From the Butcher's Block to the Western Pure Land

This is a record of an interview with Fan Zonghua, who sought Chao Du at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. He now resides in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. This account reflects upon his life as a butcher and his subsequent journey through the hell realms. Recorded by the chief writer, Shi Fa, on June 17, 2023.

Fan Zonghua speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. I am Fan Zonghua. It is truly incredible that after being away from the human world for so long, I am still able to make this connection. I want to tell the people of the world that the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss truly exists. Right now, sixty of us who served as hell-guards have, through the compassionate guidance of the Dharma Body of Practitioner Su, truly arrived in this magnificent realm.

Every single one of us was moved to tears the moment we arrived in the Western Pure Land, myself included. The sight before our eyes—so sublime, so dignified, and so beautiful—was deeply touching. I am filled with gratitude for the compassion of the Buddha and the compassion of Practitioner Su. They have granted us this opportunity to be reborn in the Western Pure Land; it is something I could never have imagined, even in my wildest dreams."

The Duty of a Hell-Guard

"Recently, Practitioner Su requested that King Yama dispatch hell-guards who had experienced the cycle of rebirth as various beings to come forward for interviews. We, who have lived through such experiences, were assigned as representatives to speak with the Venerables and share our past stories. We have been able to describe, with absolute clarity, exactly what it felt like to exist in those forms.

When I heard Practitioner Su reciting the stories of the other guards during his Dharma talks, I was deeply moved. In the hells, we never had the chance to chat or converse like people do in the human world. We were mostly stationed at our posts, responsible for our own specific tasks. I never knew what kind of past experiences had led the other guards to end up in the hells in the first place."

The Reality of Samsara

"Hearing these stories has left a profound impression on me. The cycle of rebirth is truly not a game. If we had not been blessed with the good fortune to encounter Practitioner Su, I honestly do not know where we would have ended up next. Those who are slightly luckier might be reborn as humans, but those who are less fortunate must simply follow the pull of their karma. We cherish this opportunity to have met Practitioner Su so deeply. We listen to the Dharma every single day. Even though a spirit like mine was once considered difficult to change, I knew I had to transform. I had to let go of the personality and habits I carried from the human world. I had to undergo a complete metamorphosis to have any chance of being reborn. Now that we have truly arrived in the Western Pure Land, my heart is overflowing with gratitude and emotion.

Before I entered the hells to serve as a guard, I was a chopping block in a slaughterhouse, used for butchering pigs."

A Life Defined by Killing

"There is no effect without a cause. Before I became that chopping block, I was a butcher. I killed and sold every kind of pig imaginable, all for the sake of money. I sold the meat to various stalls, and my business grew quite large. Every day, the scent of raw pork clung to me; everyone in town called me 'Pork-chop Hua.'

I never thought there was anything wrong with my work. As long as I could earn enough to feed my family of seven, I was willing to do anything. Furthermore, this job brought in a significant income, and we could eat fresh pork every day. I never had to worry about my children suffering from malnutrition, so I felt quite lucky. I never once considered that my work was problematic.

If someone had told me back then that I would have to pay the price for the killing karma I was creating, and that I would eventually taste the fruits of my own actions, perhaps I would have stopped my hand and reflected. But I never met such a noble person, so I continued to slaughter pigs for over twenty years."

The Ripple Effect of Karma

"My family relied entirely on the money I made from killing, so they shared in this collective karma. Every pig I killed and every bit of karma I created was shared by them, as we all spent the money together. Because of this, in the sixth year of my career, things began to fall apart.

The first to be affected was my wife. After we married, she joined me in the business and learned the trade. Many people praised her, saying she was a formidable woman who handled the slaughtering with great boldness and precision. I never expected that the killing karma she created would cause her to break both her legs in her thirties, leaving her unable to walk for the rest of her life.

Then, the misfortune fell upon my children. My five children were constantly sick, suffering from both major and minor illnesses. I spent a fortune on medical bills. Even worse, my second son went insane in his teens. He would scream and roar all day long. Our neighbours were terrified he would hurt them and demanded we lock him away. He was my son—how could I bear to do that? But eventually, he threatened to kill someone with a knife. I had no choice but to lock him in a room with a heavy bolt. Every day, I had to listen to his wailing and screaming from inside. It was heart-wrenching. In the second year of his confinement, he could no longer bear the suffering and chose to end his own life, cutting short his fifteen-year journey."

The Price of Greed

"The series of tragedies that struck my family was directly linked to the killing karma I had created, but at the time, I was completely oblivious. I simply thought it was the fate of the Fan family.

My own life was not long. At forty-two, I fell ill. I thought it was a minor ailment that would pass in a few days, but my condition worsened until I could not even get out of bed. My whole body would twitch and tremble uncontrollably; it was a terrifying sight. No doctor could cure me. I know now that it was a karmic disease. Until the karma is repaid, no doctor, no matter how skilled, can heal such an affliction.

I lay in bed for three years before I finally passed away, leaving the human world to enter the hells to pay my debt. My limbs were torn off, my flesh was sliced open, and then I was quickly restored, only to suffer the same agony again and again. I had killed too many pigs, and my heart had been filled with such greed."

The Chopping Block

"After my time in the hells, I was not reborn as a pig; I was reborn as the very chopping block I had used to butcher them. My spirit was bound to that block, and a sharp cleaver was embedded in it at all times—the very blade used to hack through pork.

Every single day, I had to endure being chopped and hacked nearly ten thousand times. My body was covered in scars. Every strike was delivered with such force and effort. When the meat was tough, the butcher had to use even more strength, and I had to endure even greater pain.

It was only after my spirit entered that block and I was hacked day after day that I finally understood the immense suffering of the pigs I had slaughtered. This suffering was created by humans, and I was one of them. I felt such deep remorse. After I developed this heart of repentance, I began to project good and kind thoughts toward every piece of pork that was chopped on me. I hoped they would not have to be reborn as pigs again and that they would find liberation. Unfortunately, I did not know how to chant the Buddha's name back then, so I did not know how to teach the pigs surrounding me to do so. I could only project those kind thoughts from within the space of that chopping block."

A Path to Deliverance

"My kind thoughts helped me repay my debt more quickly. The block I was bound to was discarded after three years of use. It was a large piece of wood, and they prepared to split it apart to use as firewood for a stove. When the axe split the block in two, my spirit was finally released. As soon as I left the block, hell-guards were waiting to take me into the depths of the hells.

Upon arriving, I remembered my previous experience of suffering there, and my legs shook with fear. But King Yama saw my terror and told me not to be afraid. He explained that I was not there to suffer retribution, but to serve as a guard. I was shocked. He explained that it was the selfless, compassionate thoughts I had projected for the sake of other beings that had allowed me to leave the chopping block early and earn the chance to serve as a guard.

I was filled with gratitude and did my best to perform my duties every day. Later, I happened to hear Practitioner Su giving a Dharma talk within the hells. I had only been listening for a short while when I began to weep. Soon after, I saw the Dharma Body of Practitioner Su enter the hells to perform Chao Du. I felt the Buddha's compassion so deeply that I could not stop chanting the Buddha's name. I even began to actively introduce the Dharma to the beings in the hells, hoping they would learn to repent and chant, so they too could escape.

Three years ago, when my name was placed on the list to be sent to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, I was overjoyed. Today, I and the other fifty-nine hell-guards have finally reached this day of arrival in the Western Pure Land. My heart is filled with infinite gratitude.

Namo Amituofo."