The boy's parents have lost their only child. They continue to pray to Mary each day and help poor people. The judge says their prayer and generosity have brought compassionate help to their son. Mary's light temporarily stills punishment throughout the hell where he is held. He makes the sign of the cross and thanks her. With his pain eased, he is able to speak and listen.
Mary reminds him of his parents' grief. He remembers their affection and the care they gave him, and wishes he could tell them what he had concealed. He confesses his pornography use and masturbation, describing how curiosity became a habit that he kept secret. The account treats this conduct as wrongdoing. The boy's regret now includes both his actions and the suffering of parents with whom he can no longer speak as he once did.
At first he asks Mary to take him to heaven, saying that he wants to warn his classmates from there. After she reminds him that his parents still think of him, he gives up the request for heaven and asks to leave the place where he is suffering. He still wants to help other boys abandon the same conduct. He then adds that, if he fails, his hands should break and his mouth decay. Mary welcomes his wish to change but corrects the harmful vow he has attached to it.
She explains that good and harmful vows alike set causes in motion and will eventually bear fruit. Their influence continues through successive lives, including when a harmful wish is directed at oneself. She asks him to make good vows and attend to the thoughts that give rise to them. As she teaches, his light changes from dark red to pale white and his spirit rises. The passage names no destination for that ascent.
The judge says the boy's disposition had not been deeply corrupted. He attributes the earlier lack of guidance to parents whose work had left them too occupied to provide it in time. His explanation of the rapid release brings two conditions together: the bodhisattva's power and the boy's sincere repentance. The parents' prayers and good deeds have helped bring about the encounter; their son has responded by acknowledging his conduct and accepting correction. [3]
The identification of Mary with Guanyin belongs to the judge's Buddhist interpretation of this event. Catholic teaching honours Mary as the mother of Jesus Christ and as Mother of God because her son is the divine Son made human; Mary herself remains a created human being. Devotion to her differs from the adoration of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and her intercession is understood through Christ. [4]
Buddhist relatives can direct the benefit of a good practice towards a deceased person's welfare. This is huixiang, the dedication of merit. The father's case in the preceding chapter shows it working together with the recipient's own repentance. Such practices give continuing family care a religious form. [5][6]
Ancestral offerings give continuing family care a visible form. An ancestral tablet bears a relative's name and provides a place for that person within a rite. On one preserved example, an inner panel also records the person's accomplishments. In ritual use, the tablet represents the ancestor's spirit. Descendants bring fruit and tea, light incense and offer prayers. The named tablet makes clear whom these acts address. [7]
A lineage hall is maintained by families who trace their descent from shared ancestors. It brings remembrance into a larger gathering. In rites documented in Huizhou and Fujian, offerings are accompanied by spoken texts, bows and assigned ceremonial roles. Descendants address their forebears through words and gestures while taking their own places among the relatives who share the ceremony. The hall, the ancestral names and the participants' actions together make those relationships visible. [8]
Yinlü Wuqing gives offerings a further purpose. In its account of the underworld's civilian district, ancestors receive nourishment through chushi, or contact-feeding: they take in the food's essence, and one meal can sustain them for about a year. The judge links this to offerings at Qingming, the spring occasion for tending graves and honouring the dead. He asks for vegetarian food, flowers and fruit, warning that meat adds to the ancestors' wrongdoing and suffering. Care in preparing an offering therefore extends to the lives involved in providing it.