Voyages to Hell

translated by

Nguyen Khang & Bui H.Huu

CHAPTER 23

VISIT TO THE PRISON OF FORCIBLE DRUG-DRINKING

Buddha Tse Kong who manifested on January 19th, 1977. Year of the snake 

Consuming counterfeit medicines may be homicide
Greed and lost conscience, man sows karmic vices
Great Master, Hwa To, gave man his technique so high
So compassionate and selfless, he is enlightened

Buddha Tse Kong:       The world of humans has many people deprived of moral conscience and passionate for dishonest money who fabricate false medication, totally disregarding morality and man’s life. Parallel to the charlatans who kill the patients out of ignorance, and primarily, out of thirst for gains, the pharmaceutic forgers are champions of criminals. Human laws, rigorous as they are, make but scarecrows to them. They set their life and liberty at stake and defy the authorities’ punishments. After they die, all kinds of punishment is waiting for them in hell. I am going to inform the unbelievers by taking Yang Ts’ien to this prison where tangible proof can be found. Yang Ts’ien, A new trip to hell. 

Yang Ts’ien:      What is tonight’s destination, Master? 

TK:      We’ll go to a prison under the administration of the 4th Palace. Get ready. 

YT:      I am, Sir. Shall we go? 

TK:      Here we arrive. Disembark. 

YT:      From the entrance of the prison are already heard the noise of men belching, accompanied by pathetic moans and cries. The door of the prison bears an inscription: “Forcible drug-drinking”. Two buffalo-headed and horse-faced guards are pushing the prisoners into the jail by force. There is the mandarin-governor together with his officers coming to meet us. I’m going to present them my reverences. 

The Mandarin-Governor:     Delighted to welcome you, Buddha Tse Kong and Mr. Yang Ts’ien. A few moments ago, I received the King of Palace’s instructions about your visit which consists in collecting information for your book “Voyages to Hell” that reveals to humans the real existence in hell. Would you mind following me? 

YT:      I appreciate greatly your hearty welcome, Excellency. On both sides of the door, I see piles of pharmaceutical items of all types. Coming nearer, I find trade-marks in various languages: Chinese, English, Japanese etc... They are pretty well presented. I wonder if this is hell’s warehouse for the storage of pharmacy products? If it is not, what else could it be? Even the biggest pharmacy on earth wouldn’t display such a quantity of drugs. 

The Mandarin:      This prison has nothing to do with the commerce of pharmaceutical products. What you see here commerce of pharmaceutical products. What you see here is nothing but sham drugs fabricated by men. As soon as a certain item appears on the world’s market, the same item is found in hell. As you can see, quantities of pharmaceutical specialties are exhibited here as evidence of men’s culpability. They are identical with original items. May this detail be known to humans. They should not fabricate fake articles in the privacy of their lodgings, believing their counterfeit may go unnoticed. Let them be aware of the fact that even in remotest, most secret spots, the deities are exercising their implacable surveillance. Otherwise, we can’t track the culpable and catch them red-handed. The canonical teachings state it thus: “Happiness and misfortune are door less. Man attracts them by himself. Good and evil pursue him shadow-like? It is the law of cause and effect which manifests itself in the case of fraud. 

TK:     Most humans simply don’t believe in the law of causality. They should be warned of this: every meritorious causality. They should be warned of this: every meritorious act calls forth a benevolent effect for the doer; every perverse deed attracts misfortune. It’s like an object reflecting its shadow when it is under a source of lights. While in a hermetically closed room, one doesn’t see one’s shadow. One thinks everything can be done without the knowledge of the deities. But it is in the very obscurity the deities select their favorite dwellings. The defrauder jumps of his own volition into the net. Of what can they complain? 

The Mandarin:      Please come this way to see things more closely. 

YT:      In the railed cells of the prison, I see many prisoners crying bitterly and wailing at the top of their voices. Infernal guards are pouring into their mouths pailfuls of a blackish liquid, which they seek in vain to dodge. 

TK     I’m going to show you the different stages a sinful soul has to pass through in this prison. 

The Mandarin:      Now, I’ll take Mr. Yang Ts’ien inside for a better view of things. 

YT:      How surprising! The man I saw the other day has lost his rosy complexion. Only three days have passed, and he looks wan and disfigured. His face, nose and cheeks are smeared with dirty liquid. What could that liquid be? 

The Mandarin:     In his lifetime, this man specialized in producing imitation medicines which did much harm to other people. After his death, we treat him by giving him this black and bitter liquid, blended with injurious ingredients, disgusting to the taste, which twists the guts, causes colic and vain attempts to disgorge. The punishment is equal to his skill in fabricating false medicine. 

YT:      The man in his European garb, is soaked with the dark liquid. His filthiness is repulsive, his eyes are morbid and haggard. 

The soul:     Grace! grace! O, Venerable Monk! O! Man of the terrestrial world! Save me, I beg you, I can’t stand it any longer. I prostrate before you, promising to incarnate in a buffalo or a dog to serve you by way of payment for my debt. At this hour, I have lots of riches on earth. Should you like it, my children will repay you generously. 

The Mandarin:      Shut up! He is the living Buddha Tse Kong. He isn’t a monk on earth. What do you want him to do with your money? I grant a momentary break-time for you to confess your crime to this man-of-the-earth. He is a disciple of Saint Kouan-Cheng, named Yang Ts’ien, an adept of the Temple of the Sages in Taiwan here to get information for writing a book. Be sincere in your confessions, you can possibly obtain some leniency. 

The soul:      Please accept my expression of profound gratitude, Excellency. I am really ashamed to make my confession, but I hope it will help people consider my fate and try to improve. In my lifetime, I was a druggist, specializing in the sale of Chinese and foreign medications. After sometime, I became a connoisseur in pharmacy. The idea of getting rich came to me, and to do so, I had to resort to foul means. I bought a device that helped produce pills and tablets. As for the ingredients, I made use of a mixture of four and colored powder. I fabricated the most demanded and rarest medicines. I had small bags, sachets, and labels printed which were exact copies of the authentic items. I produced enormous quantities of this spurious merchandise and distributed them to other drug stores. My earnings were incalculable. In the beginning of this year, I suffered from a deadly disease and died at the age of 52. I was escorted by buffalo-headed and horse-faced demons to the Mirror Revelator of Past Crimes which reproduced, as in a motion picture, all of the time I had busied myself with fabricating and trafficking bogus medicines. I was terrified at the efficiency of such a miraculously ingenious mechanism. The proof was incontestable, I had to confess my crimes. The King of the 4th Palace condemned me to 30 years of detention in this prison of forcible drug-drinking. I was at first awe struck at the sight of the heap of drugs at the door of the prison. It was all of my own making. The power of hell is really formidable. How could I deny before such irrefutable evidence? Three days later, I was forced by the guards to drink this black liquid. It is impossible for me to consume it. If I try to refuse, they flog me with canes and whips. I have to drink it, which causes me unending colic. I feel like vomiting but I just can’t do so. I am much repentant of my past crimes, but I know it is of no use. I make an appeal to the drug sellers on earth not to do as I did. Those who have already committed this sin must try to change. Otherwise, they can’t complain about punishment of this sort. 

The Mandarin:      Scoundrel! You have committed other crimes but you are reluctant to confess them. Try to hide them, and your punishment will be all the more severe! 

The soul:       Here, here they are! I am about to tell them. In my business, I sought to earn as much money as possible by selling drugs and narcotics to young boys and girls, destroying their youth and upsetting their lives. I deserve capital punishment, really. One time, a friend of mine offered to lend me a book of ethics, titled: “Religion of immortals, Buddha, saints and sages.” He had the good intention of having me read it, meditate on its contents and do good. I thumbed through a few pages, found the book treating of immortals, Buddhas, geniuses and saints who preached morality through mediumistic séances and composed poems for the salvation of humans. I tossed it aside, thinking it absurd to believe in deities in this era of sciences and inventions. All of the tales in it would be good for superstitious folks who worshipped the deities and listened to their preaching. How greatly surprised I was, upon my death, to find myself accused of blasphemy against the book of ethics and of tossing it. This gesture added five years to my sentence. So, that’s you, Mr. Yang Ts’ien, of the Temple of the Sages. I didn’t recognize you, and it’s stupid of me. I implore you, Buddha Tse Kong, to mediate with the Mandarin-Governor so I can be discharged sooner. 

YT:      Please, Master. This soul has known to preserve an atom of morality. He is still able to understand the words: Temple of the Sages. In my opinion, he deserves a little amnesty. Could that be possible? 

TK:     (to the prisoner) During your lifetime, you didn’t believe in God. You swore by nothing but modern sciences. Now, after death, you are remorseful. You are in the hands of the deities, and it is too late for repentance. However, your frank confessions could possibly afford you some grace, since your confessions provide information for the book “Voyages to Hell”, that will educate humans, once its publication is done. I take into consideration this merit of yours and will help you soothe your pain. 

The Mandarin:      Every crime results in a chastisement. Severe punishment is reserved for law-transgressors. All supplications are in vain! Although fabrication of false medicines doesn’t cause direct harm to a man’s life, it entails distressing consequences to his viscera. That’s murder, indirectly but delayed murder all the same. Now, you understand why the King of Hell had inflicted that weighty sentence. 

TK:      Time is up. Think of your return trip. We’ll come back if chance wants us to. 

YT:      I am deeply grateful, Excellency and Generals for your precious information. 

TK:      The dais is this way. Go ahead. 

YT:      I am seated. Shall we depart, Master? 

TK:      The Temple is in sight. Prepare to regain your body.

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CONTENTS

Forward
Introduction
Preface
Summary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Celestial Edict
Postface

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