CHAPTER 46VISIT TO THE PRISON WITH CAULDRONS OF BOILING OIL Buddha
Tse Kong who manifested on January 23rd, 1978. Year of the Horse
Buddha
Tse Kong: We are going to take the first trip of the year to
hell. It’s favorable to start a job during the blossom-time of spring.
Let’s be ready, Yang Ts’ien. Yang
Ts’ien: Venerable
Master, I am ready. Shall we go? TK:
We’ve arrived. Let’s come down from the lotus dais. YT:
Which prison shall we visit? TK:
We’re going to visit the Prisons with Cauldrons of Boiling Oil.
See the Mandarin-Governor who’s awaiting us? YT:
True. A group of people seem to reserve a warm welcome for us.
Let’s go to the Governor and the Generals and pay them our respects. The
Mandarin: No
civilities, please. We are delighted with your visit, Buddha Tse Kong
and Mr. Yang Ts’ien. Our prison, called Cauldrons of Boiling Oil is
dependent on the 7th Palace. By divine order, you have come to us with
much pain and difficulty. You certainly acquire great merits. TK:
Your formal praise touches us deeply, Excellency. But you forget
your own merit dealing all day long with the prisoners without a minute
of leisure or rest. The
Mandarin: We
endeavor to fulfill our responsibility in re-educating the sinful souls,
which tires us enormously. If we chance to cooperate with you in
teaching morality to humans through the help of your book, it will be a
worthy merit to have taught mankind in the name of God. You are invited
to come inside. YT:
We are at the door of the prison. Sentry guards stand on both
sides. The entrances, without exits, have made me think that the terms
of imprisonment must be indefinite. The interior of the prison is
sparsely and poorly furnished. A gigantic boiler, resembling a big
cauldron used in villages for cooking pigs or vegetables, is in the
middle of the room. The guards are fueling a brisk fire under the
boiler. The oil in it is boiling at a high temperature. It is exactly
what people on earth used to say “Cauldron of Boiling Oil”. The
guards are pushing the souls to the cauldron, and then they pierce their
bodies with a spear before pitching them into the boiling oil. The
sinners manage to utter a single scream before they sink to the bottom
of the boiler. In a brief time, the sinners’ skin and flesh are
completely destroyed. Only a white skeleton is seen in the impassible
cauldron of boiling oil. May I ask what kind of a torment this is? What
a category of crime is subject to it? The
Mandarin: This punishment of throwing the
sinners into boiling oil is one of the gravest ones applied in the
prison of the 7th Palace. In the terrestrial world, the living people
used to think that the boiling oil punishment is only reserved for
demons and malefactor-devils. At present, we inflict this punishment on
the souls who were extremely wicked. As a result, all of the sinful
souls sent here were extremely wicked and dishonest people in their
lives. YT:
What could be most of their cases? The
Mandarin: In their lifetime, these souls had
committed the sins of robbery, theft, assault and battery, murder,
incest, corruption, poisoning. In a word, they did harm to the life of
the others and betrayed the divine law. Upon their death, they had to
experience the punishment of the prisons of other palaces before they
came here for enduring this extremely severe and painful one. YT:
Apart from the above sinners, are there sinful souls of another
category to undergo this torment? The
Mandarin: Yes,
those who made use of sorcery to harm other people are also punished
here. This is done to melt away their black magic. YT:
Can you have some souls come, who have not yet been thrown into
the boiling oil cauldron so I can interview them? The
Mandarin: Of
course I can. General, please bring some souls in. The
General: At
your request. Here they are. Mr. Yang Ts’ien, you can ask them
questions. YT:
My old woman, do you know why you are here? The
soul: I was a
brothel keeper. During my lifetime I did nothing but lead girls into
debauchery. My trade consisted in pandering girls to pleasure-seekers. I
earned money with my commerce of skin and flesh. After my death, I was
condemned to the prison with the lake of mire, excrements and urine,
then to the eviscerating prison, and this prison. The King of Hell is
really merciless. In my life, all I knew was to amass money and I had no
belief whatever in the spiritual world. After I died, I realized that I
could not escape the punishment of hell. The
Mandarin: Your heart was too inhuman to have
compassion for your fellow-countrywomen. You practiced the trade of
young girls and led them to perversion. Where then are your morals and
human nature? If you aren’t thrown into the cauldron of boiling oil,
the germs of your wickedness will never be eliminated. YT:
Now, my fellow, you look so young. Why are you here to bear such
terrific punishment? On your chest, I see blood stains, and you keep
pressing your hands on the wound while moaning with pain. You have
tousled hair, and your voice reminds me of a malefactor’s. What have
you done precisely? The
soul: At
present, I repent deeply for not going to school and for associating
with hooligans and gangsters. I lost all my money in gambling and failed
to pay my debts. Finally, I practiced the skills of a robber and a
murderous thieves. Unfortunately, I was caught by human law, and
sentenced to death. Right now, I am still suffering from the wound
caused by the shot of the firing squad, and the pain is excruciating.
After my death, I was condemned to several prisons and finally
transferred to the 7th Palace. The King of Palace ordered my detention
in this prison with cauldrons of boiling oil. I am now living in
constant dismay without a single minute of tranquility. I advise humans
to behave honestly. We can never enjoy the things we steal from other
people. Once we give way to dishonesty, all the education that we have
received from our teachers and parents are wasted. How can we repay our
respect to them? TK:
The government laws in a country are always correct. You chose
yourself the way to death and to be killed by a bullet shot. If there
remains a spark of conscience in you, then in the next reincarnation,
don’t forget to regenerate yourself. YT:
And you, gentleman, why are you condemned here? The
soul: When
alive, in a moment of drunkenness, I had killed two persons at a time. I
was condemned to capital punishment. After my death, I was tortured in
many prisons. Now, at the sight of the cauldron of boiling oil, I repent
infinitely for the blunder I committed in a minute of distraction. The
Mandarin: Homicide
demands the assassin’s life, the dictum is clear. To you, a man’s
life is no better than an ant’s and now you are scared of this
cauldron of boiling oil? If we don’t throw you into the cauldron, the
blood of your murdered victims will never be washed off. YT:
Now I ask that elderly gentleman. Why are you here? The
soul: I was a student of sorcery, and was
especially selected by my master to be taught the most secret lessons of
black magic. I was then surnamed “master-sorcerer”. Ordinarily, I
was paid by my clients to harm other people with my magic, for instance
to charm them to insanity, to sow discord in their families, to break
their nuptials. I didn’t refuse to perform any bad actions. I also
made use of my black art to bewitch the girls and excite them to carnal
pleasures. I was happy in my life. After my death I was condemned by the
King of Hell. I did try to utilize my sorcery to fight against him, but
the infernal guards were too numerous and succeeded to overcome me.
Today, I’m going to be thrown into the cauldron of boiling oil, and
all of my black magic will be nullified. It is misfortune for those who
don’t use their occult science for the sake of helping others. They
will be subject to great anguish in hell. The
Mandarin: You have betrayed the holy doctrine as
well as heaven. By using your black magic to harm other people, you have
become a bad person! The Kingdom of Hell admits dangerous sorcerers and
reserves for them the chastisement of boiling-oil cauldron. Those who
study sorcery must remember the words of their teachers and use their
occult knowledge for the sake of helping others. If sowing good deeds,
they will be admitted to the domain of genii and Immortals after their
death. But, if they act contrarily, they will fall into the grip of
phantoms and devils. YT:
May I ask you this question, Excellency? Once being thrown into
the cauldron of boiling oil, the souls’ bodies are decomposed and
become mere skeleton? Then, after being taken out and revived with
resuscitative water, they recover their former human forms. What
sensation do they experience, if they must endure the chastisement
again? The
Mandarin: The fact of being thrown into the
cauldron of boiling oil is extremely painful and the soul has the
impression that his body is completely dissolved. This sensation is
comparable to that of a man who is forcibly drowned in water. At first,
he is asphyxiated, and then he feels disintegrated. As a rule, the black
magicians will have their magic power abolished in the cauldron of
boiling oil. TK:
It’s growing late. We must go back, now. YT:
My deep thanks to His Excellency and to the Generals. May I say
goodbye to you? The
Mandarin: Generals,
stand on ceremony to greet the guest. TK:
Up on the lotus dais. YT:
I am ready. |
CONTENTS |
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