Excerpt from Master Lu’s Q&A
18 November 2018
Question:
On 18 November 2018, after I offered the evening incense at the Guan Yin Citta Centre, I received a thought message from the Bodhisattvas that the Underworld asked me to go over there that night. When I returned home and fell asleep, I found myself enveloped in a golden light and was taken to the Heavenly Realm. I arrived at the Hall of Guan Di Bodhisattva. I saw Victorious in Battle Buddha, Guan Yin Bodhisattva, the Buddha, Nanjing Bodhisattva, Guan Di Bodhisattva, Guan Ping Bodhisattva and Zhou Tsang Bodhisattva, and they were having a meeting.
After I paid respect to every one of them, Victorious in Battle Buddha asked me, “When there are different opinions among fellow Buddhists and disciples, how should one deal with it?” I replied, “The Master once said that retaining harmony should be the highest priority, and one must not allow their selfishness and distracting thoughts take hold. Selfishness will lead to distractive thoughts.” Victorious in Battle Buddha asked again, “How should a person cope with their distractive thoughts?”
I answered, “We should replace “thought” with “no thought”. Master Lu said that the state of no thought is virtuous. If one has no thoughts, then they won’t create karma. Because we are still in the process of cultivating, our thoughts that arise are not in the state of perfect enlightenment. When we encounter the inner demon, unwholesome thoughts will appear, and a slight mistake in our thoughts will create negative karma. If you get yourselves into a conflict, then you must immediately recite sutras. That is what I learnt from reading Master Lu’s Words of Wisdom and the story book about Meng Bao.”
After hearing my answer, Nanjing Bodhisattva smiled. I didn’t know whether I answered correctly; I could only stand aside, waiting for further instructions. Not long after, the Buddha said telepathically, “Parents in the Human Realm pamper their children too much. They overindulge their children and grandchildren with material goods that lead them to form bad habits and behaviours out of ignorance. They soon follow their parents in committing unwholesome deeds and eventually descend into the Lower Realms. It is a very pitiful sight. If people continue like this, the negative energy will intensify. What awaits them is the suffering of rebirth within the Lower Realms.”
“After you have watched the trial in the Underworld, write it down and quickly send your observations to your Master so that people in the Human Realm will be warned. Parents should set a good example by being noble and virtuous, accumulate benevolent blessings and virtues, and studying and practising Buddhism. That is the right way to sow blessings for future generations.”
Afterwards, I was whisked off by a golden light to the Underworld. When I arrived, I saw three offenders kneeling on the ground. The King of Hell gave one of the female offenders a stern look and said, “You completely lack any sense of morals, and indulge yourself in sexual pleasures. You were married yet you lacked self-restraint, you enjoyed going to nightclubs, getting intoxicated and having casual sex with the different men you met. Some of them were also married. You thought that it was trendy and cool, but you were ignorant of the fact that it’s a shameless and lustful act that the heavens can’t tolerate! There’s a saying from the past: ‘Lust is the worst of all unwholesome deeds.’ Those who are promiscuous are bound to receive karmic retribution, let alone you had been promiscuous for a very long time. Yet you still dare to argue with me.”
The female offender was unwilling to accept it. She cried and said, “Ever since I married my husband at a young age, I endured hardships with him raising the family and taking care of our child. When my husband was young, he had an affair. I couldn’t stand it and vent to my close friends. My original intention was just to get it off my chest, and then I wasn’t going to take it lying down. I thought about how much suffering I endured, and the guys I met outside were really good sweet-talkers. I was already faced with a dysfunctional marriage. Everyone is like this nowadays, even my close friends also have had affairs. I didn’t even know about the law of karma. Who knew about these things!”
The King of Hell replied, “Even so, you should not sink so low! Forget it; there’s no point saying anything more. You are sentenced to be punished in the Hell of Iron Bed.”
Afterwards, the King of Hell pointed at the male offender beside her and said, “Your family is very wealthy, and your parents cared for you very much. They satisfied all your materialistic desires and gave you whatever you wanted. But they did not educate you properly. You became rude and wilful. And even now, you are still acting the same in front of me. It is because you acted impudently in my court, that I ordered the enforcement officers give you a beating. Your parents were ignorant, but do you think that the offences you have committed can escape my eyes?”
When the King of Hell finished, a display appeared and started to show the offences that the offender had committed before his death. When he was alive, the offender ran a business with his relative. When the business failed, he lied to his parents and shifted all the blame towards his relative, sowing discord between them and caused financial difficulties for his relative.
While he was working with his relative, he would go clubbing regularly and have casual sex with the girls he met there. He also liked watching pornography on the Internet. Even when he met girls who were Buddhists, he forced them to have intimacy with him regardless of their wiliness and take away their innocence. The offender’s parents were also dishonest in business, so their son followed suit and cheated their relative over their company’s shareholding. He tampered with the legal documents and seized assets that shouldn’t be his.
The King of Hell glared at the offender and said, “I now sentence you to be punished in the Hell of Iron Bed, the Tongue-Ripping Hell and the Hell of Eye Shock. Once your sentence is over, you will be reborn into an impoverished family as a woman.”
The King sighed, “Did you know that it was due to your cultivation in your previous lives that you were blessed to reborn as a rich family’s son? But you committed a series of grave offences, that’s why your life was cut short, and now you are sent to hell.” With no care or concern for his resistance, the enforcement officer dragged the offender out.
The King of Hell then turned to another male offender and said, “You were ignorant of the Buddha-Dharma and the law of karma, so you committed the karma of killing. You are now sent to hell for punishment. During the 49-day period after your death, one of your family members, who is practising Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door, has performed meritorious deeds and life liberations for you, as such I will use these merit and virtue to reduce some of your punishment in hell.”
Afterwards, the King of Hell said to me, “If a deceased person’s relatives are practising Buddhism and performing meritorious deeds for them (such as performing life liberations) during the initial 49-day period after their death, it will help the deceased eliminate their negative karma very quickly. But once the 49-day period is over, their negative karma is set, and only the energy from Buddhist scriptures can help them ascend to a higher realm. Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door uses a collection of Buddhist scriptures – Little Houses, while other Dharma Doors have their own methods to help spirits ascend to a higher realm. You must remember not to compare nor make causal comments about other Dharma Door. Every Dharma Door has their sutras and mantras that helps the deceased ascend; they are equally effective.”
“The reason why Little Houses can help spirits ascend to a higher realm and eliminate your negative karma so quickly is because of the immense power of vow and compassion that Guan Yin Bodhisattva possesses. If anyone in Human Realm dares to recklessly recite and offer the Little Houses – like those who fill in all the dots of the Little House but fail to finish reciting the full amount, then the Underworld will report the name of the person who signed it (the reciter) to the Heavenly court after the counterfeit Little Houses have accumulated to a certain amount or when we receive complaints from the spirits about not receiving enough scriptures. We have the device to track it. The Heavenly courts will then write an official letter and scroll to authorise us to take action.”
“I hope that you convey this to the people in the Human Realm, reminding them to recite the sutras properly. Don’t use Dharma items to trick people and line their own pockets. Don’t fool around with the Underworld. Buddhist rituals and matters related to helping spirits ascend to a higher realm should never be treated lightly. Otherwise, when you have to come down and kneel before me, I can only act according to the law.” After he finished, I was enveloped in a golden light and returned to the Human Realm.
Master Jun Hong Lu’s reply:
That is very good. You must remember, you can learn a lot from the observations. If you have offered Little Houses of very bad quality, the spirits will not be able to receive them and they can then complain to the King of Hell. In the past, some dramas depicted this. When the spirits appealed to the King of Hell, the King of Hell would hear the trial. For example, in the Cantonese opera ‘Wong Kui and Guiying’, when Guiying died, she became a spirit and wanted to take revenge on the guy. The King of Hell approved her request to go to the Human Realm and drag him away. These kinds of things happen a lot. If you trick the spirits and the amount of Little House you offered is insufficient, you commit an offence. So, you must be careful.
Last time, this person wrote about a similar case on our website. A few days later, someone called into my radio program and confirmed the observations in the article. There was, indeed, a fellow Buddhist practitioner who passed away in the same way described in the post and the scenes resembled exactly what happened to him while he was alive. Practising Buddhism is no joking matter, nor is it easy. Don’t fool around; you must be true to your cultivation.