Three years ago on a drizzly winter night, with my girlfriend on the back seat of my motorcycle, I drove at top speed along the winding roads in the hilly suburbs of Taipei. Under the influence of alcohol, I was determined to show off my audacity. Disregarding my girlfriend's obvious fear of our high speed, I raced down the road.

I went far too fast. By the time I saw the barricade in the middle of the road, it was too late. Both my girlfriend and I were thrown from the motorcycle and landed in a nearby ditch. When I woke up three days later, I found myself in an intensive care unit with my left leg paralyzed.

I later heard that my girlfriend had been badly hurt in the accident and had needed fifty stitches in her arms. She hated me for my recklessness and decided to break up with me. Her parents were also very upset. They threatened to sue me for the serious injury I had inflicted on their daughter, and they forbade me to see her again. This news immediately turned my guilt into anger. I thought, "If I had known that she would leave me like this, I would have had the motorcycle crush her to death." When my friends came to see me in the hospital, I complained to them about my girlfriend and heaped all sorts of insults on her.

Because of my unpredictable state of mind, the nurses in the hospital were reluctant to take care of me. Only Ms. Wang, a volunteer in the hospital, was willing to come to my bedside and keep me company. She talked to me and helped me recover. At the time, I couldn't sleep well at night. I often woke up with a start, aroused by the pain of my wounds or by dreams in which I saw my girlfriend covered with blood and wailing loudly.

One day I told Ms. Wang about my plight. After she had comforted me a bit, she ran out of the room. She came back with a tape of the Mantra of Great Compassion in her hands. "It is really a wonderful coincidence," she said to me. "I just got this tape from a friend today, and now I can pass it on to you as a present."

I listened to the chanting of the mantra and miraculously began to sleep better. It was as if a fog that had been shrouding my heart had lifted--I was able to see things more clearly. I looked back upon my life and upon my relationship with my parents, classmates and my girlfriend. I came to realize how ignorant and egotistic I had been. I had no respect for others. Shirking responsibility all the time, I never admitted to any mistake I had made. I always told my girlfriend I loved her, but did my deeds bear out my words?

"Nobody in the world is free of faults," said Ms. Wang. "What is important is that you have the courage to face your mistakes and that you pledge to never repeat them." I have kept her words in my heart.