By Kyaw Ye Aung
Although it happened about three months ago, I still remember that Sunday morning very clearly, as if it occurred just yesterday. I wanted to visit somewhere to get some fresh air and escape the hot summer heat, so I decided to go to the Hledan Centre. Before leaving my room, I followed my usual good habit of paying homage to the Lord Buddha.
When I arrived at the centre, I saw many educational events on the ground floor. It was very cool inside because of the air conditioning. Out of curiosity, I walked over to a Japanese language school booth. The staff welcomed me warmly and explained their educational programme. Before I left, they nicely gave me two gifts: a cotton bag and a paper bag.
Since I already had two bags, I put my smartphone inside the paper bag to carry it easily. After walking around for a few hours, I felt a bit tired and decided to return to my hostel. However, that evening, I got a big shock when I realized that both my Citizenship Scrutiny Card (CSC) and my office staff card were missing. I panicked, thinking that I had accidentally thrown away the paper bag with my important cards into a trash can at the shopping mall.
I immediately called a Grab taxi to go back to the Hledan Centre urgently. During the whole taxi ride, I felt very nervous, so I kept praying and paying homage to the Lord Buddha to calm myself down. Suddenly, I looked at the back of my phone case. To my great surprise and joy, I found both my CSC and staff card tucked safely inside the cover. I was so happy that I asked the driver to turn the car back immediately. In that moment, I truly realized how much my faith in the Lord Buddha had helped and protected me.
This experience reminded me of the final teaching of the Lord Buddha, which is to always live with a mindful and conscious mind. I realized that because I had been worrying and overthinking too much lately, I had become forgetful. Since that day, I have started meditating and counting beads regularly to keep my mind calm. This is my true story of how faith in Buddhism brought peace to my life, and I now feel ready to face any new challenges ahead.
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