CHAPTER 39VISIT TO THE PRISON OF MOUTH-PINCHING AND TEETH-WEDGING Buddha
Tse Kong who manifested on September 23rd, 1977. Year of the Snake
Buddha
Tse Kong: The spiritual path is hardly being
observed. Religious persons become more and more scarce. Some hypocrites
make believe that they possess a strong faith but in reality, they
neglect regenerating themselves. Several fine speakers chatter like
magpies, but what they say matches poorly with what they do. They are no
better than rootless duckweeds bubbling on water and drifting at the
mercy of the winds, which are unable to take root as do rice-plants or
trees. Humans are advised to devote their time to self-cultivation.
Then, they will progress just as having a good crop every year. But if
they neglect the spiritual path toward self-regeneration, they will be
like a blind man who solitarily plays his flute in the corner. Once
engaged in the path of spiritual perfection, one’s heart must be
sincere. The holy scriptures have taught: “those who do good, will
gather good fortune in abundance, those who do evil, will reap
misfortune to the point of saturation”. The Celestial Net with its
wide mesh doesn’t let anyone slip away. If one wakes up in time and
returns to the good path, one still has a chance. If one doesn’t, the
autumn-wind will blow before long, dead leaves will then fall and one
will be without a shelter against the cold. And then, the yard before
one’s house will become deserted and dreary. Misfortune will come
without delay. Now, it’s time to depart for hell. Yang Ts’ien,
prepare yourself. Yang
Ts’ien:
Yes, Sir. May I ask why you don’t look happy today? You must
have taken some drinks, haven’t you? TK:
With my keen eyes, I can see to the depth of man’s heart. The
fact that humans only think of material pleasures hurts me deeply. The
three duties and the five cardinal virtues of Confucianism are therefore
neglected. I must drink bitter alcohol in order to tolerate watching
sink into disorder! YT:
Venerable Master, you are very altruistic and merciful. TK:
Come quickly on the dais, my boy. Alcohol itself intoxicates no
one; only man himself seeks to get intoxicated. Feminine beauty
doesn’t try to charm anyone; only man himself willingly gets charmed.
Money attaches itself to nobody. But man himself gets attached by it.
Look! A strong gust of wind has just blown past. I feel sober now. Well,
let’s depart for hell... Here we arrive. Get down, Yang Ts’ien. YT:
The Governor of the prison is already here to welcome us. My
respects to His Excellency and to the Generals. Tonight, my Master and I
are coming to visit your prison. We wish to be granted your assistance. The
Mandarin: Not
too much politeness, please stand on your feet. Our prison punishes the
sinners by pinching their lips with pincers and wedging their teeth with
iron balls. The office of the 6th Palace had received the Celestial
Edicts and was instructed of your visit to hell to write the book
“Voyages to Hell”. TK:
By order of God, we come here and count greatly on your
assistance. The
Mandarin: May
I invite you to come inside. YT:
A large number of souls are seen in the prison. The guards are
busy heating iron bars until red which they thrust into the sinners’
mouths before ramming them with thorny iron balls. Blood flows
abundantly from the sinners’ mouths and they fall unconscious. TK:
The iron-bars are needed to open the mouths of these souls before
thorny iron-balls can be crammed in. Though the souls have mouths they
are unable to speak, or even to moan with their pains. YT:
Having one’s throat stuck with a fish-bone is already an
unhappy event. Now, with a thorny ball driven by force into the mouth,
the torment must be a thousand times more painful. May I ask you,
Excellency, what crimes these sinners had committed to suffer atrocious
torment? The
Mandarin: Ordinarily,
the people who like to argue and show themselves superior to others, or
seduce the girls with their honeyed tongues, cheat other people with
untrue speech for the sake of money, or get addicted to opium, cocaine,
and habitually criticize and hurt other people in conversations. All
those people will not escape from the torment inflicted upon their foul
tongues. Let me have some souls come forward to tell you their stories. TK:
They lose consciousness. With the use of my magic fan, they will
soon be recovered. General, please pull the thorny balls out of their
mouths so they can speak. The
General: It’s
done. Venerable Buddha, you talk to them now. TK:
This is Mr. Yang Ts’ien of the living world. He comes here to
interview the souls in hell in order to write a book. Do relate the
crimes that you had committed with your tongues to him. A
female soul: When
in life, I was endowed with great eloquence in speaking, arguing and
reasoning on a variety of subjects. My companions were fascinated by my
speech and beauty. In spite of being a married woman, I was frequently
courted by many suitors. One time, a young man declared his love to me.
Knowing that he was a wealthy man, I made myself attractive and began to
have a love affair with him. I caught his eyes by telling him how my
husband was disloyal and ungrateful to me. As a result, I turned out to
be an adulteress. And then, by using my captivating beauty and deceitful
speech, I succeeded in acquiring a large part of his fortune. From then
on, I sought to get rid of him by addressing him with rough, insulting
words that rendered him desperately unhappy. Finally, his excessive
despair led him to commit suicide. After his death, he took his revenge
by complaining to the King of Hell who found it was his fault because he
let himself become trapped in my clutches. As for me, the King accused
me of being a cruel woman worthy of punishment. After that, his soul
often came to earth to haunt me, which rendered my spirit unstable. For
seven long years, I suffered from mental fatigue until the day my
destiny came to an end, and I left the world. At the Citadel of
Premature Death, I was confronted with my young lover. After judgment,
he was incriminated for adultery with a married woman, while I was
condemned to several prisons of hell. Then I was led to this prison,
where the King of Palace charged me with using my foul tongue to bewitch
the male sex, to harm and take advantage of other people. Here, my lips
are pinched with pincers, my teeth wedged with iron jaws, and my mouth
is crammed with a thorny iron ball. The anguish caused by this torment
is beyond expression. TK:
You did pretend the role of cherishing and loving your young
lover. Your tongue is that of a viper’s. You deserve the punishment
and have no right to complain. Now, second soul. Your declarations. The
soul: I was a
tramp, a homeless man, and also an opium and cocaine user. I had to
steal to pay for my drugs. After my death, I was condemned to this
prison. I am very unhappy. In hell, I don’t have any drugs to consume.
Instead, I am daily forced to engorge an iron ball whose thorns tear my
mouth painfully. I don’t cease reproaching myself for having spent an
undisciplined life. The
Mandarin: Though the term of the drug users’
imprisonment is usually very long, they can’t wean themselves easily
from the drugs and as long as these drugs remain in their bodies, they
are incapable of freeing themselves for further reincarnation. Many
people are presently addicted to opium, heroin, cocaine and other
narcotics prohibited by law. Terrestrial law is severe enough but
hell’s is even more so. There are many sinners perpetually condemned
to the Eternal Prison. I advise the addicted men of the world to repent
instantaneously and get rid of the drugs, which are as corrosive to
their bodies in life as they are detrimental to their souls in death. TK:
To the third soul, declare the bad karma of your life. The
soul: I had read a great deal in my life,
and knew by heart a lot of dictums and adages. While conversing with my
friends and acquaintances, I delighted in interrupting them and
preaching morality with false arguments and distorted reasoning. I even
made use of the fine teachings of the Sages to deprecate other people.
After my death, the King of Hell reprimanded me furiously. He said,
“you didn’t utilize the words of the deities for doing good, but you
overused them in fallacious discussions and blasphemy. It is an abuse of
words, and you deserve to taste the savor of a thorny ball just as your
thorny mouth used to injure your fellowmen”. I therefore have now a rammed
mouth that can’t speak. TK:
A wise, reasonable man can go any place. An irrational man, on
the other hand, can’t move a single step. Humans should speak as genuine
morality wants them to. They are responsible if their words
cause indirect death to other persons. They are murderers, neither more
nor less. Nasty-tongued people are surely punished in hell. Now, the 4th
soul. Why are you condemned here? The
soul: When I was living, I was as rich as Croesus.
More and more desirous of gains, I loaned my money at a high rate of
interest to the poor people in urgent need of money. The amount of money
borrowed with prohibitive interest enlarged my properties. In case the
debtors were incapable of repayment, I had them beaten by ruffians.
After my death, the King of Hell charged me with greed, blood sucking,
and profiteering from other people’s poverty. He condemned me to
engorge a thorny iron ball. The anguish is indescribable. The
Mandarin: You were wealthy, but your heart was of
steel. You were merciless to your debtors and forced them to pay
exorbitant interest rates. Your wealth was earned through foul means, so
you have to engulf an iron ball and taste its foul savor. I advise the
well to-do people not to loan their money at high interest rates. If
they have money in surplus, they should render service to their
fellowmen by demanding a low rate of interest. Service to other people
is a pleasure that one can afford oneself. So, why not practice it? TK: Well, Yang Ts’ien. It’s not too soon for our return trip. Be ready! |
CONTENTS |
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