In the Hell
Realm to Save the Suffering
- From TBN, issue 510 - 511
- Guru's Talk: In the Hell Realm to Save the Suffering
- By Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Sheng-Yen Lu
- Translated by Cheng Yew Chung
- Edited by TBN
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(From Book #173, "One Dream, One World")
In my samadhi, I travelled to the hell realm.
In the hell realm, I saw every kind of suffering and adversity,
which cannot be listed completely. It is a fact that the suffering
of illness in the human world is the ultimate suffering. Yet the
suffering in the hell realm is countless times greater.
I saw:
Two great mountains, so close together that there was only a thread
of sky between them, the narrow space more like a seam.
There was a prisoner in the seam.
The great mountains moved toward each other, clipping the prisoner
between them, crushing him. This was accompanied by intensely chilling,
bloodcurdling screams. The prisoner was crushed to death, becoming
meat paste. It was too ghastly to look at.
Soon, the double mountains moved apart and with a surprised gasp,
the prisoner returned to life. But then the double mountains replayed
the same scene again. Like this, the prisoner returned to life,
then died again, returned to life, died, returned to life, died.
This repeated itself I don't know how many times.
The sound of the mournful, shrill cries was relentless in my ears.
My heart was dripping tears. I really could not listen to this anymore.
When I covered my face and was going to leave, surprisingly the
prisoner recognized me and called out to me, "Guru! Please save
me!"
I replied, "For your case, I don't have the supernatural power
to save you. What kind of work were you doing before your death?
What caused this effect that you are being clipped between the double
mountains and being crushed to death?"
The prisoner replied, "I was a gynecologist. I performed too many
abortions, merely for money's sake. I took too many babies' lives."
I said, "If you make a great vow to the sky, say that you will
chant the rebirth mantra as many times as possible, dedicated the
those babies, that you are going to print great virtuous books to
persuade people not to kill the living when in a human birth. Moreover,
you must chant the heart mantra of Padmakumara. Then, you may be
exempted from the punishment of hell."
The prisoner immediately put his palms together and made a vow
to the sky, and with great effort chanted, "Om, Guru Lian Sheng,
Siddhi Hum" and the rebirth mantra.
Amazingly, the double mountains stopped moving and no longer clipped
the prisoner between them. The cangue and lock binding the prisoner
just fell off.
(Ed. Note: A cangue is a heavy wooden yoke borne on the shoulders
and enclosing the neck and arms.) I said to him, "Quickly! You can
stand up and are allowed to go. The dungeon gate will open automatically,
too. Chant the mantra all the way and you're on your own!"
I watched him all the way as he staggered along to escape the hell,
frightened out of his wits. He reached the boundary of the underworld,
where he saw a cave into which he dashed. I knew he was going to
a rebirth. I put my palms together and prayed for him, to wish him
a rebirth in a nice family! I hoped he would remember his vow to
print great virtuous books to give others for free.
I returned from samadhi. My palms were still together.
I wondered, "The doctors who are making so much money, if they
bury their conscience, their ability to know right from wrong -
why on earth?!"
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