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Touring “Pulling-Out-Tongue and
Piercing- Cheek” Small Prison
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JiGong: Human beings
must understand that life is not forever. The biggest and
tallest buildings are only for the temporary shelter of
people because people cannot live forever; if one’s limb
becomes stiff, i.e. life is extinct, the children will have
to remove the body to another place. In China’s Yangtze
River the waves behind push the waves in front into the sea;
so likewise, in society the elders must make way for the
youngsters. Therefore, this awakening of reality must be
present and must be pretty soon and so, everyone must try to
do good deeds at the earliest opportunity. Today, we must
prepare to tour Hades. Yang Sheng, get up on the lotus
flower platform.
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Yang Sheng: Yes, Sir. I
can hear loud prayers coming from a nearby temple – prayers
for the souls of the dead.
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JiGong: These prayers
are intended to awaken human beings but those who are dead
cannot return. We are touring Hades……we have arrived; Yang
Sheng, get down.
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Officer: Welcome to
you, JiGong and Yang Sheng, for visiting us today. This
Prison is called
“Pulling-Out-Tongue and Piercing-Cheek” Small Prison
and is under the control of the Seventh Tribunal. Both of
you Deities have received the Order to write the Book,
“Diyu Youji.” The honor is
very great and we extend to you our respects.
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Yang Sheng: Officer,
you praise me too highly and I don’t think I am worthy to
receive your praise. The purpose of this Book is all through
the efforts of our dear Master and it is our duty to give
full support and my humble thanks go to all of you Officers
here. Today, we come to this Prison and I beg you to kindly
afford us the fullest facilities.
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Officer: It is my duty
to assist in every way; so therefore follow me inside.
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Yang Sheng: Thanks a
lot….We are now outside the Prison gate, the guards line up
to receive us. Inside this Prison, I can hear voices wailing
loudly. The soldiers of Hades are using iron hooks to prise
open the mouths to pull out the tongues of sinful souls who
immediately scream loudly. Then the soldiers of Hades, using
sharp knives sever the extracted tongues; fresh red blood
oozes out splashing on the chests of the victims. Then the
soldiers use sharp iron augers to pierce through the cheeks
of the sinful souls, using iron wire to thread through the
cheeks and tie the heads backwards to iron poles. At first
the souls moan in pain and then faint. This kind of
punishment is really very terrible.
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Officer: The tongue is
connected to the heart and when the tongue is cut off, the
heart feels very painful. With this punishment the hands and
legs begin to tremble, and urine and dung are forced out
from inside.
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Yang Sheng: It is but
right that sinners must be punished here but I don’t know
for what type of sins these sinful souls are being so
punished?
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Officer: All these
sinful souls are brought here because their mouths have no
morality. I can call up a few of them so that you can have a
talk with them and publish their stories in your Book to
advise human beings to do good.
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Yang Sheng: Thank you
very much, Officer, for your help.
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Officer: Some sinful
souls are here for you, Yang Sheng to interview.
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Yang Sheng: Can I ask,
Old Lady, why are you sent here to undergo such suffering?
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1st Soul: I
did not commit any great sin. It’s just my mouth was
discourteous when I was alive, nothing serious.
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JiGong: Your mouth and
tongue killed people, wasn’t it a sin? If you don’t tell
your story, you will be punished more.
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1st Soul:
Very well then, I’ll tell the truth. When I was alive, I was
of a very jealous nature, very often setting variance and
intrigue, causing trouble to families and setting one member
of family against another. I also caused older folks to be
left uncared for in the family. Truly, I was not a very bad
person.
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Officer: You can be
considered a “long tongued”
(long-winded) woman on Earth. Being a woman, you
failed to cultivate the morality of your mouth, you caused
trouble in families and also, you liked to smoke heavily and
drink intoxicating liquor. Very often when speaking, you did
not observe politeness and decorum and liked to shout
loudly. Sometimes you liked to whisper at the ears of men
folk, often talking things which were unlawful and indecent.
In this way, you had a poisonous tongue which deserves your
tongue to be cut off to make you dumb and not talk too much
thus making you realize that you should cultivate morality
of your mouth.
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JiGong: A poisonous
tongue is very much like a sharp knife. In this Prison, the
majority of the sinful souls belong to the female species
because females like to talk, whisper and instigate and also
they have a petty mind. Some females are not, in the least,
gentle; they speak loudly, offending people without
realizing. Such females when they die, the
Ox-head-horse-faced soldiers of Hades will sever their
tongues. I hope that female will be more gentle and
kind-hearted.
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Yang Sheng: Can I ask,
Mister, what sins did you commit on Earth that you should be
sent to this Prison to be punished?
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2nd Soul:
When I was alive, I had a very bad temper. When I came
across incidents which I did not like, or heard anything
which I detested, I let off a string of abuses, not caring
for honored personalities, or elderly people, or other
people’s ancestors or those of the gentler sex. I used
obscene language to lash out. In fact, other than the above,
I did not do any other evil deeds. After I died, Tai Shan
Wang scolded me saying that I had a dirty mouth which was
evil-smelling. He sentenced me to this Prison to have my
tongue severed and my cheeks pierced. I am now in great
pain! I hope people on Earth will not follow my bad example.
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Officer: People say
that a wound caused by a knife is easy to heal, but one
caused by a slander is very hard to heal. When a person
starts to scold, his eyes are not aware of his surroundings;
he tends to be uncouth, impolite and insulting and not
considering the five aspects of human relationships
[(1)parents/children
(2)husband/wife (3)brothers/sisters (4) friendship and (5)
government/citizen ]. This in itself is a very great
sin; especially those who embark on ascetic practices, when
they speak, they must respect reason and truth, otherwise
they cannot succeed in ascetic practices and when they die,
their souls will be sent to this Prison.
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Yang Sheng: Can I ask
this Reverend Mister if you come here to chant prayers?
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3rd Soul:
Amitabha. Chanting bitter prayers, chanting bitter prayers!
When I was alive, I greatly respected Buddhism and entered
the monkhood. At first, I was very interested in reading the
Scriptures and I wrote many Buddhist books and went out to
preach Buddhism. Very often, I criticized other religions,
saints and deities saying that they were not the true
religions and therefore, should not be worshipped or
followed. Those who heard my preaching believed me and
stopped worshipping their original religions, etc. Some
resorted to slander. When I died, my soul was tied up and I
had no means of escape. Oh! I suddenly realize my wrong
preaching because so many saints and deities came to tie me
up, saying that my slandering sins were very great. They
dragged me to Hades not allowing me to go to Western
Paradise. I now beg Master JiGong to help me out.
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JiGong: You silly fool!
Lord Buddha does not have such disciples like you. The Laws
and Doctrines of Buddha aim at equality. Although deities
and saints reside in different localities and at different
periods, yet the main purpose is to help humanity. There is
one group of ascetic practitioners, who, although they write
books which harp on their partial views, others distort the
true meaning of the Scriptures, all confusing other
religious beliefs. These sins are totally unpardonable. I
hope that religious teachers, monkhood and ascetic
practitioners will realize the true purpose of such
religious practices, i.e. primarily to understand your heart
which will lead you to understand your spirituality. You
should not teach to upset other religious beliefs. Now
everyday you chant the bitter prayers; this is to let you
taste, for yourself, the damages you had done when you were
alive. Time is up, Yang Sheng, prepare to return.
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Officer: In case we
failed to entertain you sufficiently well, I hope you both
will kindly excuse me. All Generals, line up and say
goodbye.
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Yang Sheng: Thank you,
Officer and Generals, we have to return. Dear Master, I’m
safely seated on the lotus flower platform; we can start…
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JiGong: We have arrived
at Sheng Xian Tang. Yang Sheng, get down. Soul, return to
your body.
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- End of Journey No 47
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