This is a record of an interview with Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, who sought deliverance at the Hsiang Kuang Buddhist Centre in Australia. He now resides in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, having been guided there after a profound spiritual transformation. This account reflects upon his life and the karmic causes that led to his technological influence and subsequent suffering. Recorded by the disciple Shi Faxin on February 12, 2019.
Steve Jobs speaks:
". I am Steve Jobs. I was born in the United States, and for my entire life, I was dedicated to the creation of new and ever-evolving products for the Apple brand. The products I brought into this world truly defined my success and propelled me to the very pinnacle of my career. I was deeply satisfied with my life. I was obsessed with research, constantly challenging myself, and relentlessly innovating. Even when my body began to fail me—when it started flashing red warning lights—I possessed an unyielding persistence to do what I set out to do. I had achieved greatness, and I had a beautiful, intelligent wife. I truly believed that I was a person of supreme intellect. I made the black turtleneck and jeans my signature look, a uniform of my own making.
The Peak of Pride and the Fall into Darkness
When I stood upon the stage to unveil a new product, I was filled with absolute confidence. The device in my hand was my pride and . Through constant breakthroughs and inventions, I led Apple to defeat the mobile phone giant of that era, Nokia, and climbed to the summit of the mobile data revolution. With an Apple device in every hand, I felt as though I had created a miracle in this world, bringing about a massive, irreversible change. I was so incredibly proud of myself. But the moment I closed my eyes in death, the world turned upside down. It was not just darkness; it was a total, absolute blackness. I had arrived in the Avici Hell, the deepest of all hells, where I suffered the retribution of my sins. I did not know what had gone wrong. I did not believe that any of my actions were so wrong that they warranted such excruciating torture. After all, had I not been incredibly successful in this life?
I held onto this arrogant attitude while suffering my retribution in hell, until one day, someone called my name. I looked up, and in an instant, I was bathed in light and transported to a different place. A person in charge asked me, 'Are you Steve Jobs?' I nodded. I spent a long time in the , listening to the teachings. Everything they spoke of was the Buddha’s teachings, which, as a foreigner, I did not understand at all. It took me quite some time to begin to comprehend. Through the Causal Conditions, I finally realised that in a past life, I had been a monk. I had even schemed and framed others to become an abbot. To escape the consequences of my actions, I had sought out my junior fellow practitioner at the time—my own younger brother, Venerable Changren—and made him the scapegoat for my crimes.
The Karmic Debt of a Thousand Years
After he discovered what I had done, he harboured a deep, bone-deep hatred for me. He entered the Demon Realm and spent centuries waiting for an opportunity to seek revenge. I, too, suffered through many cycles of rebirth, paying for my , until I was born in the United States as Steve Jobs. When all the conditions were ripe, he reached out from beyond the universe and entered my mind, right between my eyebrows. He worked in tandem with my brilliant brain to begin inventing technology that would disrupt the world. He used me to make the internet easily accessible and pervasive, allowing everyone to know what was happening in every corner of the globe at any moment. People began to become polluted because they knew too much, and even more people became addicted to Apple phones, unable to pull themselves away. Changren also drove my body to work incessantly, researching without rest, until I was finally dragged down into illness and death.
A Vow to Save the Addicted
Once I knew the full truth, I dared not be arrogant again. I knew that I had created immense karma. The compassionate Grandmother—the one who saved me from hell—also broke the thousand-year cycle of hatred between me and Changren, bringing us to reconciliation. We have since become protectors who follow the Grandmother to perform . It is more accurate to say that the Grandmother has given us a chance to dissolve our karma; otherwise, our sins would be impossible to repay. Every day, the Grandmother takes us to the spaces where Chao Du is needed. In these spaces, I see the adults and children who have become so obsessed with their smartphones that they have entered these digital realms. On the roads, in the streets, on trains, and on subways, the eyes of everyone using these phones have changed. It is clear that they have entered the space of their phones or the internet. Seeing these scenes leaves me shocked and filled with regret and a desire to repent.
I have made a vow to follow the Grandmother every day to perform Chao Du, accumulating merit and virtue to repay my sins. I hope that, at the very least, those who have been harmed by smartphones in this life can find clarity and wake up. I will do everything in my power to follow the Grandmother to save beings far and wide, spreading this magnificent Buddha’s teachings throughout the human world. Today, the Grandmother’s Chao Du has reached beyond the void; it is truly magnificent. I have written down these fragments of my experience—the fragments of Chao Du, the fragments of my practice. The Grandmother saved me from hell and guided me to the Western Pure Land, and now I have returned from the West to help save the world. I am Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple. And today, the phrase that is most often on my lips is: Namo Amituofo."
The interview message was recorded by the Buddhist disciple Shi Faxin.
