The Wind of a Sincere Heart

On the weather broadcast, the number 375 kilometers per hour blinked in red. A super typhoon. Experts imagined it sweeping through any place as clean as a nuclear bomb.

That night, I received a message from a fellow practitioner in Quang Binh. He wrote:

"Venerable, I just gave a talk on: how to stop a typhoon. I said: with a sincere heart, people can stop typhoons. After I finished, no one believed it. They found it nice and interesting, but no one believed."

I put down my phone and listened to the howling wind outside the window. Then the storm news arrived.

The central leadership was shaken. Millions of hearts began to beat in one rhythm. Buddhists across the country prayed, all their sincere hearts, all their wholesome vows. And the typhoon was marching into the central region, about two hundred miles away...

Suddenly, on the news, the red arrow turned sideways. Ninety degrees. It veered northward, completely leaving the country, drifting toward China. No one could understand it. How could a typhoon turn ninety degrees and just spare that area?

Then I remembered the master's story: "That is proof that a sincere human heart can change heaven and earth."

I sat for a while, thinking of the security soldiers, straining their eyes every day to protect peace. But no matter how capable they are, they cannot cover everything. There are strange moments of luck when destructive plots are unexpectedly discovered, and even the people involved do not understand why.

"Those on the front lines fighting to protect the country," the master said, "are the ones who believe in the spiritual the most. Because clearly in this struggle, strange elements of luck govern it, not just human strength."

When the whole nation has a sincere heart, loves the country, honors ancestors, respects heaven and the Buddha, and lives kindly with one another, then every wishful prayer offered up brings wondrous results.

I turned off the television and looked out the window. The wind had calmed.

The Meaning of the Story

The story illustrates the power of sincere prayer, arising from patriotism and morality. When a large community directs itself toward a noble goal, that reverent sincerity can impact the spiritual realm, transforming the very destiny of a nation. This is not superstition, but a close interaction between the spiritual world and humanity, when people live in accordance with their responsibility and morality.

Compiled from a dharma talk by Venerable Thich Chan Quang