A Guardian Spirit's Two Millennia of Wandering

This is an interview with Shen Fangru, a mountain spirit from the Sichuan region who spent two thousand five hundred years wandering the spiritual realms. After witnessing the profound changes in the land and the suffering of sentient beings, he finally found his path to deliverance at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Goombungee, Queensland, Australia. This testimony was recorded on March 1, 2026, by the chief writer, Shi Faru.

Shen Fangru speaks:

"Wind and rain have drifted across the nine provinces of China. That is the true reflection of my heart. My life, as insignificant as a blade of grass upon this vast Chinese land, had no place to anchor. For two thousand five hundred years, I wandered through space, but today, I have finally taken root and found stability. It is difficult to express the emotion in my heart; I can hardly contain my joy and excitement. Now that I am asked to recount my past, I will detail every bit of it, one by one.

A Life Among the Peaks

I was a rough, unrefined man, living a life of foraging, fishing, and hunting. I had no fixed occupation. My main area of activity was in the rural regions of Sichuan. The mountains there are treacherous and difficult to farm, so I moved between the forests and the streams, living a relatively primitive life. There were no large villages; we knew where others lived, but we were not concentrated. To pay a visit, one often had to climb over several mountains just to see one another. We had become accustomed to living by our own means. Sometimes, when the rain poured down, the surging waters would cut off our paths to the outside world, making our dwelling places even more isolated. This was the daily life of Shen Fangru. My parents once hoped I would go to the city to learn and escape this life of a rough man, but I was determined to live the life of a free spirit. I felt truly like a stranger to the noisy crowds. Although I had never truly interacted with large groups of people, I could sense the occasional traveler passing through the mountains. That was not the life I yearned for; compared to facing the masses, I preferred to live a grounded life among the mountains.

The Sudden Transition

I lived my plain, unremarkable life in the mountains, occasionally gathering wild fruits and herbs for the elders on the opposite mountain, or hunting for game, passing each day in simplicity. One overcast day, I was still gathering fruit in the mountains. Looking at the sky, there were no signs of a heavy downpour, but a few hours later, the rain began to fall. I prepared to head home, but on the way, I was suddenly met by a flash flood. My body was swept down the slope along with the rushing water, sand, earth, trees, and rocks. At that moment, my mind was focused on the condition of the entire mountain region. I thought that if necessary, I should report the situation to the nearby elders so they would not need to go out for a few days. Thus, my spirit quickly left my body, observing the state of the entire mountain range from the air, and I went to the homes of several elders to notify them. Although they could not speak to me directly, they all felt the intuition that it was not a suitable time to go out.

After a while, I realised that I had died. I went back to look for my body; although I could not see it from the ground, I knew it was buried beneath the mud and sand in that area. In truth, I did not really care whether I had a body or not, because I could still drift freely through the mountains and forests I knew so well. If anything, it was more convenient than when I had a physical form. Every day, I patrolled the mountains and forests. Whether it was abnormal weather, warnings of floods, fires, or earthquakes, I would observe the actual situation and assist the local people in avoiding these disasters. This went on for several hundred years. The mountain tribes developed in scale, and the plains and basins gradually became prosperous. To me, this made no difference; I continued to do what I had to do.

Guardian of the Borderlands

Another few hundred years passed, and war began to appear in the basin regions. Different regimes moved into the basin one after another, while the mountains and forests maintained the life of the tribal peoples. My main duty was to maintain non-interference between the two sides and to minimise conflict. If someone sent troops to attack the mountains, I would notify the tribal people in advance, allowing them to prepare early, and I would guide them on how to move through the mountains to avoid the attacks of the plains army. Sometimes, the tribal people would also launch invasions on the borders of the plains, and I would try to change their minds. I also attempted to notify the people of the plains, but perhaps because of the differences in our ways of life, they were unable to receive the messages I transmitted. Until more than thirteen hundred years ago, this way of life remained much the same; the mountain people maintained their independent lives, and the people of the plains lived their own.

I continued to guard these mountains and forests, giving everyone the necessary assistance. The only difference was that, after that time, the Buddha’s teachings slowly began to appear. At first, I did not know what the Buddha’s teachings were. As they became popular and promoted among the people of the basin, I followed along and listened to the sutras. I began to realise that as the guardian spirit of the Sichuan mountains, I had become accustomed to this drifting life, never thinking about how long this would last or where I would go afterward. From then on, I still fulfilled my duty to guard these mountains, but I added a goal: to find a way out for my spirit. I knew I would not be a mountain god forever, but looking at the many spirits in the mountains, I did not understand what path they had. I continued to search for answers. With the spread of the Buddha’s teachings, the Sichuan region took on a bit of Buddhist colour, but even looking at those stone statues and caves, I still did not understand how so many spirits could escape their original lives, or what would be different after entering the next life. I had not thoroughly researched these questions.

The Changing Landscape

Later, Sichuan experienced several major wars and large earthquakes. I was there to help people and spirits, hoping to reduce their suffering. In the last hundred years, the entire mountain region has been heavily developed. Many new technologies and constructions have been introduced, and factories and railways now run through the entire Sichuan region. I can feel that the magnetic field of the mountains and forests has been significantly altered, losing some of the simplicity of the past. Now, the pace of people's lives is gradually accelerating, and the pace of the spirits in the Sichuan region is also being affected by the human heart, constantly speeding up. People care more about material things than the essence of the spirit. Fewer and fewer people can receive my messages, and even after briefly receiving them, they are quickly covered by the massive influx of modern information. All I can do now is communicate with the spirits in the mountains and forests, helping them reduce the harm caused by development. Watching the people coming and going in Sichuan, their understanding of the Buddha’s teachings is far less than it was eight hundred years ago. It is becoming increasingly difficult for me to learn from them, but I have not given up on finding a way out for my spirit. My sensitivity makes me believe that I will surely be able to wait for the day when the answer is revealed.

The Golden Light of Deliverance

Just in the last few years, the long-absent Buddha-light appeared over China again. At first, I did not understand why the Buddha-light had suddenly appeared. I continued to pay close attention. From appearing occasionally at the beginning to appearing very frequently later on, I observed and realised that this was the Buddha coming down to help sentient beings. I desperately wanted to ask the Buddha to teach me the way out for my spirit; I wanted to learn the Buddha’s teachings again. Just when a golden light enveloped the Sichuan region, I heard the melodious and resonant sound of the Buddha’s name. I immediately shouted loudly to the spirits in the mountains: 'As long as you can hear my call, please follow the sound of the Buddha’s name and chant along!' I do not know why I had such a reaction, but my intuition told me that the Buddha had come. Whatever the Buddha did, we would follow. We chanted loudly along with the Buddha’s name, and amidst the all-pervading golden light, we all arrived at a magnificent, golden world. This is the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Goombungee, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, famous in the spiritual realms. I finally had the opportunity to enter this place. Although I had not studied much of the Buddha’s teachings, my spiritual instinct made me hold everything before me in awe and reverence.

A Final Destination

When I saw a great Buddha before me, I was so moved that I wept. I knew this was the closest I had ever been to the answer. I listened to the sutras earnestly on the Dharma-Nature Land; every word was an answer. I know that my spirit no longer needs to drift. This is my destination; I have returned to my roots. The spirits of today have no exit, and neither do the people—this is not just the case in Sichuan, but throughout all of China. Facing the current situation of the Chinese people, only Buddhist education can bring everyone a glimmer of hope. The Buddha said that when a person dies, the spirit does not die, but as for where the undying spirit should go, only by following the Buddha, by following Namo Amituofo back to the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, is there an exit. I am grateful to Namo Amituofo, and I am grateful to Practitioner Su for saving the boundless suffering spirits of Sichuan who had no exit. I hope that everyone can find the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, the true exit for the spirit.

Namo Amituofo.

Shen Fangru"