Thursday, November 10, 2016

The Crazy Monk Living Buddha (济公活佛)


The crazy monk is a famous Chinese folk character who was said fond of playing pranks on people while teaching them Buddhism. We can find temples dedicated to this crazy monk set up wherever Chinese set foot on. Jeffery who was an actor cum entertainment program host told me his mother’s bizarre encounter when she was conceived with Jeffery about 30 odd years ago in Zhong’huan (中环), Hong Kong.

Zhong’huan was famous because the emanation of this crazy monk was said to be seen quite frequently in that area. Subsequently, many fortune telling stalls and temples started to flourish. The locals believe that if a person is lucky, he/she may be able to meet with the crazy monk in person and receives his advice.

As Jeff’s story goes, one day his mother walked passed a crazy monk temple and she heard a voice called up at her: “Mam, can you spare me a few minutes?”

At that moment, Jeff’s mother looked around and saw a blind fortune teller sat on a stool inside the crazy monk temple waving at her. Due to curiosity, she approached the blind fortune teller and the blind man said: “Mam, your son shall be born twice.”

During that time, Jeff’s mom wasn’t too convinced and she wasn’t too interested in getting her fortune read. So, she just turned her back and returned home.

In that particular night, Jeff’s mother felt extreme stomach pain and she was hospitalized. At first, the doctor thought she had a large tumour in the lady’s stomach. But upon dissecting her abdomen, the doctor found the woman was actually carrying a baby! Apparently, Jeff’s mother didn’t even realise she was actually having a baby ironically speaking. So, the mother’s stomach had to be stitched back. A few months later, Jeff was born. So, Jeff had in fact, seen lights twice: the first was on the operation theatre, and the other was in a labour ward.

After giving birth to Jeff, his mother told the granny about her strange encounter with the blind fortune teller. The granny suddenly remembered there was a local folklore mentioning that the famous crazy monk would appear in the area to guide those lucky few. And that blind fortune teller might be the emanation of this crazy monk! So, Jeff’s mom and his granny brought little Jeff to where she last saw the blind fortune teller.

Luckily, the man was still around. As soon as they approached the blind fortune teller, he said: “I know you will return! I have been waiting for a long time!”

After that, the blind fortune teller told his mom and granny of Jeff’s future with some advices.

A few days, later when Jeff’s parents returned to the temple wanting to give some donation to this blind fortune teller, he was nowhere to be found. When enquired, no one recalled of the presence of the blind fortune teller.

Was it the real crazy monk; or the folks just saw a ghost? I will leave the detective job to you…

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