Thinking I Had Died Because My Whole Family Played a Prank on Me

The living room was pitch dark, illuminated only by the flickering light of an oil lamp casting swaying shadows on the walls. The low murmur of chanting reached his ears, sounding like wind passing through cracks in the door. He lay on the mat, his body still breathing steadily, but his eyes remained tightly shut as deep sleep was disturbed by these strange sounds.

“Please guide his soul to heaven…” the priest’s voice dropped into a steady rhythm.

He gently opened his eyes. To his left, a priest was praying and calling out his name. To his right, family members sat at the foot of the bed, tears streaming down onto the wooden floor. The scent of incense mixed with the sweat of tension, making the air feel suffocating.

This incident occurred in a family in Indonesia, where the man had just fallen into a deep sleep when his relatives and a priest staged this scene. They wanted to test his reaction, or perhaps it was simply a prank. But for him in that moment, it felt like the truth: he was either dying or already dead.

He sat up abruptly, gripping the mat so hard that it shifted. His voice was hoarse from lingering drowsiness.

“What is happening? I am still alive! What are you doing?”

No one turned their head. The priest continued chanting, and the family members kept sobbing, calling his name as if he had taken his last breath. He shook the person next to him, lightly pushing their shoulder, but they continued to wail. His heart pounded wildly, and sweat beaded on his forehead.

He grabbed a pillow and struck people around him, shouting, “I am alive here! Wake up!”

But there were no laughs, only sobs and the steady rhythm of prayer. Dazed, he slumped back down, holding his head in his hands, his shoulders trembling violently.

“Maybe I really did die… for fifteen minutes, no one heard me speak.”

Fifteen minutes passed like an hour. He closed his eyes, thinking he had become a lost spirit. Despair squeezed his chest; he was certain that life had slipped away.

Suddenly, the group burst into laughter. Their voices rang out clearly. The priest lowered his scripture, and the family wiped away their fake tears. The twist was revealed: it was all a prank, filmed secretly to test his psychology. He stood stunned, then sighed in exhaustion upon realizing he had been deceived by his own kin.

After the prank, he stood up and walked out to the porch. The cool night breeze blew against his face. He told himself he would not easily trust what he heard or saw again. The clip was posted online, and viewers were as shocked as he was: being visibly alive yet so easily believing one had died.

Later, whenever he encountered rumors or gossip, he remembered the day his whole family played a trick on him. He practiced observing carefully, asking himself, “I am alive; I can verify my own existence. Why do I trust others so easily?” His mind became steadier amidst the waves of false information online.

The Meaning of the Story

Even regarding our own life, when those around us collectively deceive us, we can easily lose faith and believe falsehoods. Do not trust things repeated over and over, nor thoughts derived solely from speculation. Instead, use wisdom to illuminate reality. Everything in this world is unstable; nothing is absolutely certain.

Compiled from a dharma talk by Most Venerable Thich Chan Quang