CHAPTER 42VISIT TO THE 7TH PALACE. INTERVIEW WITH THE KING OF HIGH MOUNTAIN VISIT TO PRISON BLAZING HEAT Buddha
Tse Kong who manifested on November 16th, 1977. Year of the Snake
Buddha
Tse Kong: Formerly, in the eastern regions of China,
the Yu Li King was well known as a precious scripture, a literary,
religious book which served as a warning for mankind. The author of the
book was a priest named Tan Che Tsouen Chi. Obeying the order of God, he
took many trips to hell by soul travel. He had, with his own eyes, seen
the sinful souls condemned to torture by the King of Hell. Upon his
return from each trip, he narrated faithfully in his book what he had
seen in hell, and his accounts were widely known in different countries.
A great number of persons were awakened after reading the book, and
converted themselves to the right path. Books were printed and given
away free. Those who could understand it clearly, would experience the
truth. The punishment in hell has recently been modified and renovated
to cope with new circumstances and the changes in modern human society.
Recently, the Celestial Emperor particularly designated Yang T’sien, a
disciple of the Temple of the Sages in Taiwan- which is placed under the
aegis of the Immortals in the Celestial Southern Sector - to visit hell
for collecting new proof. With the projection of soul travel and
mediumnistic means to relay the images and sounds from hell to the
earth, the book of “the Voyages to Hell” will succeed in replacing
the old “Yu-Li-King”. This book will be a masterpiece as is the
Great Wall of China. The people who print and distribute the books
widely and gratuitously will receive blessings and spiritual merits.
This book will not only reveal the secret of hell’s structure but will
also disclose the mysteries of spiritual perfection. Those who apply
themselves to reading it again and again will awaken from illusions and
place themselves on the path of regeneration and enlightenment. Those
who give copies free to their fellow-beings will have their desires
granted, and their sins forgiven. It is indeed a Gospel helping men to
repent and to correct themselves. Yang Ts’ien, let’s come up to the
dais and take a trip to hell. Yang
Ts’ien: I am seated, Master. TK:
Here we arrive. Get down. YT:
Where are we? TK:
Just look ahead! That’s the 7th Palace. The King of the High
Mountain is coming. Let’s go pay him our tributes. The
King: My
respects to Venerable Buddha Tse Kong and Mr. Yang Ts’ien of the
Temple of the Sages. Please, come in. YT:
Thank you, Sir. We are greatly honored by the solemn reception of
His Majesty and His Court. I see before the Palace some infernal guards
escorting sinful souls. I presume His Majesty must have interrupted his
hearing session because of our arrival. The
King: We
are honored with your visit. General, please bring us some fine tea. The
General attending: At
your orders, Sir. YT:
We are deeply touched by your warm welcome. The
King: Please
don’t mention it. Right at this moment, man’s morality is in fast
decline: however, it is a great comfort to see a revival of spiritualism
in Taiwan. The Immortals and Buddhas have taught and advised mankind to
avoid falling into the whirlwind of misfortunes. Their assistance is
really great. Even God Himself directs you to write a book on hell,
which is an unprecedented break. It took you a long time to come visit
this Palace! TK:
We thank you deeply for your instruction. It is for the common
goal that we have come here tonight. We sollicit your assistance and
hope to receive precious, and detailed information on the sublime,
orthodox Tao. The
King: Perfect.
Now, I’ll tell you about the situation of dead men in our Palace. The
close relatives of the deceased have the custom of celebrating a mass of
requiem of 49 days after a death. This is the reason for 49 days: On the
7th day, the soul of the deceased comes to the First Palace, on the 14th
to the Second Palace, on the 21st day to the Third Palace, and so on
until the 49th day, he comes to the Seventh Palace, which is this one.
The living people estimate that the soul remains at each palace for
seven days. But they fail to know that most of the souls have committed
too many sins in their life, and they don’t merely need 49 days to
reach the 7th Palace, but will have to pass by the 8th, 9th and 10th
Palace before reincarnation into another existence. If man exercises
virtues and accumulates meritorious deeds, he will be guided in his
death by the Gracious Genius of Happiness and Virtue. Every ritual cult
will not be necessary for him because he is a free soul. Therefore,
man should remember this: Elaborate ceremonies which are presided over
by the best priest, will not be sufficient to deliver the sinful souls
from the prisons of hell. YT:
Please, Sir, why don’t people take 56, 63, or 70 days instead
of 49 days? The
King: The
palaces, from the 1st to the 7th, are the main ones. The 8th, 9th and
10th palaces are intended to punish the grave sinners who haven’t been
purged enough in the first seven palaces. Heavily condemned souls have
passed by the first seven palaces in 49 days, but they still have to go
through the last three palaces to pay for their other sins. The living
men, out of filial piety celebrate ritual mass to pray for their
parents’ liberation. However, it will be more practical if the
latter’s souls know how to perform good deeds during their lifetime. TK:
In Confucianism, the souls, after death or prior to their time of
reincarnation, is called “demons or demonical souls”. In Buddhism,
those souls are called “infernal bodies or souls”. In order to save
a soul from this place of misfortune, the souls’ descendants must
devote themselves to do good actions. This is the only way to move the
heart the King in Hell and obtain amnesty from him. If they act
contrarily to the laws of morality, they certainly obtain no grace for
the soul, despite solemn rites and having most competent priests. I
advise humans to fulfill their duty of filial piety towards their
parents while the latter are still alive, because “an ear of rice
being offered when alive is more valuable than a bottle of wine offered
when dead”. The descendants should reform themselves, and should print
canonical books to distribute free to people. This good action is easy
to perform, and will touch the heart of God and the authorities of hell,
at the same time showing the gratitude of the children toward their
parents. It is the only means to save one’s ascendants from the ocean
of sorrows. This piece of advice should be followed with all their
hearts and might. YT:
Dear Master, your teachings are very direct and useful to
mankind. If the descendants prove to be impious and irrespectful towards
their parent while the latter are alive, it is ridiculous for them to
play the grateful and the considerate child after their parents are
dead. “The tree prefers to remain still but the winds keep blowing.
The child wants to pay his filial piety, but his parents are no longer
alive.” goes the saying. Now, dear Master, I have another question to
ask. The demons still preserve their human forms while they are in hell.
How could they do so, since their bodies were disintegrated after their
death? TK:
These are only illusory bodies, false bodies, or corporal images.
In other words, bodies in hell are called metamorphosed bodies. Since
our time is limited, may you tell us quickly about your functions in
this palace. The
King: Our
gate governs the Prison of “Blazing Heat” together with 16 smaller
prisons. The souls who are led here are judged with impartiality. I
invite you to tour the prison for better observation. YT:
Just fine. We thank you greatly, Sir. The
King: All my
retinue will follow me with our visitors to the Blazing Heat Prison. Mandarins
and Generals: At
your request, Sir. Honorable visitors, will you follow His Majesty. YT:
We follow the King to a gloomy path. How dismal hell is! No one
would like to visit this place. Only the spiritual emissaries come to
fulfill their mission. TK:
Well, you seem to be highly affected by the spectacles of hell,
Yang Ts’ien. Here, partiality is absent. Even if you have close
friends, you can’t count on their assistance. All things depend on the
good or bad actions people do during their life. “The wicked attract
wicked demons, the virtuous attract gracious geniuses” says a proverb.
This is why I advise humans to associate with good people and propagate
faith in order to avoid condemnation to hell. YT:
I begin to feel a suffocating heat. Over there, before us, is a
blazing fire. I only see an incandescent mass. Above the door of the
prison, I read an inscription “Big Blazing-Heat Prison”. The walls
are built of bricks. TK:
These refractory bricks tolerate a high intensity of heat. They
grow harder as the fire becomes hotter. The
Mandarin-Governor of the prison:
My reverences to His Majesty the King. The
King: Here
are Venerable Buddha Tse Kong and his disciple Yang Ts’ien of the
Temple of the Sages in the terrestrial world. I bring them here to
observe your prison. Muster your men to render them honors. The
Mandarin: At
your request, Sir! The
King: Ahead
of us, is the “Big Blazing-Heat”. YT:
What terrific heat! I see a big flagstone the size of a camp-bed
placed on two trestles. Under it is a red blazing fire. The sinners are
forced to walk on the heated flagstone. They fall to the ground,
writhing and screaming in pain. Other new coming souls are terrified by
the spectacle. They cry, the wail just as they do at the death of their
parents. With stiff legs, they can’t step forward, and the infernal
guards have to push them. No sooner have they set their feet on the
flagstone than they seem electrified and fall down. The more they roll
their bodies with pain, the more they are burnt by the fire. What sins
have they committed, Sir? The
King: Our
prison bears the name of “Blazing Heat”. It is a place for detaining
the souls who are desirous of fame and riches, who ruin other people for
the sake of individual interests, who flatter and condescend to the
desires of the fair sex while scorning or showing indifference toward
their own sex, who take advantage of other people’s ill-luck to harm
them, or possess an irritable temper, or frequently curse the deities,
speculate on goods, or plot with others through corruption, and play the
opportunist and the sycophant. Despise the wretched and the miserable,
they commit unfair acts through partiality, prejudices or intransigence.
Those who are against morality and virtue are detained here. The torment
we apply here is quite simple: the sinners have to walk along a 300 mile
long alley paved with highly heated bricks, in order to purge their
sins. It would take them three to five years to cover the alley. The
torment corresponds to the gravity of their sins. When going through the
alley, the slighter condemned sinners are burned less violently than the
graver condemned souls. The heat automatically increase or diminishes
according to the gravity or slightness of their sins. While inside the
prison, the souls suffer atrociously, because the air in it is burning
and stifling. Those who are condemned to the 16th prison utilize another
alley by the side of the prison. The heat in the 16th prison is more
terrible than in this one, which only serves to frighten the slightly
condemned souls without putting them into danger. TK:
It’s growing late. With your permission, we shall ask to come
again. The
King: It’s
late, indeed. I don’t want to retain you any longer. Muster your men,
Generals! YT: I say goodbye to you, Sir. And thank you for your welcome. |
CONTENTS |
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