The magistrate said, “Indeed there are! There are also Guanshiyin Bodhisattva, Manjushri Bodhisattva, Amitabha, Medicine Master Buddha and others. Though Guanshiyin Bodhisattva, Manjushri Bodhisattva, Earth Store Bodhisattva manifest in the form of Bodhisattvas, they in truth possess complete Buddha merits and virtues, no different from Buddhas. As the saying goes: ‘When one Buddha appears in the world, a thousand Buddhas stand in support.’ Guanshiyin Bodhisattva attained Buddhahood countless kalpas ago, bearing the title Buddha of True Dharma Brightness Tathagata. Manjushri Bodhisattva is the Mother of the Seven Buddhas. Among Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, there is no ranking of first or second. All are equal, just as every beam of light shines upon and resonates with one another. A Buddha embodies the purest form of supreme wisdom and supreme luminous essence in the universe. Every Buddha possesses great spiritual power, capable of all things and knowing all things. Every Buddha embodies unconditional great kindness and same-body great compassion, which are precisely the supreme eternal balance between the wisdom and sentiment of a Buddha. These two interpenetrate and operate simultaneously, showing a type of kind affection manifested by the perfect unity of compassion and wisdom. Rooted in such kind affection, all beings are equal, and there is no distinction between foes and relatives, different ethnicities, or religious traditions. Endowed with such kindness and compassion, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas equally deliver and save all living beings, including even fleeting and fragile animals and plants. This marks the fundamental difference between Buddhas and ordinary people. Ordinary people are incapable of achieving the supreme balance of wisdom and sentiment, hence unable to descend into hell to liberate living beings, while Buddhas can manifest and save living beings in hell at all times.
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas liberate sentient beings in the hells in accordance with karmic laws; they never disrupt the law of cause and effect. Within the hells dwells a type of condemned souls who descended from the mortal world. In their earthly lifetimes, they strove diligently in cultivation yet failed to observe the precepts, thus reaping severe evil retribution and falling into the hells. When they are brought to the Judgment Hall of the netherworld for interrogation or sentencing, some are able to recite mantras of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. As they utter these mantras, tremendous spiritual power arises to shield the condemned souls. At such times, Yama King will order ghost officers to escort them to the Mengpo Pavilion to drink Mengpo’s soup. Immediately afterward, they are reborn into the human world, only to suffer stillbirth. Once a soul-entity has entered a womb, it must endure the suffering of the ten-month “womb prison,” dwelling curled up inside the mother’s narrow womb for seven to ten months. The length of stay within the womb differs for each soul-entity, determined by their individual karmic forces. While dwelling in the womb, confined within this tiny “prison”, the soul-entity already undergoes great torment. Moreover, it endures constant shifts of the mother’s emotions day and night. Hot and cold foods consumed by the mother inflict pains upon the fetus comparable to the torments of the hells of heat and cold. Amid all these sufferings of the womb prison, souls easily forget the mantras they recited in past lives. Only great cultivators are exempt from the sufferings of the womb prison after conception. After entering the womb, great cultivators may move freely in and out. They can choose to refrain from fully entering the womb temporarily, remaining outside to sustain the proper development of the physical body within the mother. They only enter the womb formally at the moment of birth. By contrast, ordinary souls cannot depart once they enter the womb; they have to endure all sufferings of the womb prison until delivery.
After these condemned souls die in the womb, they lose memory of the mantras they once chanted, and are once again brought to hell to receive sentencing. If a condemned soul still retains memory of those mantras, the cycle of stillbirth will repeat time and again, until the mantras are completely forgotten and the hellish karmic punishment proceeds. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas come to save beings in hell only after condemned souls have undergone their destined karmic penalties. If remorse arises within them, the Bodhisattvas observe whether conditions for spiritual restoration ripen, and come to deliver them accordingly.
Guanshiyin Bodhisattva frequently relieves suffering within the hells. Recently, the Bodhisattva came to the Hell of Sexual Misconduct to liberate living beings. I shall take you to observe and learn. Very few parents of the young offenders suffering punishment in this hell perform good deeds in the mortal world and dedicate the merits to their children, which would draw Guanshiyin Bodhisattva to deliver them from hell. As the Buddha states in the Universal Door Chapter: “The Buddha told Inexhaustible Intention Bodhisattva, ‘Good man, if any of the limitless hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of living beings who are undergoing all kinds of sufferings hear of Guanshiyin Bodhisattva and recite his name single-mindedly, Guanshiyin Bodhisattva will immediately hear their voices and rescue them.’”
We arrived! A radiance of Buddha light washed over this place, and the hell instantly turned cool and tranquil. Such purity brings peace to body and mind! The Magistrate said that Guanshiyin Bodhisattva was delivering a youth in the Hell of Electric Eyes and Iron Balls!
I, the disciple Shangguan Yuhua, made a five-point prostration to Guanshiyin Bodhisattva. I beheld the bodily appearance manifested by the Bodhisattva was the merciful form of the Catholic Virgin Mary. The Magistrate explained that the Virgin Mary is in truth one of the manifested transformation bodies of Guanshiyin Bodhisattva.
The Buddha said in the Universal Door Chapter: “Inexhaustible Intention Bodhisattva said to the Buddha, ‘World Honored One, how does Guanshiyin Bodhisattva roam through this Saha world? How does he speak the Dharma for living beings? How does he carry out this work with the power of expedients?’ The Buddha told Inexhaustible Intention Bodhisattva, ‘Good man, if living beings in this land must be saved by means of someone in the body of a Buddha, Guanshiyin Bodhisattva will manifest in the body of a Buddha and speak Dharma for them. If they must be saved by someone in the body of a Pratyekabuddha, he will manifest in the body of a Pratyekabuddha and speak Dharma for them.’” Guanshiyin Bodhisattva takes across living beings according to conditions, manifesting corresponding bodily appearances as suited to deliver each living being.
I took a look at the youth suffering in the Hell of Electric Eyes and Iron Balls; he looked strangely familiar. Ah! I remembered! One year ago, I saw his portrait of the deceased in the mourning hall at the funeral parlor. His mourning hall was right next to that of my relative. Back then, his parents held his funeral according to Catholic rites. They burned no incense and held no Buddhist Dharma ceremonies; they only chanted scriptures and offered prayers. The Magistrate told me previously that this boy passed away at the age of twelve.
The youth was his parents’ only son. They wept every single day and had yet to recover from their grief. They believed in Catholicism. They only knew to pray to the Virgin Mary daily and perform good deeds to aid the poor. Precisely because of such conduct, they attracted the merciful Guanshiyin Bodhisattva to come and instruct the boy.
Now I beheld the Virgin Mary radiating pure white rays of compassionate light once more. The instant the light swept over the entire hell, the hell turned cool, and all torments temporarily ceased. I recalled how terribly the boy suffered when I visited the Hell of Iron Pellets and Glowing Eyes last year. Blood covered the ground, and the sight was too horrid to see. The youth made the sign of the cross over his body and exclaimed, “I give thanks to the Holy Virgin Mary. I never imagined I would meet the Holy Virgin in person.”