The Young Woman Who Bought a Cheap House and the Dharma Talks Playing in the Night

A young woman who studied the Buddha's teachings (Dharma) bought a house at an unusually low price and suffered disturbances from a restless spirit. Through her practice and by playing recorded dharma talks, she finally found peace.

On her first night in the new house, the young woman lay stretched out on a mattress that still smelled of fresh foam. The wall clock had just struck twelve with its steady ticking, and a piercing cold crept in through the gap of the window. Suddenly the phone on the table buzzed, its blue light flashing into her eyes. A message from the former owner appeared: "Do you notice anything strange when you sleep in this house?" She froze, her heart pounding, her hand running along the edge of the blanket, not understanding why she was shivering.

She had originally been a Christian, and only later began to study the Buddha's teachings (Dharma), growing fond of its lessons. Having married late in life, she had saved carefully to buy this house at a full one billion dong below the market price. Seeing how cheap it was, she paid without hesitation. Only on the night she moved in, upon receiving that message, did she finally understand: the low price had a reason. The former owner added, "At night, please do not go into the kitchen. Whenever we opened the kitchen door, we could see a figure sitting there on the empty bench. We tried everything to make it stop, and in the end we had to sell in a hurry."

Hugging her pillow, she felt her heart torn between fear and reason. Part of her wanted to run to the neighbor's house, while part of her reminded herself that she had come to understand the Buddha's teachings (Dharma). She murmured, "I practice now, so why should I be afraid of a shadow? But they told me not to go into the kitchen. Should I listen to them or not?"

The next morning she called a teacher and told him the whole story. Her voice trembling, she said, "Venerable sir, I bought this house one billion dong below the market price. Last night the former owner texted me that something was inside the house, and I am so afraid."

The teacher replied, "Make offerings of food to the spirits, chant sutras to help the departed find peace, and then play the recorded dharma talk throughout the night. After that, the spirit will no longer disturb you."

She did exactly as he said. When evening came, she turned on her MP3 player to play the teacher's dharma talk, and its warm, deep voice filled the whole bedroom. She lay down, and her heart gradually settled. Some nights she fell asleep and the player went on by itself. Waking in the middle of the night and finding it still playing, she reached out and switched it off. The moment her hand came down, the bed was kicked so hard that she jumped. She understood at once: an unseen presence wanted to keep listening.

"Oh, so you wish to hear the teaching, do you?" she said. "Then I shall leave it playing for you."

The next time she woke in the night and turned the player off, no one kicked the bed. But the moment she let her hand fall away, the button pressed itself down, and the recording continued to sound on through the night. From then on she let it be, leaving the player running until morning.

The turning point of the story came when her husband came home to visit, and the two of them kept quarreling for no clear reason. She asked the teacher about it, and he said, "It is the spirit in the house stirring things up. It does not want any married couple to live in peace here, so it makes the two of you quarrel for its own amusement."

She pressed her palms together, and tears flowed, yet she felt no resentment. She resolved to play the dharma talk recordings regularly, to make offerings of food on a steady basis, and to chant sutras for the departed every evening. Little by little, the quarrels in the house fell silent, and when her husband came to visit, he found the home unusually warm and peaceful. She realized that it was her own practice and the sound of the dharma teaching that had calmed the restless spirit, which perhaps had already taken rebirth and no longer caused any disturbance.

The lasting result was that this house, bought one billion dong below the market price, became her peaceful home, with no trace of disturbance ever again. She often told her friends: do not let greed for a bargain lead you to buy a house of unclear origins, but if you already have, then take refuge in the Buddha's teachings (Dharma). The story is a small one, yet it shows that the world of restless spirits influences the mind/heart of the living more than we imagine, and that such disturbances are often nothing more than small whispers that make us uneasy.

The Meaning of the Story

Sentient beings are often influenced by restless spirits, which stir up unease and quarrels in their mind/heart. But if we know how to rely on the Buddha's teachings (Dharma), chanting sutras to help the departed find peace and listening to teachings on the way of truth, then even such grievances can be transformed. This reminds us to be careful when unexplained turmoil arises within our family.

Compiled from a dharma talk by Senior Venerable Thích Chân Quang