From the Demon Realm to the Western Dharma-Nature Land

This is a record of an interview with the demon Mantali, who sought to be saved at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. He now resides in the Western Dharma-Nature Land. This account reflects upon his experiences across the galaxy and his eventual transformation. Recorded by the chief writer, Shi Fajing, on May 4, 2022.

Mantali speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. I am Mantali. Originally, I had no knowledge of the existence of the planet called Earth. It was not until a certain point in time and space that I witnessed a brilliant golden light, and only then did I realise that the planet Earth existed within the Milky Way.

A Kingdom of Shadows

I am Mantali, a demon from the planet Dalabawa Karte. In our world, everyone is a demon. We consider ourselves a nation; the king who governs our land is the greatest of all demons. Beneath him are the demon ministers, and below them are the civilians, all of whom are called demon children. Thus, our entire planet and our entire kingdom are imbued with demon nature, led by our supreme leader. I am one of these citizens—a demon with demon nature, capable of travelling far and wide to attack and invade other planets.

Our king, the Great Demon King of our planet, taught us one core principle: 'Do evil in every possible way.' This is the code we strictly uphold. Every citizen, every demon child, has the authority to attack other planets. It is not only permitted; it is encouraged.

The Mechanics of Plunder

Energy sustains our planet's existence, and that energy must be seized from other worlds. We obtain this energy by using our demon discs, which fly rapidly into various planets. We quickly siphon the energy into the discs and then return to our own world. Once back, we slowly release the energy from the discs into our planet to maintain the power we require.

Do our demon discs ever come under attack? Indeed, they do. When we repeatedly invade certain planets, the inhabitants of those worlds often mount a fierce counter-attack. At such times, scenes reminiscent of the 'wars' on Earth unfold. We strike at each other, and it becomes a matter of who wins and who loses. In the process of these mutual attacks, the damage is never limited to just two planets; it often affects the surrounding worlds as well. However, it does not reach the scale of the entire Milky Way, for the galaxy is far too vast to be affected by the changes occurring between a few small planets.

The Search for Infinite Energy

Based on my performance within the kingdom, our king granted me special permission to carry out significant operations. I was tasked with travelling everywhere to find planets with immense energy, then devising ways to attack them and seize that power. At that time, I piloted my demon disc away from the Dalabawa Karte planet and began searching the Milky Way for other targets. There are countless planets in the galaxy. I used my demonic powers to conduct a wide-scale search. Whenever I found one, I immediately marked it, waiting to report back so the king could issue the order to attack. At that time, I had recorded one hundred billion planets that could be targeted. All of these worlds possessed energy that we could plunder; some had more, some had less, but all contained energy. As long as we could successfully infiltrate these worlds, we could drain them of their power.

The Golden Light of Namo Amituofo

I had originally intended to send this information back to our planet. Just as I was preparing to do so, something miraculous happened! I saw with my own eyes, approximately eighty million planets away, a brilliant golden light appearing. Even at such a vast distance, I could vaguely sense the immense power of that golden light. In that instant, I immediately changed the message I was about to send. I reported to our king: 'I originally discovered one hundred billion target planets, but their combined energy is far inferior to the energy of this massive golden light I have just found. I suggest that the king change our target to this immense golden light. If we can seize the energy from it, we will not need to waste our efforts attacking those one hundred billion planets.'

No sooner had I sent the message than I received a reply. It was incredibly fast, indicating that the king was in complete agreement. He had already dispatched five hundred million demon children to accompany me, with me leading the mission to seize the energy of this golden light. We deployed a total of one hundred and fifty million demon discs, preparing to use them to absorb the energy of the golden light and transport it back to our planet. If all one hundred and fifty million discs could be filled with energy, it would be enough to sustain our planet for a very long time. Therefore, this mission was of the utmost importance—the most significant mission in the history of our planet. The national demonic power and resources invested were immense, and I had to perform well.

The Inconceivable Power

I was quite confident in myself, believing that we would surely succeed. We moved rapidly toward the location of the golden light. As we drew closer, we could feel the energy of the light more intensely. Our demon discs began to activate their absorption mechanisms, constantly siphoning the energy. What was truly miraculous was that we expected this golden light to be like other planets—that once we drained its energy, it would diminish. However, this powerful golden light was completely different. Not only did its energy not decrease, it actually grew stronger.

I kept observing to see what was happening. Why would such a magical thing occur? Upon careful observation, I discovered that this golden light was entirely generated by the phrase 'Namo Amituofo.' I had never seen these characters before; it appeared to be the language of some planet.

In that moment, I could clearly hear how it was pronounced. I quickly captured the sound, converted it into the language of our planet, and began to chant it. I was merely trying it out, but to my astonishment, the moment I chanted it, the same energy appeared. This was absolutely inconceivable to me.

The Encounter with Practitioner Su

To discover where these special characters came from, I observed further and saw a being from a planet. He was standing somewhere in the Milky Way, moving his position rapidly. I tried to keep up with this being, but his speed was incredible. In the blink of an eye, he had vanished, and in another blink, he was at the far end of the galaxy. At that moment, I was filled with admiration. I decided that I must meet this being and ask him why this miraculous, massive energy appeared from those few characters, and how he could move with such speed.

I had too many questions I wanted answered, but I could not keep up with him, so I had to wait in place with my large group of citizens. After a while, the being finally appeared again. He seemed to be preparing to return to his original place, so I quickly issued the order for all my citizens to follow him closely. We followed this being from Earth to a place we had never seen before—'Earth.' It was truly a beautiful planet, completely different from our own. In our world, everything is dark; that is the characteristic of our Demon Realm. We deliberately cover our planet with black clouds so that there is no light within, and it remains dark forever.

Deliverance into the Light

We followed this Earth being as he descended onto a large landmass. He was inside a white object, and then he quickly returned to his physical body. At that moment, I was even more astonished. It turned out that the being I had seen earlier was created by his intention; he then used his intention to enter the entire Milky Way, bringing the beings of those planets into the light in large groups, and finally, he used his intention to return to his original position and back into his physical body.

My five hundred million citizens and I were all filled with admiration for this being from Earth. Through the introduction of other demon kings, we learned the name 'Practitioner Su.' At that moment, all the demon citizens decided to take Practitioner Su as our teacher. We also wanted to invite Practitioner Su to visit our planet to teach our citizens how to possess such skills and energy.

We orbited outside Practitioner Su's eyes, and his vision was affected by our presence, appearing blurry. We did not intend to harm Practitioner Su; we only wanted to be closer to him and follow him tightly. We intended that as soon as Practitioner Su discovered our existence, we would immediately invite him to visit our demon kingdom. Today, we were discovered by Practitioner Su, and all five hundred million of us were brought out. When we were all startled by the massive sound emitted by the black object struck by Practitioner Su, we were instantly knocked out of his eyes. Before we could even invite him, we were drawn to the lotus seats where we now reside. I was even more amazed by this scene. In the Western Dharma-Nature Land, for our five hundred million citizens, there are five hundred million lotus seats. Looking out, it is all immeasurable and boundless lotuses—a truly magnificent sight.

A New Beginning

Our one hundred and fifty million demon discs, all filled with the energy of 'Namo Amituofo,' have already automatically returned to our demon kingdom. Now that we have come to know this Buddha-name, I believe that our king and the other citizens will be transformed by this Buddha-name once the discs return. I have also sent a signal to our king, urging them all to come to this Buddha-land to seek deliverance. This can be considered a great migration of our planet, transferring our kingdom to this place.

I look forward to the day when our king and the other citizens arrive. For now, I sit on my lotus seat, chanting the Buddha's name and waiting. Namo Amituofo."

Shi Liansheng

Practitioner Su gave the demon Mantali the Dharma name 'Shi Liansheng'.