A Soldier's Journey from the Battlefield to the Pure Land

This is a record of an interview with Zhang Qionghua, who sought deliverance at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. She now resides in the Western Dharma-Nature Land. This account reflects upon her life and her experiences as a spirit, including the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong. Recorded by the chief writer, Fa Ning, on December 15, 2025.

Zhang Qionghua speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. In my life, I was known to my neighbours as 'Auntie Zhang.' Even when I reached my eighties, I was a strong woman who could still climb mountains and cross seas just like a young person. In my youth, I once disguised myself as a man, living under another person's identity to participate in the War of Resistance Against Japan and the Chinese Civil War. Because I had a sturdy build, a rough, masculine personality, and a coarse voice, almost no one ever suspected my true identity. For many years, I did everything in my power to keep my secret hidden. It was only when the country finally stabilised that I moved alone to a small town in Yunnan Province to settle down, finally returning to my life as a woman—the 'Auntie Zhang' that everyone later came to know.

A Life of Hidden Identities

This experience was so bizarre that I never dared to mention it while I was alive. Even my closest friends and neighbours were kept in the dark. Now, here in the Western Dharma-Nature Land at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia, I finally have the opportunity to pour out my heart and share my story as a lesson for future generations. Because I have encountered Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su, an awakened being in the human world, and have listened to the teachings of the true Buddha-Dharma, my heart has been completely opened. Looking back on the hundred years I spent transitioning from a human to a spirit, I have gained a completely different understanding and perspective.

I originally used the name Zhang Qionming, which was the name of my younger brother who had passed away. His death was unknown to others; he had sacrificed himself heroically to save a large village in the inland mountains during the war. At the time, his body was missing. After the Japanese army left the scene, I set out with a heart full of desperation to find him. I eventually found his remains deep in the forest. After burying him, I learned from the villagers that he had risked his life to warn them of an impending attack. He had been brutally murdered while trying to escape, heavily wounded and separated from the crowd in the chaos. After he passed, I joined the local volunteer army. Because we looked so much alike—resembling each other by seventy or eighty percent—I successfully passed the first test of my disguise.

The Monk Who Changed My Path

In the days that followed, I pushed myself through rigorous training. Driven by a deep sense of patriotism and a heart focused on the well-being of the people, I never dared to slack off. I was always the last to sleep and the first to wake. Physical strength and endurance training were my primary focus. Of course, as a woman, I was initially at a disadvantage, but through such strenuous effort and resilience, I saw a massive transformation within just two months. The war lasted for many years, and I was forged by time from a small recruit into a hardened soldier. Incredibly, I managed to survive—a feat that was far from easy. We often fought guerrilla warfare in the mountains, which was a huge advantage for me, as I was a child of the mountains and understood how to survive, navigate, and forage in that terrain.

Another truly inconceivable event occurred during those times of national upheaval. After one mission, while my comrades were fast asleep, I was walking alone to scout the terrain. Our unit was stationed at a crossroads in a small town, and occasionally people would pass by. I happened to encounter a monk who was passing through and asked if he could borrow a cup of tea. I invited him into our quarters for lunch, but he had no intention of staying long. He mentioned he had his own dry rations, so he sat cross-legged on the ground, and I sat down with him. I boldly asked, 'Master, why are you unwilling to join the army to save people, instead of just wearing a kasaya and begging for water? With our country in ruins and such a great disaster at hand, how can being a monk save the people and the nation?'

Military Buddha-Work: A New Mission

The monk showed no signs of fatigue, and his heart remained completely still, without a single ripple of disturbance. He smiled and said to me, 'Donor, look at this bowl of water. It, too, has life. Look at the clouds above; they are just like you, possessing feelings and thoughts. Perhaps they were once human or monks, but now they have no physical body. They are spirits, are they not?' I was completely won over by the monk's compassion and breadth of mind, but I had no real understanding of what he meant. My knowledge of spirits was minimal, so I asked, 'I don't quite understand what you are saying, but my intuition tells me you are a person of great wisdom. May I learn from you?'

The monk simply explained, 'To put it simply, all things have spiritual nature. They have changed countless identities through countless cycles of birth and death. Have you heard of the laws of karma and cause and effect?' I nodded; I had some concept of reincarnation and karma. The monk continued, 'You are a warrior, fighting on the front lines to save people. My abilities are not as great, but because I have little contact with the secular world, I have maintained a clearer, purer spiritual nature. I have chosen to save spirits because I can communicate with them and know things that the human world does not. If you have the karmic affinity to believe, I am willing to tell you more.' I sat respectfully before the master, listening to him describe how the human world and the spirit world complement and influence each other. He explained that because he could sense major disasters through his connection to the spirit world, he could find ways to save people. This left me completely humbled. If I had a soul as pure as his, could I not, in my daily life as a soldier, communicate with the spirit world just like him and save countless humans, and even beings in the spirit realm?

The Power of the Buddha-Name

I sincerely asked the master for guidance. He was a practitioner of the Pure Land school. He said, 'We are in a defiled world where the people are suffering. If you truly seek purification, you must maintain a kind heart and perform good deeds at all times, putting others first. At the same time, you must chant the six-character name, "Namo Amituofo." You will receive the Buddha's blessings, purify yourself, elevate yourself, and awaken your inherent Buddha-nature. One day, you will naturally regain your original instincts and be able to perform Buddha-work even while marching in the army.'

At that moment, my ears seemed to explode with the sound: "Namo Amituofo... perform Buddha-work while marching... Namo Amituofo... perform Buddha-work while marching..." What profound wisdom! I had always held respect for Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and deities, but I did not truly understand them. The master's words were like a sudden awakening. I realised that I, too, was a Buddha. By following the Buddha's teachings, I could perform acts of service within the army—and not just the kind of rescue work visible to the physical eyes, but work that could lead even beings in the spirit realm to deliverance. Perhaps I had always had a Buddhist affinity, so this experience made me even more determined in my purpose and goal of practising Buddhism.

The Fire at Wang Fuk Court

From that time on, I would respectfully chant "Namo Amituofo, Namo Amituofo" while on the march. I kept a vigilant heart, telling myself that I was here to save people, not to waste my life. I treated every blade of grass, every flower, and every tree with reverence by chanting "Namo Amituofo." Anything outside of saving people and chanting the Buddha's name, I took as it came. After all, life in the army was already walking amidst impermanence; nothing is eternal. After a period of sincere chanting, I seemed to be able to feel the messages from the flowers and plants on the road. I could communicate with them, know their inner worlds, and even know military situations, such as whether enemy troops had passed through. Every time I received answers from the spirit world, I tried my best to use that information to save lives, such as guiding civilians to escape attacks, doing my utmost to minimise casualties in the war. Moreover, my efforts were not limited to protecting my own side; the opposing troops were also within my consideration. In short, I aimed to minimise the frequency of war and encounters, reduce all casualties to the lowest possible level, and wait for the disaster to pass, believing that everything would change.

After the War of Resistance ended, I was full of energy and directly participated in the Civil War. If you ask which side I was on, I actually don't have many memories of that, because my purpose for participating was not to fight for anyone. I just wanted to continue performing Buddha-work while marching, to continue reducing the overall casualties of war and the suffering of the people. If I could obtain information in advance, I would try to reduce encounters, make it impossible for battles to proceed, or guide residents to evacuate and escape death, thereby reducing human suffering. Perhaps because good deeds bring good rewards, I was always lucky enough to survive. Through action after action, I adopted a style of "doing by not doing," and in the end, I was able to remain unscathed after the war, preserving this human body to continue performing Buddha-work.

I lived to be eighty-six years old. I had no family, but I was surrounded by friends and relatives. I always carried this gift of "Namo Amituofo" to the people around me and to the spirits I could not see. Until the very moment my life ended, I truly thought I would be able to follow the Buddha and be reborn in the Western Pure Land. Unfortunately, I overlooked the fact that my heart was still attached to the people and the land; I had mixed subtle attachments and subtle feelings into all the rescue work I had done. I had not yet reached the state of performing Buddha-work with a "no-mind" intention.

A Final Awakening at Hsiang Kuang

After I died, I became a ghost guarding the land. My spiritual nature was not low, because a lifetime of chanting and helping others had helped me elevate it. I continued to do the same things; there were traces of my presence in major cities and villages across China. As my intention to help others and chant the Buddha's name became firmer, I was able to help more and more spirits across different spaces and times. I seemed to be able to drift thousands of miles in an instant, going to distant places to save people in the form of a spirit and helping them find the right direction. This spirit world seemed to open up wider and wider. I was not sure how much I could help, but as I kept doing it, I seemed to be able to detect and sense where I was needed more and more. This sensitivity grew stronger and covered a wider range. I once sensed the coming of the Wenchuan earthquake, so I was able to quickly reach the disaster area in Wenchuan, Sichuan, from other provinces. I could also detect the major earthquake in Myanmar, our neighbour, and I went there to assist as well. I am not sure if such ability is common in the spirit world, but to me, it was a tremendous gift and the freedom to help others that I had always longed for.

Not long ago, I sensed that a massive fire was about to occur in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong. This was already widely known in the spirit world at the time. I worked for a period at Wang Fuk Court, where the fire occurred, helping the beings I could help and guiding people to escape or stay away from the disaster area. This was my first time in Hong Kong and my first time participating in a rescue operation for such a massive fire. I participated very actively in the firefighting; I hid inside the firemen's water equipment, striving to keep the water pressure accurate and saturated, ensuring the water was poured accurately onto the flames that needed it most. This seems inconceivable in the human world, but in our world, it is so natural. Everything can be contributed through the guidance of one's mental note, although we have no ability to change the direction of events or fight against the laws of karma and cause and effect.

After this, I continued to linger in the Tai Po district. I heard something even more miraculous in the spirit world: Namo Amituofo had come to the Tai Po district! I was dumbfounded, because this was the Namo Amituofo I had chanted to for nearly a hundred years, both as a human and as a spirit. How could the Buddha have come to the human world? At first, I was half-believing and half-doubting, but I still respectfully chanted the Buddha's name. Later, we really saw the Buddha arrive! It was Namo Amituofo, accompanied by Practitioner Su, bringing a vast expanse of Buddha-light to the Wang Fuk Court building! This time, I kept chanting the Buddha's name, chanting it loudly, and entered the light along with countless spirits that filled the sky.

In the blink of an eye, we arrived at the Western Dharma-Nature Land at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. This is also a spiritual world, but it is far higher than the spirit world I existed in! Only then did I truly wake up. I felt much clearer, and I understood the reason why I could not be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss in the first place. I also realised the deep karmic affinity I had with the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre and Practitioner Su, which is why I could step onto a lotus in the Western Dharma-Nature Land today and even be here for this interview.

For all of this, this disciple is grateful beyond words. From knowing the Buddha to truly being with the Buddha today, I feel I am too lucky! I am also able to know Practitioner Su, a "flesh-body Buddha" who is difficult to encounter in millions of years, who performs true, great Buddha-work every day. The scope of Practitioner Su's Buddha-work has already crossed into the entire Dharma Realm, the universe, the Milky Way, the heavens beyond heavens, demonic beings, other realms, and the entire Earth. This is far beyond the scope of the Greater China region that I was so proud of. At this moment, I kneel before Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su, kowtowing vigorously to express my complete surrender to the Buddha. You are the great teacher for this disciple and countless other spirits. This disciple finally understands why I did not have the opportunity to follow the Buddha to the West at that time, but I no longer feel regret. At this very moment, being able to meet the Buddha again, and being able to contribute a part of my strength when Namo Amituofo has descended to the human world, joining the salvation team, moves this disciple deeply. Practitioner Su always says that we must bring the Buddha to the forefront. I, Zhang Qionghua, also want to contribute my strength, to purify myself well on my lotus seat, in the hope that I can soon contribute my part and follow Namo Amituofo everywhere to perform Buddha-work.

Namo Amituofo.

Zhang Qionghua"