CHAPTER
29
THIRD VISIT TO THE PRISON WITH VENOMOUS WASPS Buddha
Tse Kong who manifested on April 3rd, 1977. Year of the Snake
Buddha
Tse Kong: It is out of compassion that the deities
manifest themselves through the intercession of mediums, for the purpose
of teaching men the right way. However, several profiteers have taken
advantage of these opportunities, to work for the sake of their personal
interests. All these false mediums, deceitful priests, and
imposter-deities are more criminal than anybody else. Also those
fortune-tellers who boast their “iron mouths”, pretending to say
things as solid as iron, are only blood-suckers of their fellow-beings.
Their mouths are muzzles of wild beasts. As tricky disciples, they
disgrace the renown of their master, the great fortune-teller Kouei Kou.
After their death, they have to endure heavy punishment in hell before
being incarnated in the form of ravens that flutter in the deserted
mountains of Kouei Kou, and caw noisily with their iron beaks. Time for
departure, Yang Ts’ien. Don’t dilly-dally. Yang
Ts’ien: I
don’t, Master. What’s a day! Do you think it’s a bit cooler on the
way to hell? TK:
Not a shadow of doubt. The air is pretty cold in the world of the
dead. Your hair will bristle up, I assure you. But, we must go. Come up
on the dais, will you? YT:
Yes, Master. Here I am... TK:
We arrive! The
Mandarin: It’s
nice to see you again, gentlemen. TK:
In the world of humans, dishonest people borrowing the deities’
names are legion. They dishonor the deities somehow or other. We have to
visit this prison several times to collect adequate information for our
book. The
Mandarin:
Do you mind stepping into the reception-hall for relaxing and
having tea with us? TK:
We’re really sorry, Excellency. We don’t have time for
relaxation tonight. The
Mandarin: Just
follow me into the prison, then. YT:
Look! A multitude of bees are clinging to the sinners’ bodies
just as they do to a beehive. It’s not for producing honey but for
stinging. TK:
While in life, these souls were fond of niceties and delicious
dishes. Now, they have the opportunity to taste the venomous darts of
these bees. YT:
They groan, get distracted and seek vainly to dodge the bees. TK:
In fact, the “road to paradise” has paths but no one cares to
return. Hell has no door but everyone enters. The
Mandarin:
At the present time, there are a lot of wrong doers in temples
and pagodas. They misuse the names of deities and exploit the people’s
faith in order to make money. All this wrong practice jeopardizes the
reputation of religion, and public opinion is practically indignant. I
am really shocked at finding the number of sinners increasing in this
prison. I will have some of them come to tell you about their misdeeds. YT:
Thank you very much for your assistance, Excellency. The Mandarin:
Please, don’t mention it. It’s our duty. (to the souls just
coming). Tell us what you did in your life. First soul:
I lived in a temple in Tai Chu where I performed my work as a
medium, conveying the spirit of Generalissimo Tchong Dan. In the early
days, many cases of grave sickness, which had been declared incurable by
the doctors and physicians, were miraculously cured in séances of
spiritism when the spirit of Generalissimo Tchong Dan manifested through
my intermediary. Believers and patients came in larger and larger
numbers to my temple. Later, it happened that the generalissimo’s
spirit did not manifest in the mediumistic sessions, but I feigned his
apparition and deceived the audience. I mimicked the gestures and speech
of Generalissimo in an exact manner so the manifestation appeared to be
genuine. It goes without saying, I created misfortune for the patients
whose sickness increased instead of lessening. I also used their
superstition to extort their money, threatening them with all types of
stories. I told some people that calamities would fall upon them, and
others, that demons were obsessing them, and they must lead worship and
donate generous offerings to the deities in order to be protected. I
urged them to pay handsome amounts of money, of which I enjoyed the
surplus. In this manner, I led an easy life, bought a storied house, and
lived in luxury and happiness. After that, came the punishment. Death
happened unexpectedly. The infernal guards led me to the 4th Palace.
There, the King reprimanded me furiously, “You are a medium. You
should have preserved your spirit as carefully as possible to accomplish
your task as an intermediary for the deities. For heaven’s sake! You
did just the reverse! You cheated the unsuspecting people and misused
their confidence: this is an immoral act, do you realize it? The
benefits you provided for the sick were trifling compared to the guiles
and tricks you did to others. I condemn you to the prison with venomous
wasps. Everyday, the stings of the wasps make me suffer extremely, as if
my flesh is cut to pieces. The sorrow pierces me to my heart. I make an
appeal to the living mediums to never follow my example. They should be
honest and sincere in their service to the people and should not misuse
their role for making money. TK:
According to religious traditions, the role of the medium
consists of providing assistance to those that the physicians fail to
cure. With the occult power of the deities transmitted through the
mediums, the latter have the duty to save humans by the will of God, the
merciful. Whoever takes advantage of his role as a medium to make money
acts against God’s will. As mediums, they will commit no crimes if
they accomplish their task normally, letting the people offer what they
can from their pockets. The mediums, however, have no right to make
demands. The laws of the living world, as well as those of hell, forbid
the mediums to go beyond their role by selling medicines which they
pretend to be “divine or miracle pills”. This act will make of them
“pirate-genii”. The
Mandarin:
It’s the turn of the next soul to relate the wrongs to Mr. Yang
Ts’ien. The second soul: I
was a fortune-teller in my lifetime. I had made profound study of this
science. Shifting from place to place, I made a living by telling
fortunes for my clients. Usually, I installed a stall in the market
where I entertained them. I told them the possible events in their
future, depicted their character and revealed their ambitions and
passions. One time, I was short of money when a young man came to
consult me. He had the outlook of a wealthy man in elegant clothing. I
then used my grandiloquence to cheat him, predicting a period of time
that might be eventful for his destiny. He might be victim of robbers
and his prospect was quite dark. I assured him that I possessed a sort
of talisman, which could change his ill star. The young fellow believed
me on the spot and fell into my trap. I charged him 5,000 dollars for
the fees of a ritual ceremony that would chase away the damaging
spirits. Since then, I reiterated my “marvelous deal” with many
other persons and made a lot of money. At last, death cut me off and the
King of Hell, in a fury, accused me of being a fortune-teller and a
swindler without conscience. He condemned me to 12 years in the prison
with “venomous wasps”. Three years have gone by, and the remaining
days are long for me to suffer. Instead of procuring their honey for me,
the bees attack me day and night. My body is swollen all over, painful
and itching. Remorse is haunting me, but it is much too late. TK:
In your lifetime, you uttered honeyed and flowery words to boast
of possessing occult power. You were a venomous wasp who harmed rather
than helped the people. Now you have to bear the consequences of your
bad acts. I advise the fortune tellers and soothsayers to adopt the
religious path and teach the truth to humans in order to free them from
infatuation. They should show them how to get rid of their problems, and
their merits would be immense. Contrarily, if they misuse their
knowledge of occult things by telling lies and taking other people’s
money, hell will provide them a long stay. Time is pressing let’s go
home. YT:
Excellency, can you tell me whether all of the pirat-mediums are
detained here? The Mandarin:
Not all of them. Some other mediums went so far as to bewitch the
women and then abandon them after satisfying their sexual desires. They
are highly distinguished guests detained in other prisons. YT: Our visit has been long. We say goodbye to you, and once more, we express our thanks to His Excellency and to the generals for their kindness. |
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