“Children, drink your milk peacefully. Don’t fight or bite each other over it! Biting mother’s teats hurts very much!” My husband heard those words and immediately opened his eyes in shock. It was the sow – the mother pig – speaking like that. Right then and there, he gave up raising pigs for good.
The Law of Cause and Effect – also known as karma – is a universal principle that teaches that every thought, word, and action sets in motion a chain of consequences. Nothing happens by chance; all experiences are the fruit of seeds we have sown. In this series, we explore true stories of lives transformed through karmic lessons. These accounts reveal how spiritual awareness, repentance, and virtuous living can uplift the soul and reshape destiny.
Today, we’ll be listening to a true story recounted by the very person who experienced it – an 85-year-old woman known as Mrs. Hai. After her husband passed away at a young age, Mrs. Hai has lived alone in a rural village in the Mekong Delta region of Âu Lạc (also known as Vietnam).
Mrs. Hai shared that in earlier days, life was extremely difficult for the couple. To make a living, they worked in the rice fields and raised animal-people, including a very large sow-person weighing around 260 kilograms. Then one day, something strange happened:
She gave birth to 17 piglets even though she only had 13 teats, yet somehow she managed to nurse them all. One of the piglets stopped breathing, so my husband tried reviving him and doing whatever he could, but the piglet did not survive, so he left him there. Then by morning, hehad come back to life. It was something truly mysterious.
“Children, drink your milk peacefully. Don’t fight or bite each other over it! Biting mother’s teats hurts very much!” My husband heard those words and immediately opened his eyes in shock. It was the sow – the mother pig – speaking like that. Right then and there, he gave up raising pigs for good.
After that strange incident, Mrs. Hai devoted herself to a vegetarian lifestyle, reciting the Buddha’s name, and practicing the Hòa Hảo Buddhist faith. Not only did she transform her own life, but she also encouraged relatives and neighbors to visit temples, while generously offering material support so they could have the opportunity to hear the Venerable Master’s teachings and cultivate a more virtuous way of life.
I became vegetarian, recited the Buddha’s name, and made pilgrimages to the sacred mountains. I also donated money to print the Venerable Master’s teachings so relatives and others could read them. At that time, I devoted myself wholeheartedly to charitable deeds. I encouraged my brothers, sisters, relatives, and friends to go on pilgrimages as well, so they could listen to the Dharma teachings. And when people said, “We don’t have money to go,” I told them, “If you don’t have money, however much you need, I’ll provide it.”
Mrs. Hai firmly believed in the law of cause and effect and felt that many events in her life unfolded in remarkably meaningful ways. One of the most extraordinary experiences she recalled was the healing of two dislocated fingers, which had become immobile after years of heavy labor.
I went on pilgrimages to the mountains and visited temples. Whenever I saw sacred statues and altars, I would pray before them. Holding up my injured fingers, I said, “Please, help me with your Divine power. I worked too hard, and these two fingers became dislocated.” After I returned home, they were completely healed. I prayed and paid my respects everywhere I went.
Before that, Mrs. Hai had sought treatment in many places and tried various herbal remedies for her two dislocated fingers, but nothing helped. Yet after going to the temple to pray a few times, her two fingers miraculously and gradually recovered, and were able to move normally again.
On each of our life journeys, there are moments when seemingly inexplicable events occur. Yet when the heart is oriented toward goodness, we may come to realize that these are manifestations of the subtle and wondrous law of cause and effect, operating delicately according to the principles of the universe.
Mrs. Hai recounted that before her husband passed away, on the 23rd day of the Lunar December, he had a dream in which an elderly woman appeared and foretold that he had only five days left before falling seriously ill.
He told me about his dream. The old woman said: “In five days, you will fall ill. But it is not yet your time to die – you have many illnesses.” She didn’t say he would die. Then on that day at around 8 p.m., he started feeling chest tightness and became very exhausted. He kept feeling weak and also missed his children very much. We took him to the hospital, but they said it was too late – if we had gone earlier, he might have been saved.
So it was exactly five days?
Five days – exactly five days.
After that prophetic dream, Mr. Hai fell seriously ill exactly five days later. Although he was taken to the hospital for intensive treatment, about two months afterward, he did not recover and eventually passed away.
Another miraculous experience in Mrs. Hai’s story is said to have originated from the family’s altar space. Her family worships a sacred spirit known as the “Ancestor Lady” (Bà Tổ Cô). On one occasion, this spirit is said to have used Mrs. Hai’s body to communicate with a spiritual teacher in order to entrust Mrs. Hai to his guidance on the path of spiritual cultivation. While she was in this state of possession, Mrs. Hai reportedly could clearly hear the voice speaking through her, but her mouth was no longer under her own control.
Then somehow, it entered my body, and I started crying. She said, “Master!” Then he was completely shocked. My ears could hear everything, but my mouth kept speaking on its own, and I couldn’t stop it: “I entrust them to Master, please guide my descendants in their spiritual practice.”
After that astonishing incident, Mrs. Hai recovered from her illness and also shifted to offering only vegetarian-style worship within her household. She once prayed before the ancestral altar, saying that if her ancestors were truly sacred, she would cast the divination blocks three times in a row – meaning she would seek the same result all three times – and if that occurred, she would switch entirely to vegetarian offerings. The result of all three casts was said to be consistent and auspicious.
From then on, she stopped offering animal-people meat, adopted a vegetarian diet, recited the Buddha’s name, and for decades since, her family has remained healthy, with her children and grandchildren living in stability and peace.
I can’t even go near meat or fish anymore – it feels so fishy and foul-smelling, and I have no craving for it at all. My body also feels very healthy. What’s especially good is the quiet at night. During the daytime, people are busy and noisy, so I can’t really recite the Buddha’s name properly. But when everyone is asleep, I recite. And in the early morning, around 4 a.m., if I recite until about 5 a.m., I feel very refreshed and well in my body.
Don’t drink alcohol. The Venerable Master said that the human body is like a machine or a vehicle – it runs when you put fuel in it, but if you put alcohol into it, it will break down. That’s what I remember.
Through this simple analogy, a deeper message about lifestyle and well-being is conveyed. The human body can be seen as a vehicle, where what we consume directly affects how it functions. In this view, vegetarian food supports a healthy and steady life, while animal-people meat can disrupt the body’s natural balance.
Mrs. Hai’s story leaves us with reflections on faith, compassion, and the way we choose to live our lives. Whether seen through belief or personal experience, it reminds us of the importance of kindness and respect for all living beings.
