Excerpt from Master Lu’s Q&A (271), 8 December 2018
Question:
On 26 November 2018, after I finished praying to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, Guan Ping Bodhisattva conveyed a thought message to me that I was to deliver a scroll to the Underworld that night for further action. That evening, when I closed my eyes, my soul was taken to the Hall of the King of Hell by a Bodhisattva. I handed over the scroll to the King of Hell, and as usual, I stood to the side to watch the trial. Two male offenders were seen kneeling before the King of Hell. Their bodies were covered in charred scars that showed signs of having been burnt. They were trembling all over, waiting for the King of Hell’s trial.
After the King of Hell finished reading the scroll, he stamped a seal on it and said to me, “Today, I will show you what happens when a rebirth takes place as a soul enters the womb of its mother-to-be.” When the King pointed at the display, the image of a soul appeared on the screen. The soul’s rebirth as a human being had been approved by the Underworld. He was escorted by enforcement officer to the location where he would be born. Then the soul gradually diffused into the fertilised egg of the mother. The foetus would be fully developed in ten months, ready to be born.
“Abortions, whether intentional or not, are considered and recorded in the Underworld as an act of killing,” the King of Hell said.
“There are also animal spirits which, having served their sentence in the Animal Realm, can be reborn in the Human Realm. Generally, it takes many rebirths in the Animal Realm before they can be reborn into the Human Realm. It also depends on the karmic conditions of each animal spirit. Some will remain in the Animal Realm for a long time, while others spend relatively shorter length of time. Their length of time in the Animal Realm is determined by the severity of the negative karma created by them when they were humans before they were banished into the Animal Realm.
“Typically, large animals (like cows, dogs, lions, tigers, monkeys, etc.) have a higher chance of being born as humans after their death. That’s why people who kill these large animals often create serious karma. When an animal spirit which is permitted to be reborn into the Human Realm enters a mother’s womb, it would be restless and anxious inside the womb, causing much discomfort and pain to the mother. On the part of the mother, she is predestined to get this spirit as her child because of insufficient blessing and positive karma. If the mother recites Buddhist scriptures for the baby inside her womb, then it would help calm down the baby due to the power of blessing from the Buddha. This way, the mother also benefits and would suffer less pain.”
The King of Hell pointed at the display which showed a scene of a female practitioner who was seven months pregnant reciting the Great Compassion Mantra and the Heart Sutra for the baby inside her womb after paying respect to Guan Yin Bodhisattva. The sutras recited by the mother transformed into rays of golden light which entered her womb and diffused into the baby’s soul. The originally grey-coloured baby slowly became lighter in shade. The sutras of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas can certainly purify souls.
After the King of Hell explained the process, his face turned grim and he pointed at the male offender on his right. He reprimanded him furiously, “When you were alive, you were a high-ranking law enforcement officer, yet you committed many offences, causing your descent to hell. When you were alive, you did not have the slightest sense of righteousness. For the sake of pursuing position and riches, you resorted to bribery, amassing wealth by dishonest means, and helping many criminals cover up their crimes. You abused your power to live a promiscuous life. You went to nightclubs frequently; you were married yet you kept a mistress. You also convinced your mistress to go for an abortion. You had the audacity to call yourself a Buddhist. What you had done was a disgrace to Buddhism!”
After this, the display began to show scenes of the offender’s unwholesome deeds when he was still alive. He had signed illegal documents in secret. He took other high-ranking government officials to nightclubs for entertainment. Then, when he was intoxicated, he would have casual intimacy with women in hotel. He betrayed his wife and kept a mistress to live a promiscuous life. When his mistress became pregnant, he forced her to abort the child against her wishes. He hurt both his wife and his mistress. Subsequently, he was killed in a car accident. He was sent to the Hell of Burning Flames to be punished (due to signing illegal documents to embezzle money, corruption, and smearing the reputation of virtuous personalities for his own interests).
The King of Hell said, “Your punishment in the Hell of Burning Flames is over, so now you will be sentenced to the Hell of Copper Beds (due to his promiscuous acts in hotel), the Hell of Excrement (due to sexual misconduct and keeping a mistress), and the Hell of Iron Mountains (due to instigating your mistress to have abortions). In your previous life, you were a very kind-hearted and virtuous person; that is why you were blessed with fortune and power in this lifetime. It’s a pity that you were intoxicated by fame and wealth. Not only did you not show a shred of compassion, you also broke the law and committed crimes. XX (Name of the enforcement officer), take him away to the Hell of Excrement.”
The offender resisted and struggled, but he was not as strong as the enforcement officer. In the end, he was overpowered and dragged out of the Hall of the King of Hell.
The King then pointed at the other male offender on the left and said, “You, confess yourself.”
The offender said, “I’m not an offender from country X; it was only when the enforcement officers brought me here that I realised that this was country X’s Underworld. When I was alive, I practised Guan Yin Citta with my wife, but I didn’t properly adhere to the Buddhist precepts. I enjoyed a promiscuous life with prostitutes behind my wife’s back. I also collected money from other Buddhist practitioners. On the surface, I appeared to be very keen in promoting Buddhism and sharing Buddhism with others, but when I collected money from fellow Buddhists to perform life liberations on their behalf, I would put some of it in my pocket. I knew that this constituted “shedding the Buddha’s blood” by soliciting ill-gotten gains in the name of Buddhism.
“I thought that it was alright since I only took a little money, not to mention that I’d been actively giving away Buddhist books and promoting Buddhism, so I thought that I had accumulated a lot of merits. In addition, my family faced financial hardship, so I thought that the Bodhisattvas and Dharma protectors wouldn’t blame me, that’s why I never gave it much thought. I had been amassing wealth like this for two years without my wife’s knowing. I died a sudden death. After I died, the King of Hell told me that everything I had done had been recorded. For each life liberation event, the amount of money that I collected from fellow Buddhists was clearly recorded. I was then taken to the Hell of Burning Flames, and my internal organs such as lung, intestines, heart and liver were burnt so terribly that it made large holes in them. It was so excruciatingly painful that I couldn’t help howling in distress! Guan Yin Bodhisattva, I was very wrong!” The offender was weeping.
The King of Hell glared at the offender and said, “You broke the law deliberately despite knowing it was wrong after practising Buddhism and reciting Buddhist scriptures. It’s too late for regrets now! Guan Yin Bodhisattva has mercy on those disciples who have descended into the Hell Realm, and she hopes that Buddhists in the human world won’t repeat the same mistakes. That’s why she permitted the heavenly child to visit the Underworld and share what she observed with people in the Human Realm, allowing them take a lesson from these accounts. Alright, you may go back now. After this article has been shared, I will write a formal document to country X’s Underworld courts, so that the merit accrued from your sharing can be used to reduce your punishment in the Hell Realm.”
May the Master verify my account of what happened.
28 November 2018
Master Jun Hong Lu’s reply:
Do you see? Don’t take lightly small misdeeds, thinking that they can do no harm. It all piles up. These small misdeeds, when accumulated, can bring about your fall into hell. Usually, retribution comes in the form of a fatal car accident. This is the quickest form of retribution as the person would die on the spot. Everything she said is true; it’s no joking matter. It will be too late to realise this after you die and suffer the punishment. Do not collect money by illegitimate means or for personal use. Don’t play the fool. Since Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door has been propagating Buddhism well, you know how many people are amassing wealth in the name of Guan Yin Citta? When you pay respect to your ancestors at the graveyards up in the mountains during festivals like Tomb Sweeping Day, Winter Solstice, or the Zhong Yuan Festival, somebody would come over and ask you, “Do you want Little Houses? I can sell you one for a few dollars.” If they see people wearing necklaces with the pendants of Guan Yin Bodhisattva, then they know that they are Guan Yin Citta followers. They will approach them and ask. Those people are making gains in the name of Buddhism and they will end up in hell. I hope that you will cultivate well.