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- Touring
Hades of the Hungry Ghosts
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- JiGong:
For the purpose of writing this Book, we have been put to so much
inconvenience traveling from Earth to Hades and return. For who? On
Earth there are so many people, so many vehicles and traffic, so
many types of pleasures, so much so, that moral decadence has set in
– getting worse everyday. But in Hades the souls of sinners are
howling so terribly that even the mountains can vibrate. Sheng Xian
Tang has been directed to write this Book, firstly to inform people
about the sufferings in Hades and secondly to teach them to do good
whenever possible. So, do not regard this Book lightly and treat it
as an amusement book for the purpose of killing time. I hope that
people will take it seriously and regard this as a matter of
importance. Yang Sheng, quickly prepare yourself for the journey.
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- Yang
Sheng: I am
ready, dear Master, let’s proceed.
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- JiGong:
It’s a very privilege for you, a human being, to have the unique
opportunity to sit on this lotus flower platform and so you must
regard this with great pride….We have arrived; quickly get out.
Today we will visit the Hades of The Hungry Ghosts.
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- Yang
Sheng: Wow,
this place is like a vast wilderness with no human beings. Which
direction shall we take?
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- JiGong:
Not very far from here there is a small mount beyond which is the
“Hades of The Hungry Ghosts”.
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- Yang
Sheng: This
place is so very empty; where then are the souls of the dead?
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- JiGong:
If you walk on the left side you will soon know.
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- Yang
Sheng: Ya,
truly on the left side there is a small path where I can see the
soldiers of Hades having ox head and horse face, catching some souls
with bound hands walking ahead.
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- JiGong:
We will follow them.
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- Ox-head-horse-faced
General:
(Shouting) You Earth person, who are you to come here so freely.
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- JiGong:
If you open your eyes widely before scolding this person, it will
not be too late.
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- Yang
Sheng: This
Ox-head-horse-faced General looks very ugly and frightening. He
holds a chain and fork and looks fierce as if wanting to use force
on us.
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- JiGong:
Don’t be afraid; I will explain to him.
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- Ox-head-horse-faced
General: You
two, who are you; quickly explain, otherwise I will arrest you and
bring you before my Officer.
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- JiGong:
General, how long have you been a soldier of Hades? Why is it that
you don’t know me?
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- Ox-head-horse-faced
General:
I’ve been on this job a little more than two months. I carry out
my job according to the law. I can arrest anyone who has no pass –
this is my duty.
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- JiGong:
I am JiGong the Living Buddha and this person is a human being on
Earth of Sheng Xian Tang, a follower of Guan Sheng Dijun and has
received orders to travel to Hades in order to write a Book to
advise human beings on Earth to do good. Today we are here to visit
Hades of The Hungry Ghost. We have the permit on our body; do not
hinder us in our pursuit. Otherwise you will have to suffer the
consequences.
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- Ox-head-horse-faced
General:
That being so, I will now kneel down to pay respects to you. Oh! you
are what the human beings on Earth refer to as JiGong Huofo. I
departed from Earth not very long ago but during my lifetime I had
never seen or known you. Please may I beg you and this man to kindly
pardon me. If you want to visit Hades of The Hungry Ghost, you have
to pass the small mount; I can lead you there.
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- JiGong:
Very well, Yang Sheng, we will follow this General.
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- Yang
Sheng: Good,
we will follow him. This path is strewn with small sharp loose
stones under which there is water and when we walk, the sharp stones
prick the soles of our feet. I can see two Generals forcing a woman
who appears quite dressed but she is bound with chains. What offence
did she commit?
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- JiGong:
Nowadays, rich human beings want to enjoy their lives fully. They do
not value cereals and edibles and they throw them away. This woman
had enjoyed herself too much and wasted foodstuff; that is why her
soul is here to make her realize what hunger is and to suffer.
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- Yang
Sheng: This
mount is not high, but there are abundant trees, rushes, rattan and
is more or less like our hills on Earth. There is a narrow path
which can just allow three persons to walk abreast.
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- JiGong:
After passing the small mount then you can see the Hades of The
Hungry Ghosts at its foot.
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- Yang
Sheng: Yes,
I can see. The Hades of The Hungry Ghosts is surrounded by steel
spikes and the roof is brown in color….Now we have arrived.
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- Ox-head-horse-faced
General:
Please remain here while I go in and report your arrival.
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- Yang
Sheng: The
words “Small Hades of The Hungry Ghost” are carved convex on
wood nut are not very clear. At both sides of the doorway are
soldiers of Hades standing on guard. The woman we just saw, has now
been given a pass and been led inside.
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- Ox-head-horse-faced
General: I
have reported to the Officer-in-Charge. Now please follow me inside.
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- Officer:
Welcome, JiGong Huofo and Sheng Xian Tang’s Yang Sheng for coming
here. Should I fail to entertain you sufficiently well, please be
good enough to pardon me.
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- JiGong:
Oh, don’t mention it. I am afraid we have come to bother you.
Because Sheng Xian Tang has received the order to write a Book
“Journeys to the Underworld,” I have brought Yang Sheng here so
that he can personally see what is happening in Hades and on
returning, write the Book. Now that we have arrived, I hope you will
be good enough to conduct Yang Sheng accordingly.
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- Officer:
This place is a section of the Second Tribunal. I will show Yang
Sheng the works in this Hades of The Hungry Ghosts. Please have a
rest here and in the meantime drink tea.
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- Yang
Sheng: Very
well, I will follow Officer….In this block there are rooms inside
each with three pieces of Japanese floor straw mats; the people
inside these rooms are very well dressed but their faces are very
pale and they are all moaning.
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- Officer:
All these were businessmen when they were alive; they were very well
dressed, ate well, spent lavishly, enjoyed themselves to the fullest
but had no pity whatsoever on the poor, needy and deserving. When
dead, their souls are sent here to suffer. I will call one male soul
and you can question him.
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- Yang
Sheng:
Mister, why are you suffering here?
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- Male
Soul: When I
was alive, I owned a factory. Business prospered very much and I
mixed socially to a great extent and entertained lavishly – money
was no problem, but I was very, very stingy to my workers who later
became very unhappy and dissatisfied with me. I did not do
charitable and welfare work and the highest donation I would give
was not more than $500/-. I did not think much about charitable
deeds. If any poor person or poor relative came to ask for
assistance or money, I would tell my staff to say I was not in. This
is not all. In the house, I did not think of saving up on expensive
foodstuff and delicacies but threw them away. Outside the house, I
maintained a few mistresses and provided them with luxurious houses
and maintained them with several thousand dollars monthly. Two years
ago, I had high blood pressure and died. Now I am sent to this Hades
of The Hungry Ghosts to suffer for the sins I committed on Earth.
Although I am dressed very well in Western fashion, yet I do not
have anything good to eat. Once a week, I have only meal of
vegetable broth. On the third day I feel ‘infatuate’ and faint
and the Ox-head-horse-faced General splashes revival water on my
face to revive me. My stomach is still empty and I feel very hungry.
Have you any food for me to eat?
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- Officer:
You brute! Get in quickly; don’t take too much liberty. What you
had done before, now you have to suffer. You had enjoyed too much
and now don’t cry. Go inside and ask the woman to come here to
inform this good man Yang Sheng what she had done on Earth to make
her come to this Hades of The Hungry Ghosts.
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- Woman:
When I was alive, I was a rich man’s wife. My husband was a
building contractor and earned a lot of money. At first we stayed in
a small house and when business prospered we stayed in a big
bungalow. Because we had plenty of money, we acquired the bad habit
of lavish spending and gambling, playing mahjong day and night, not
taking care of the home. Very often, I invited my friends to dance
halls to enjoy ourselves, going to mid-night restaurants and eating
places to have grand feasts. All my life I was never frugal on
eating, drinking, gambling and enjoying; money was no matter. When
it came to doing welfare and social work, I did not donate even a
single cent. Now that I am dead my soul is sent here to undergo
suffering. The Head of this Second Tribunal is very heartless. That
is why I am now very hungry and in great pain.
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- Yang
Sheng: From
the look of her face, this female soul is suffering very much; she
is constantly biting her fingers as if she is very hungry.
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- Officer:
Woman, go back quickly.
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- Yang
Sheng: I
want to ask Officer, please inform me why every male and female is
so very well dressed here yet all of them are looking like beggars
at the roadside, moaning and hair undone, stretching their hands out
begging for food.
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- Officer:
When they were living, they were reckless and misused God’s gift
of foodstuff, squandering money, spending money for their own
enjoyment rather than caring for charitable and welfare work to help
the poor and needy, or in the case of wealthy men they abandoned
their own wives in the house and maintained women outside or in the
case of women who became wealthy and famous like singers, dancers
and film stars etc, they separated from their husbands and families
to suit their vanity.
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- When people attain wealth
and fame their hearts often change and they tend to do worthless and
infamous deeds; when these people die, their souls are sent here to
suffer. I hope that those living people who are better off and
wealthy, will use part of their money to help the less fortunate and
poor fellowmen. Do not be too showy. You must remember that if there
is too much enjoyment, drinking, eating, gambling, merry making and
excessive expenditure without helping the needy and doing charity,
bad luck will surely come. Those who are now in a happy and
honorable position had accumulated virtues and meritorious deeds in
their previous lives. Therefore, in present life you must do
charitable and good deeds to help those in need, or printing and
distributing moral tracts to advise people to do good. Not only will
your name be known for a hundred years, but your good and
meritorious deeds will be remembered and your souls will also go to
Paradise.
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- JiGong:
Time is up, let us prepare to return.
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- Officer:
Good. In case I have failed to entertain you sufficiently well,
please excuse me.
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- Yang
Sheng: Thank
you very much Officer, for explaining in detail to me. I am
returning now.
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- JiGong:
Quickly get up on the lotus flower platform …..We have arrived at
Sheng Xian Tang. Yang Sheng, get down. Soul, return to your body.
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- End
of Journey No 12
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