CHAPTER 32VISIT TO THE PRISON OF HEART-WRENCHING Buddha
Tse Kong who manifested on May 16th, 1977. Year of the Snake
Buddha
Tse Kong: The Chinese culture and its traditional morality
were originally the result of the synthesis of the vital force of heaven
and earth. From thence, they always remain new and exist indefinitely
through the ages. Nowadays, people are more inclined to materialism.
They adore nothing but material welfare. They deny the intrinsic value
of their own culture and totally submit to the material civilization of
the Occident. Their excessive veneration with regard to foreigners
renders them ungrateful to the extent they forget their ancestors and
their race. They weaken themselves and bring shame to the next
generation. Still worse, with the rapid progress of science and
technology, these people pride themselves for having daunted nature and
outdone God himself. They never realize that a single tidal wave
suffices to eliminate every living creature with their inventions. Even
if he is well-equipped with his science and technique, man is simply a
small boat drifting on the immensity of an ocean. His pretention to
excel God and destroy the great nature with his science and technology
will necessarily lead him some day to bear the terrific catastrophes of
heaven. The man who considers himself free from the laws of nature often
behaves immorally. It is therefore desirable that every person of
generous and virtuous character considers carefully before making any
commitment. We are to take a tour to hell, Yang Ts’ien. Come quickly
on the dais. Yang
Ts’ien: At
your request. I’m ready. Shall we go, Master? TK:
Here we are! Let’s go down. The
King: My
congratulations to Buddha Tse Kong and Mr. Yang Ts’ien who pay me
another visit. What a long and tiring trip! TK:
Never mind, Sir. Here we come again to burden you with our desire
to inspect the cells of the prison. The
King: Last time, I
promised to let you inspect the “Heart-Wreching” Prison. Now, please
follow me. YT:
We thank you deeply, Sir. Ahead of us, I see the 36 cells of the
Heart-Wrenching Prison. Already, I hear resounding cries and groans. Of
course, dreadful effluence of blood is to be seen. The
King: The
sinful souls whose hearts are hardened by vice will have to redeem their
crimes with their hearts. YT:
The mandarin-governor of the prison is coming. I have to pay him
my homage. The
Mandarin: My
respects to His Majesty, Buddha Tse Kong and Mr. Yang Ts’ien. I
received the order to welcome Mr. Yang Ts’ien, of the Temple of the
Sages, and Buddha Tse Kong from Nirvana, who come to visit my prison in
person. I wish to be forgiven for my deficiencies, if any. YT:
You are very obliging, Excellency. We have come here to gather
information with a view to writing a book. Your assistance is necessary. The
King: Officer,
open the gate of the prison. The
Officer: Your
order is executed, Sir. YT:
What a frightful sight! These mournful cries oppress my heart. In
the prison, small demons are splitting the souls’ chests with
cutlasses, and extracting their hearts just like a butcher disemboweling
the pigs. The souls are fastened to stakes, their chests gaping. They
utter heart-rending screams and fall unconscious. What crime did they
commit, I wonder. The
Mandarin: At
first, I am going to revive a soul with resuscitative water to restore
him to life. YT:
Miraculous! A single bowl of water is flushed on the sinner, and
here he is, with his chest closed up and his senses recovered. The
Mandarin: I
shall have some sinful souls come to tell you their misdeeds while on
earth. The
soul: In
my lifetime, I used to read abundantly. After finishing my university
studies, I was imbued with contemporary ideas and had deep passion for
modern culture. While I was attending university, a protestant professor
advised me to convert to protestantism. After meeting him, I had not
only a chance to perfect my English but also had many occasions to
travel to foreign countries. Anticipating a bright future, I accepted
his proposal. Since then, I went to church to listen to pastors’
sermons and also to improve my English. Most of the believers were young
men and comrades, and we had the opportunity to meet and exchange
experiences. For a while, I was an active member of a youth group. One
time, after receiving my baptismal sacrament, I suddenly thought of my
native village where people still dealt in the worship of genii, saints,
and the veneration of Buddha. I found all such things “out of
fashion” and unworthy of modern times. I regarded as superstitious the
gesture of prostrating in front of statues. I returned to my village,
and decided to convince my family to change. First, I advised my parents
to give up their adoration of statues. My parents, who had had life long
belief and kept strong faith in the religion of their forefathers,
refused to hear me. Their attitude irritated me so much that I destroyed
all the objects that I found on the altar. My parents, wrathful,
snatched a chess-board and threw it at me. I was so indignant that I
left the house for good. After my graduation from university, I followed
the pastor many places to preach the Gospel, and after that, I received
the investiture of the Church which appointed me to be a missionary to a
remote place. Later on, when I was killed in a car accident, I did not
find myself rising to paradise as I had expected. Instead, I was seized
by wicked demons and escorted to hell, to the Heart-Wrenching Prison for
punishment. I implore you, Sir, to grant me your forgiveness. The
King: The
religions, by themselves, are devoid of distinction. They all require
absolute faith. Your religion never taught you to vilify your parents’
belief. Neither did the protestant pastor inculcate in you such a spirit
of disparagement. It was you, because of your bias to Occidental ways
and manners, who forgot your origin, you destroyed the talismans and
ritual tablets of the cult of your ancestors. How could you, with such a
faulty faith and bad conduct, hope to teach men the commandment of
“remembering its source while drinking the water of a stream”? Your
preacher might have taught you not to worship idols and prostrate before
statues. But you were not yet up to the level of comprehending the pure
truth and failed to realize that the cross, the Bible, and even the
pastor were but idols in other forms, and you worshipped
them anyway. But if you don’t want to worship idols, then you should
not preserve any other type of exoteric rites. You should sincerely
eliminate all desires and stay impartial. By demolishing the philtres
and name tablets of your ancestors, you denied your source. From whom
were you born? Whose name did you bear? Naturally it’s your
forefathers’ name. Your acts were adverse to the teachings of God, and
this is the reason why paradise rejected you, and it is here, in hell,
you have come. As you have just made a frank confession, I deem it
proper to subtract two months from your sentence. After completion of
your detention here, you will be reincarnated for six successive
existences on earth. TK:
Religious faith teaches man the way to regenerate. By no means
should he accuse or criticize the faith of other people, pretending his
is true and unique. That’s the law of God. By pretending
that one’s religion is authentic whereas the others’ are false, one
sows discord. Once the feelings of mercy and fraternity are lost, people
deviate from the straight path. If it is possible that such lopsided
people manage to obtain success in the Way, the deities themselves will
be in disharmony, at odds, in dispute, and paradise will become a
battlefield instead of a kingdom of felicity. It’s rather late. We
shall come back next time. Yang Ts’ien, be ready for the return. The
King: Officers
and troopers! Stand in line for the salute. YT:
Our time being limited, we cannot prolong our visit. We are
deeply grateful to His Majesty, his mandarins and generals for their
assistance. TK:
Come quickly on the dais. YT:
I’m settled, Master. Let’s be on our way. |
CONTENTS |
|