I don’t know if you remember the economic crisis of 1997 but it had a very deep impact in Thailand where I live, and it made things difficult for a lot of people.

During that time, my family fell into near-financial ruin. My father was a businessman who was so successful that my mother did not need to work. My uncle was a stockbroker who had made a lot of money on the stock market, so my aunty and cousins also did not have to work.

So financially, before the crisis, we never had to worry about anything. But then of course, everything changed in 1997 and we lost nearly everything. We had to sell whatever valuables we owned to make sure our family survived. It was the same story with my uncle’s family.

It was during that time we asked for help from our lama. My parents and uncle’s family were at their wit’s end, and didn’t know what else they could do or how much longer they could keep going just buy selling their things. Between the two families, there were seven young children who were all still in school.

The situation was really disturbing my parents’ mind and making them distracted from their spiritual practice so my lama compassionately asked them to enter a retreat, and to recite 10 million Dorje Shugden mantras.

He said it was to clear their obstacles so they could become successful again. But in reality, by the end of the retreat, my parents felt wealth was not so important anymore. They realised that all of their stress was the result of their expectation of how things should be, or how they should do things.

I believe that it was my lama and Dorje Shugden’s blessings which allowed my parents to become free in their minds. Once they were free, they could see our situation from different points of view.

"So Dorje Shugden gave them the ability to think of their own solution out of our problem, and also made them feel secure so our finances no longer disturbed their minds." ~ Vivienne

I am thankful to Dorje Shugden for giving my family our wealth back. But I am MORE thankful that my parents no longer suffered from living in a continuous state of worry.

Author: Vivienne Parachornawat