resolve the negative karmic affinity between X and Y.
If you do not have an altar at home, you can burn Little Houses on your balcony, near the window in your living room, or in your backyard. You should offer Heart Incense1 and say, “I express my sincere gratitude to the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva” three times. You can then recite the Great Compassion Mantra once and the Heart Sutra once. After that, raise the Little Houses slightly above your head and bow three times facing a direction that you can see the sky, or visualise yourself kneeling down and say the following prayer: “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless me, , help me give these Little Houses to ”; the recipient can be your karmic creditor, a deceased person, an aborted or miscarried child, or the karmic creditor of someone’s house. Finally, you can burn the Little Houses. The procedure to be followed after burning the Little Houses is the same as described above. - Family members who believe in Buddhism can burn Little Houses on your behalf. If you want to help your karmic creditor ascend to a higher spiritual realm, the family member who will burn the Little House on your behalf can say the following, “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva help to give the Little Houses to his/her karmic creditor.”
- If you are reciting Little Houses for someone else to cure their illness, it is possible that the spirit that is currently occupying their body will come and occupy your body instead. It is best to include the following prayer before you recite the Little Houses, “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless me, , I will recite Little Houses for . May ’s karmic creditor please ask for the remaining Little Houses.”
Alternatively, you can fill in the reciter field on the Little House, and leave the recipient field blank. The Little Houses can be accumulated and then given to those in need. This is the recommended method. Note that you do not need to specify to whom these Little Houses are addressed before reciting.
In the event that the other party’s Karmic Creditor comes to you, it is best to recite several Little Houses and address them to the “Karmic Creditor of ”. It is a meritorious deed to save others, but saving people often involves generosity and sacrifice. - When conditions allow, you can reserve Little Houses for future use. As soon as any issues arise, you can immediately burn these Little Houses to resolve the problem. Before you recite the Little House, simply say the following prayer: “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva be my witness, I, , now recite the scriptures contained in this Little House (the Great Compassion Mantra, the Heart Sutra, the Amitabha Pure Land Rebirth Mantra, and the Qi Fo Mie Zui Zhen Yan).” Leave the recipient field and date blank until you are going to burn the Little Houses. Preserve the Little Houses that you have recited by wrapping them with red paper or red fabric.
- If you make a mistake when you fill in the details for the Little House, you can re-dot the sutras and mantras that you have recited and re-write the details onto a new Little House. After that, use a pen to cross out the name written in the “Offer to” and “Offered by” fields, fold the mistaken Little House several times into a small piece of paper, and then wrap it with a piece of paper before discarding it (Do not tear the old Little House nor burn it). You can say the following, “Namo the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva, I, , have made a mistake on this Little House and it is now invalid.”
- When you recite Little Houses for the deceased to help them ascend to a higher spiritual realm, it is best not to burn joss paper, spirit money, or other joss materials at the same time. Even though burning Little Houses and burning spirit money are both considered to be offering money to the deceased, Little Houses are deemed to be the largest denomination of banknote in the underworld, and a form of energy in heaven, while spirit money is only considered as coins and can only be used in the underworld. If the deceased are currently in the underworld, they can receive both spirit money and Little Houses. However, if the deceased are in the Asura realm or heaven, then the burning of joss material may cause them to fall to the lower realms. It is because the foundations of the deceased family members ascended to the realm of Asura or heaven are not stable. Their ascension is due to the energy from the Little Houses that we have recited and burnt for them, rather than the efforts from their own. When they see spirit money being burnt for them, they tend to be greedy and come down to get the money. This is why they fall. Therefore, it is best to ask family members to recite more Little Houses together. If you are unable to convince them, the only way is to recite more Little Houses. That way, even if other people are burning spirit money, as long as you offer more banknotes (Little Houses), the deceased would not care for the coins (spirit money). Every time you burn the Little Houses, you can say the following prayer: “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless , help him/her to proceed to a higher realm using the power from Little Houses, and not be greedy and become attached to the low-value currencies from the human realm.”
- Please note that the recitations of Little Houses to help karmic creditors ascend to a higher spiritual realm are a life-long endeavour, and it does not mean that after you have recited and burnt a certain number of Little Houses, you would never need to recite any more. After you have finished reciting your current batch of Little Houses, it merely means that you have successfully helped the current spirit ascend to a higher spiritual realm. Over time, a portion of your karmic obstacles will be activated and transformed into spirits or you may accidentally invite other spirits to occupy your body. This may be due to having a fight with someone or visiting the cemetery, hospital, or crematorium, etc. Therefore, you should continuously perform recitations of Little Houses according to different circumstances.
- Below are typical situations where Little Houses are needed, together with the recommended number of Little Houses.
a. You experience pain in a particular part of the body, for example, the lower back, shoulders, etc, which cannot be diagnosed by doctors as test results show that everything is normal. Generally, this is an illness caused by spirits. You may recite 7 to 9 Little Houses first, addressing them to the “Karmic Creditor of ”. If it is insufficient, you may continue reciting Little Houses until you fully recover.
b. Cancer patients usually have powerful foreign spirits occupying their body. This is a form of serious karmic retribution. You may recite the Heart Sutra 49 times, Great Compassion Mantra 21 times, and the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance 5 times per day. Meanwhile, you should also recite as many Little Houses as possible. Reciting Little Houses can save your life by repaying karmic debts. For the first batch, you need at least 49 Little Houses, and you should continue your recitations until your condition stabilises. Meanwhile, you should also perform life liberations and make great vows.
c. If you often lose your temper for no apparent reason, generally you need to recite 7 or more Little Houses. Address the Little Houses to the “Karmic Creditor of ”.
d. For helping the spirits of the aborted or miscarried children ascend to a higher spiritual realm, you need to recite 7 to 21 Little Houses for each child. Address the Little Houses to the “Child of ”. You may need to recite more Little Houses if they are here to claim their karmic debts from you.
e. If you have a headache or fever, generally you need to recite 7 or more Little Houses. Address the Little Houses to the “Karmic Creditor of ”.
f. If there are strange sounds in your house, your electrical appliances unexpectedly malfunction, or your sewage pipes are constantly clogged, generally you need to recite 4 to 7 Little Houses to help the foreign spirits in your house ascend to a higher spiritual realm. Address the Little Houses to the “Karmic Creditor of the house of ”. The occupant can be the owner of the house, or the person living in the house. If you are renting, you can address it to the Karmic Creditor of the house of .
g. Regarding helping your deceased relatives to ascend to a higher spiritual realm, you need to recite at least 49 Little Houses within the 49 days immediately after the death of each relative. Address the Little Houses to .
h. If you dream about a deceased person, for example, your relatives or parents, you need to recite at least 7 Little Houses for each relative. If you know the full name of the deceased, you should address the Little Houses to . Generally, when you recite Little Houses to help the spirit of the deceased ascend to a higher spiritual realm, you need at least 21 Little Houses to help them to proceed to the next higher realm. For example, if the deceased person is in the underworld, you would need to recite 21 Little Houses for them to be able to be reborn into the human realm, and an additional 21 Little Houses for him to be able to be reborn into the Asura realm, and then another 21 Little Houses for them to be able to be reborn into heaven. If you dream of an unfamiliar person who is dressed in black, you need to recite 4 Little Houses for each person, and address them to the “Karmic Creditor of ”.
i. Reciting the EightyEight Buddhas Great Repentance may result in your karmic obstacles being activated and transformed into spirits, so you need to recite Little Houses. For example, if you recite the EightyEight Buddhas Great Repentance 3 times per day, you need to recite 3 or more Little Houses per week. If you recite the EightyEight Buddhas Great Repentance 5 times per day, you need to recite 5 or more Little Houses per week. - To determine if you have successfully helped the spirits to ascend to a higher spiritual realm, please try calling into Master Lu’s radio program every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, 5-6pm Sydney, Australian time. The phone number is +61 2 96988866. You can speak directly to Master Lu and sincerely ask him to perform a Totem Reading for you. However, since practitioners all over the world are trying to call into the program, it may be difficult to get through. Therefore, the following can be referenced as guidelines:
a. If you are helping a spirit that is occupying a particular part of the body to ascend to a higher spiritual realm, you have burnt a sufficient number of Little Houses, and you no longer feel pain in this part of the body, that means you have successfully helped the spirit to ascend to a higher spiritual realm.
b. If you are helping a spirit of an aborted or miscarried child to ascend to a higher spiritual realm, once you have burnt a sufficient number of Little Houses you will dream about a well-dressed child visiting you with a smiling face. This means that you have successfully helped the spirit ascend to a higher spiritual realm.
c. If you are helping the spirits of your ancestors, relatives or friends to ascend to a higher spiritual realm, once you have burnt a sufficient number of Little Houses, and in your dream, they are dressed neatly and visiting you in a bright environment, then it means that they have ascended to the Asura realm or heaven.
d. If you are helping the foreign spirit that is occupying your house to ascend to a higher spiritual realm, once you have burnt a sufficient number of Little Houses, and there are no more strange sounds in your house and you also feel comfortable at home, it means you have successfully helped the spirit to ascend to a higher spiritual realm. - The above method for helping spirits to ascend to a higher spiritual realm is applicable to all deceased persons. If you wish to help the spirits of animals to ascend a higher spiritual realm, you should recite the Amitabha Pure Land Rebirth Mantra. For example, you can recite it 108 times for a cow; 49 times for a pig, sheep or mouse; 7 times for a fish, crab or chicken; 3 times for a shrimp or prawn; and once for a mosquito or an ant.