Excerpt from Master Lu’s Q&A (270), 4 December 2018
Question:
On 21 November 2018, I was whisked off by a golden light to the Underworld. I then saw a few male offenders being escorted by enforcement officers to the Hall of the King of Hell. When the King of Hell saw those offenders, unlike his usual manner when hearing a case, he looked enraged and stern. The King told me that these offenders were not from Country X, and they held tremendous wealth and power when they were still alive. They were quite influential in their home country, but the deeds they had committed were intolerable by heaven and earth.
In secret, they suppressed eminent and virtuous Buddhist monastics and lay practitioners, as well as other religious people. On the surface, they made it seem as though they did it for the greater good of their nation, but in reality, they were just abusing their power and tried to benefit from it. They thought nobody knew what they have done, but little did they know that all of their negative karma accumulating over time. Because a few of their crimes were related to Country X, that’s why the decree from heaven authorised the Country X’s Underworld to hear the case and hand out sentences.
The Underworld is under different district jurisdictions. Unless we have received official documents or scrolls from heaven, we officials in the Underworld can’t deal with offenders from other countries. That’s why the King of Hell said that we people in the Human Realm have no way of knowing completely the workings of the Underworld, let alone the heavens. If you don’t know something, you shouldn’t casually speak about it.
The King of Hell scolded the male offenders, “Both of you are Country X’s citizens (specifics not disclosed due to confidentiality of the Underworld), and the wealth and social status you enjoy today comes from the immense blessings you have cultivated in your previous lives. On the surface, you seemed like a faithful Buddhist, but in reality, you used religions as a guise. You thought that everything you did would remain unknown to everybody, and you’ve committed many heinous crimes in the shadows. The Heaven and Earth can’t tolerate it. Originally, you had a mission to serve and benefit the people of the Human realm, but instead, you became lost and intoxicated by the riches and fame, unable to free yourself from it.
“Now I’ve received a decree from heaven to send your primordial souls in Heaven to the Hell of Cauldron of Boiling Oil, and remove your original divine positions and all the blessings that came with it. Your primordial souls in Heaven will no longer exists, and you will no longer get connected to the divine energy in the Human Realm. Your fortunes will thus turn for the worst and gather plenty of dark energy. The spirits of all the people that you ruined or indirectly killed will look for you in the human world and collect karmic debts from you, one by one. You will encounter misfortune after misfortune, your nightmares will never cease, and you will feel anxious and depressed. These are all karmic retributions for the unwholesome deeds that you committed; I am just delivering judgement according to the law.
“If you don’t properly repent when you return to human world, and still continue doing unwholesome deeds, I will write a formal document and deliver it to the Underworld of your home country so that when you die, the Underworld of your home country will take your souls to the Unintermittent Hell, the Hell of Excrement, the Hell of Burning Flames, the Hell of Tongue-Ripping, and the Hell of Iron Mountains for punishments. All of these hells are Great Hells, and it’s where all souls will be punished together, regardless of which country they’re from.”
After the King of Hell finished speaking, he instructed the enforcement officers to send them for punishment. I looked at the display and saw their primordial souls (the ones that were in heaven) bubbling in the oil cauldrons till they became disintegrated. Then the King of Hell allowed me to look at how these offenders were doing in the Human Realm. At first, their foreheads were bright and clean, and there were a protective layer of glowing spiritual energy surrounding their heads. But after their primordial souls were thrown into the frying oil and became disintegrated, the glowing spiritual energy dispersed. What happened next was the dark energy due to their accumulated offences started gathering and enshrouded their heads. At the sight of this, it dawned on me why an unlucky person’s forehead is usually dark.
The King of Hell said to me, “Ordinary people are foolish and ignorant. They practise Buddhism, yet they still dare to violate the law. Do they really think that nobody knows about their deeds? From ancient times, there’s a saying that the good will be rewarded, and the evil will be punished, it’s only a matter of time. Regardless of your level of cultivation or where you are from in previous lives, Buddhist practitioners must properly adhere to the Buddhist precepts. Do you think that karmic retribution is only served to ordinary people? All sentient beings in my eyes are treated equally. I am only acting in accordance with the laws when I deliver my judgement.”
When the King of Hell finished speaking, I was sent back to the human world.
Master Jun Hong Lu’s reply:
When a person has good fortune, their forehead is bright. The forehead must look full. Government officials or wealthy people have full and bright-looking foreheads; it indicates that they possess a good energy. When one’s forehead looks dull, it means they are unfortunate. People who are ill have a dull-looking forehead. I’m not talking about the shine from an oily forehead, but the skin on their forehead looks glowing.