Excerpt from Master Lu’s Q&A (265), 17 November 2018
Question:
On 30 October 2018, I received Guan Ping Bodhisattva’s order that the King of Hell wanted me to visit the Underworld and bring a Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door scroll along with me. The scroll would be handed over to the Underworld. When I was resting at home, my soul was whisked off to the Underworld by a golden light.
The King of Hell had a read of the scroll, then stamped it with an official seal and handed it back to me. He told me to give it to Guan Yin Citta’s Dharma protectors. Not long after, the King of Hell said, “Today we received a recently deceased person. He’s a relative of a disciple of Guan Yin Citta. Since his family member is practising Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door and has performed significant meritorious deeds, when he died, Guan Yin Bodhisattva granted him succour and allowed him to meet with you and share his experience in detail. It will serve as a warning to the practitioners of Guan Yin Citta not to be greedy for wealth and fame. Wealth and glory are nothing but vanity and become empty at the blink of an eye. The right thing to do is to teach your descendants to accumulate virtues, perform acts of kindness, and practise Buddhism. If you leave your children an inheritance, it can only bring calamities as the offsprings will engage in ceaseless strife for their own self-interests. Conflicts will never stop between these family members. And when they die, they complain bitterly in front of me. Even as the King of Hell, I can’t do much about it; there is never an end to revenge-taking. People in the human world only see the suffering that comes from the consequences, but have you ever thought that the suffering came from the karmic causes sowed in a previous lifetime? when the right time and conditions come, you have to undergo your own retribution.”
Not long after, a deceased person’s soul was escorted to the court. This middle-aged soul said, “When I was alive, my brother and I ran a business together. I didn’t expect my brother to be so greedy; he wanted a bigger share in the family fortune and the company. I was illiterate, so I allowed him to take care of the sales. He took advantage of the fact that I was illiterate and forged some documents. Afterwards, we fell out over the splitting of profits. In this matter, I admit that I was also at fault. My family also embezzled some funds from the company behind his back. I discussed with him that we should all take a step back and split the company shares, and then each go our separate ways. He kept pressing me and threatened to take legal action against me. The legal process was complicated, and I knew nothing about it, so I was in a disadvantageous situation. Helplessly, I looked for him and begged him to have mercy on my wife, children and grandchildren, allowing me to be able sustain my family.
“Instead, he mocked me and said that he wanted me to have absolutely nothing. I became furious, and I foolishly listened to a bad friend, who said that since he was not kind, I should also be merciless, and just kill him. I had been disturbed by this issue for a long while to the point that I became depressed and ill. In a moment’s foolishness, I prepared a weapon and drove to my brother’s house. Since he wasn’t willing to let me live, I felt that we might as well die together. But when I did try to kill him, I killed my nephew instead and my brother managed to escape. I was then arrested and sent to the police station. I felt guilty before I died, and I silently cried and repented. But the mistake had been made, and it was too late to regret. Upon his death, my nephew was escorted to the Underworld, he complained to the King of Hell; then he went back to the human realm to take my life in revenge for his wrongful death.
“Soon after I died, I was sent to the Hell Realm to be punished and experience the pain of having my hands and feet cut off. The punishment for the offence of killing is having one’s hands and feet cut off. I wailed and howled with grief, but I was willing to bear the punishment. Luckily, I have a relative who is practising Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door. She sympathised my situation and cried and prayed to the Bodhisattva to grant me succour. The Bodhisattva showed mercy towards me and allowed me to share my case with the human world. Don’t leave any inheritance for your children as it will only serve to induce family feud, or even killing among family members. After I died, I had to undergo punishment in hell. Wealth and glory become empty at a blink of an eye; you can’t take any of this with you except your own karma. I beg for the Bodhisattvas’ mercy and let this meritorious deed reduce my sentence in hell.”
The King of Hell sighed and said, “Guan Yin Bodhisattva is very compassionate. When he died, the Bodhisattva advised him and let him realise that the punishment was all because of his karma—it was formed by the karmic conflict in his previous lifetime. In fact, we have checked his brother’ record. He is very greedy, and he is dishonest in business. In his later years, he will undergo retribution. The good will be rewarded, and the evil will be punished. This offender had attended Master Jun Hong Lu’s Dharma Talk once when he was alive, but he didn’t cherish his affinity with Buddhism. If only he had practised Guan Yin Citta like his relative, then he wouldn’t have been so foolish and committed this misdeed.”
The King of Hell sighed again. After the session was over, the King of Hell signalled me to leave. I took the scroll and left the Underworld.
Master Jun Hong Lu’s reply:
In the Human Realm, you might be able to have short-term gains, but when you descend to hell, what awaits is only suffering. Buddhists shouldn’t create negative karma. Don’t fight with others. If you fight and win, then you will only suffer later. Good is rewarded and evil is punished; it’s only a matter of time. There was an aviation accident in Indonesia and all 189 passengers died. The husband of a fellow Buddhist who was supposed to be on board the plane but somehow something prevented from boarding the flight. Reciting Buddhist scriptures is very good. When you’re being chased and tortured in your dreams, aren’t you afraid? It’s the same feeling when you die. Although you can’t move your body, you constantly suffer. That’s why you shouldn’t do evil.