Chapter 14: An Odd Event of a Bardo Deliverance

In the past, I was invited to relieve the soul of a young man. The family of this young man was very rich, as both his grandfather and his father were big businessmen.

The ceremony was held in their yard, and the offerings they prepared were very extravagant.

I ascended onto the dharma seat.

Soon after sitting on the dharma chair, I saw the Earth Deity (kitchen deity) holding a white cloth ribbon that displayed to me the written words: "Retribution for Debauchery".

I didn't say anything when I saw it, but I was very surprised.

While seated upon the chair, I checked the text of appeal, knowing that this young man's surname was Hsu and his first name was Pen. He died when he was only twenty-five years old. The cause of his death was unclear.

Because I was already seated, I could not stop the ceremony just because the Earth Deity showed me these words, "retribution for debauchery".

All was proceeding according to the ritual.

When calling upon the soul, the monk or the chairperson would do the divination and ask if the soul had arrived. My style is that I always want to observe with my own eyes that the soul has arrived. This is how I perform a Bardo deliverance. Only if I see the soul coming and leaving will I consider it an actual deliverance. Otherwise, the performance is just a hollow deliverance, a false and superficial deliverance.

I recited the mantra of calling upon the soul.

I burned the text of appeal.

I saw that the soul of Hsu Pen did not arrive at all.

All of this was hollow and empty.

This Bardo deliverance could not continue. (If other monks had been performing it, the ceremony would have continued, for no one can see the soul anyway)

However, if I know that a Bardo deliverance is false, I will stop doing it.

I used the vajra hook mudra of Esoteric Buddhism in order to catch the soul, and I enforced the lawful decree.

The soul still did not arrive, but the lifespan official (kitchen deity) arrived. He held up a white cloth ribbon again and displayed the words, "retribution for debauchery".

Conventionally, the lifespan official is called the kitchen deity. He often appeared during the Shang and Chou Dynasties. The kitchen deity is the deity in charge of the kitchen and stove. Legend says that the 3rd day of the eighth lunar month is the birthday of the kitchen deity, and the 24th day of the first lunar month is the day of sending the kitchen deity to heaven. In fact, the kitchen deity is the transformation body of the fire deity, and was later changed to the deity that protects stoves. In Chinese folk belief, the kitchen deity is not only in charge of the fire stove, but also is in charge of good and evil deeds, and merits and transgressions. Every year, he reports these to the heavenly realm, through which the blessings and disasters of the human world during the next year will be decided.

I asked the kitchen deity: "Where is the soul of Hsu Pen?"

The kitchen deity answered: "There is no soul."

I said: "When a person lives, he is a human, and when a person dies, he becomes a soul. I do not believe that he doesn't even have a soul!"

The kitchen deity answered: "No soul."

"Did you hide the soul of Hsu Pen?"

The kitchen deity shook his head, and replied: "No."

I was stunned. The kitchen deity had not hidden the soul of Hsu Pen, and I had used the underworld official dispatch to call upon his soul. If the soul of Hsu Pen had been in the underworld, he should already have arrived already. I was completely in the dark as to why he didn't even show up.

In short, the soul of Hsu Pen had disappeared!

In the human world, Hsu Pen was dead. In the underworld, Hsu Pen could not be found. Where was he then? Was he anywhere in the realm of the four elements, the place of earth, water, fire, and air?

I recited a mantra: "Om Tun Chu Li Mih Li Li Fan Tu Li He Li Li Hulu Hulu Hung."

The meaning of this mantra is:

I can search throughout the dust beneath the earth,
I can search throughout the world of water,
I can search throughout the existence of fire and light,
I can search throughout the great kalpa of the wheel of wind.
I can search throughout all tiny worlds that could possibly be hidden, and I can retrieve all forms of existence!

The result was: nothing.

I know that among the mantras used to call upon souls, this mantra is endowed with hundreds and thousands of great powers. If I couldn't even get the soul to arrive, then the Bardo deliverance didn't need to proceed any further, for the ceremony I was holding was in vain. Thus, I descended from the seat.

I said to the host: "I'm not going to proceed!"

The host said: "Is there something wrong? Is there not enough money?" (They thought that they had paid too little.)

"It's not about money, but that there is something strange!"

"What is it that is strange?"

I declared openly, "The atmosphere is mysterious and odd, and the soul won't come. It has something to do with retribution for debauchery. I cannot perform the Bardo deliverance!"

The host said: "This is really outrageous! This is really outrageous! For such a small dharma-affair ceremony, a monk says no, and that's it. What is this so-called atmosphere, this soul, this retribution for debauchery, and so on? We will invite someone else to do the ceremony."

I bowed to the host, his relatives and friends, and I left feeling awkward.

I heard that at that same evening, after I had left, the host immediately invited another group that was well known for singing sutras. A senior monk with several other people equipped with a modern electronic keyboard with recorded music recited a sutra and held a large ceremony bustling with noise. They even performed a bardo deliverance for all sentient beings in the three lower realms of hell-beings, hungry ghosts, and animals!

The host complained about me, "The senior monk is more famous, and the ceremony was also bigger. Who is this person called Lu Sheng-yen? It is nonsense, this retribution for debauchery!"

·I felt sorry about this event, for what had happened was indeed rare. I had ascended onto the seat, and then descended from the seat. I had told the host that I could not continue the service. In contemporary society, a similar case like this had never occurred before.

In all of my life, a similar case had happened on only one or two occasions. Even in the worst case I was only required to wait for a little while during the ceremony.

I absolutely do not exaggerate, and I don't think highly of myself for any reason. This is because I truly know that the soul of Hsu Pen did not arrive, and I really could not find the soul of Hsu Pen. Since his soul did not arrive, how could I proceed to perform the Bardo deliverance?

I am too honest.

I don't say false words, and I don't perform false bardo deliverances.

I wanted to know where the soul of Hsu Pen was and, therefore, I went to Ch'eng-huang Temple to visit an old friend of mine, the Ch'eng-huang deity (the city god).

I asked, "Where is the soul of Hsu Pen?"

Ch'eng-huang answered, "I need to look it up in the registration file."

"Go ahead, and please do it quickly!"

Ch'eng-huang took fifteen minutes looking for the file, and his answer was, "I could not find anything in the registration file."

"Haven't you made a mistake," I said. " He belongs to your governing area. A person is dead, and his soul doesn't even have a file! How is that possible?"

Ch'eng-huang replied: "There are two kinds of people who do not go through registration when they die. One kind is the cultivator, who directly ascends to heaven, but this kind of person is very uncommon. The other kind without a file is the one who receives grave retribution, whose form and spirit are completely extinguished."

"Is it possible that Hsu Pen could have ascended?"

"Impossible. There isn't even one single actual practitioner in the local area."

"Is it possible that Hsu Pen has been completely extinguished in form and spirit?"

"That is not unlikely."

Ch'eng-huang said, "Nowadays, the person who commits offences and the one who kills is gravely evil, one who rapes is gravely poisonous, and one who commits adultery and murder is extremely evil. None of these people would be able to escape from receiving retribution."

I thanked Ch'eng-huang for his instructions.

When I returned home, I contemplated upon what had happened for a long time. I had seen clearly with my own eyes that the lifespan official was holding up a white cloth ribbon with the words, "retribution for debauchery." Is it possible that only debauchery would cause the extinction of both form and spirit?

I sat in front of my shrine, and entered meditative concentration with my eyes closed…..

Suddenly, I saw a screen appear in front of me, and on the screen there was displayed, word by word:

'Maidens and women servants can easily engage in sexual affairs. After some woman servants began to work at the Hsu family, because of their poverty, and because of Hsu Pen being their younger master, he, acting immorally, seduced them, which is difficult to describe.

'The sexual desire of that young man drove him to do whatever he wished. With his huge appetite, he abandoned himself to carnal pleasure and became crazier and crazier. He had sex in front of the stove, which is a primary offence. He indulged in sex so much, whenever and wherever he liked, that he was not different from animals.

'He was so crazy for sex that he didn't care whom it was with and where the place was. He was so depraved that he even had sex with a nun, and he contaminated the inside of a Buddhist temple. He defiled pure cultivation and was extremely lustful and evil. His offences were multiplied a hundred times moreover, and he could not escape retribution for them.

'He tried to seduce a widow in the neighborhood, a widow with a heart of chastity. By seducing her heart, her chastity was destroyed by him at once. This offence was so grave that no other offences can compare with it.

'Once he saw a beautiful woman, and he thought that he was charming enough to seduce her. Abandoning himself to carnal desire, he forced himself upon her. The woman refused him, and she would not give in, even with the threat of death. Thus, he choked her to death and raped her.

e not only had sexual affairs with maidens, but with a nun as well. In a sexual craze, he would not leave the widow alone. And after he killed the beautiful woman that he choked to death, he buried her in a hill in the wilderness. He still didn't regret what he had done, and he continued to seduce women from good families.

After the beautiful woman entered the nethererworld, she accused him of the transgression of killing. The netherworld sent out two rakshasas (demons) to bite and eat Hsu Pen. He was completely eaten, along with his bones, by two demons. With only one bite, his soul was consumed, and his soul and form were completely extinguished.'

I read the words appearing from the screen that was derived from my mind. These words were displayed very clearly, and I was greatly shocked.

This guy Hsu Pen had been daring with his sexual appetite, indeed.

He had sex with maidens and woman servants in front of a stove.

He had sex with a nun in front of Buddha statues.

He had sex with a widow of the neighborhood, and destroyed her chastity.

He tried to have sex with a woman from a good family, and he raped and killed her.

Hsu Pen was eaten by two fierce demons sent from the rakshasa world of ghosts. When they swallowed him, his soul couldn't escape. In short, two fierce devils completely digested the soul of Hsu Pen.

I advise people in the world:

One should not indulge in carnal pleasure without restraint. If one engages in debauchery, it will easily cause harm. This is grief generated from too much pleasure. This has already been taught by ancient wise men. One who indulges in carnal pleasure has no morality. If one abandons oneself to too much carnal desire, one will continue repeatedly. One won't stop from desiring carnal pleasure up until death.

Thus:

Tempted by gradual contamination,
One eventually degenerates.
Indulging in devious carnal pleasure,
One dares to do anything evil.

Once when I happened to be walking on the street, I ran into an old man whom I did not know. The old man called out to me: "Are you Sheng-yen Lu, Master Lu?"

"Yes!" I said.

"You don't recognize me?"

"You look familiar." I said: "I meet more than a hundred people every day. I'm sorry that I can't remember."

The old man introduced himself: "My last name is Su, and I am the housekeeper of the Hsu family. I watched Hsu Pen growing up, and I was present during his Bardo deliverance.

"Oh, I see!" I remembered that he is the housekeeper Su. I had met with him on a few occasions, and I had instructed him on how to arrange the shrine for the ceremony.

"That evening," he said, "I heard what you said when you descended from the dharma-seat."

"I'm sorry that I really could not deliver Hsu Pen!"

The old man patted my shoulder and said, "You are real, and you are an authentic dharma master!"

"Authentic?" (This was pronounced in the Taiwanese dialect)

The old man said: "Authentic means authentic!"

The old man whispered to me, "We know very well of the behavior of Hsu Pen. We are very sad about the situation, but we are paid by the Hsu family, so how can we dare to say anything!"

The old man sighed, "Hsu Pen dared to corrupt in debauchery, and he was a bad, short-lived young man!"

The old man went on to tell me, as follows.

There had been four maidens and women servants, and one male housekeeper. One night, the old man, Su, could not fall asleep. He wanted to smoke a cigarette. He got up, went to the back garden, and was about to smoke.

All of a sudden he heard the woman servant, whose last name was Shen and who was quite pretty, moaning, "Ung, ung!"

The old man hid in the dark and was frightened, for under the moonlight two naked shadows were having sex, and the one on top was Hsu Pen.

The woman servant Shen was in her middle age, and she had a husband.

Later on, the old man detected that they also had sex in the kitchen.

The most inconceivable thing was that he had sex with all those four female servants, and caused these four women to quarrel and become jealous of each other!

I asked, "Was there a nun involved?"

The old man was shocked. "How did you know?"

There was an ancestral hall in the Hsu family's home. Later on the hall was expanded and they invited nuns to reside in the hall. Hsu Pen chose one of the young nuns, and the nun did not refuse him. The abbot found out about this affair, and the young nun left for somewhere else.

"What about the widow?"

The old man said, "You know it all! Ai, ai! That bad short-lived young man was too outrageous. And I can't talk about it anymore. Well, I just can't say anymore."

"How did Hsu Pen die?" I asked.

The old man said, "His death was very strange! Very strange! During dinner, after he had swallowed rice, he sat there and didn't move anymore. Then he fell down, and died!"

The old man and I both sighed.

I now give three poems as follows, in order to alert the world.

The maiden also expected to have a good marriage, and she held her chastity to wait for the right husband. Because of poverty, she had to work for a rich family, and leave the love of her parents behind, which was as soft and smooth as water. The rich young man shouldn't have gazed at the grass in the front stairway, and shouldn't have desired the drink on the banquet table. You should know that nothing can last for a hundred years, and it is evil to humiliate others.

The woman servant was not cheap either, having also a sense of shame and disgrace like others. She entered the rich family's home and had to give in to please the young master. The young man's evil offence was grave, for she was already married. The rich family must purify its family, for it is a custom that the woman servant should be loyal to her master, and therefore, it is intolerable for the master to have seduced her.

The widow stayed home alone, and a kind man was required to protect her integrity. However, the young man, with his money and power, took the opportunity to seduce her. He committed such an evil offence. Who could determine the measure of his offence? His pleasure was as short as a wisp of smoke, causing the loss of the rich family's son and grandson's virtue. It is unavoidable that the rich family will decay.

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