From This Shore to the Other: The Journey of Venerable Fu Guang

This is a record of an interview with Venerable Fu Guang, who sought deliverance 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 boatman approximately 1,300 years ago. It was recorded by the chief writer, Shi Fajing, on December 7, 2018.

Venerable Fu Guang speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. I am Fu Guang. I was once a simple boatman, a boy of only fifteen when my father passed away, leaving me to shoulder the heavy responsibility of his work. Every day, from the first light of dawn until the stars claimed the sky, I stood upon that wooden vessel, ferrying passengers from one bank to the other. The distance between the two shores was short, yet without my boat, the people were stranded. It is much like our lives in this worldly realm; without the Buddha, we are forever unable to return to our true home in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss."

The Suffocating Weight of Forbidden Love

"I remember one particular day, a couple—stealthy and hurried—leapt onto my boat. They urged me to row with all my might, desperate to escape the village. As they sat together, their interaction was intense, filled with a desperate, burning passion. I could not help but overhear their conversation. They were childhood sweethearts, separated for over twenty years. Their love had been pure and steady, but it was shattered when a wealthy heiress set her sights on the man. His parents, people of great social standing, demanded he marry the heiress to maintain their family's prestige. The girl he loved, though not from a poor background, simply could not compete with the status of the wealthy family.

Think about it—three people, three different hearts, all entangled in the suffocating web of emotion. The man was torn between his longing for his true love and his duty to his wife and parents. The heiress guarded her marriage with a jealous, iron grip, while the childhood sweetheart clung to the hope of reclaiming what she believed was rightfully hers. For twenty years, they lived in agony. When they finally met again, the spark ignited into a wildfire. They decided to elope, to flee to a place where they could finally be together. It was a desperate, tragic gamble for happiness, a pursuit of a dream that was destined to crumble under the weight of their past attachments."

A Brutal Awakening to the Nature of Suffering

"I thought they were heading off to start a sweet, new life in another village. But the very next day, as I ferried passengers back from the other side, I saw that same man again. He was utterly broken, his mind shattered. He confessed to me that he had killed his childhood sweetheart. For twenty years, he had never known a night of peaceful sleep; he had been haunted by the woman he loved while holding his wife in his arms. He could not bear it any longer, yet he felt he had no choice. When they finally eloped, he held her close, thinking he had found peace, but the reality of his betrayal—of his duty to his parents and his wife—crushed him. He killed her because he knew he could never truly be free while she lived. He chose to end the affair in blood, returning to his life of duty with hands stained by the woman he loved.

My heart felt so heavy. I watched as people were destroyed by their own emotions, paying the ultimate price for love, capable of committing any atrocity in its name. People’s hearts are forever bound, shackled tightly by these attachments. Every relationship that appears sweet on the surface is, in the depths of their hearts, devoid of true happiness. They are merely drifting in the sea of suffering, unable to see the shore of liberation."

The Sound of the Dharma and the Path of Practice

"After my work ended that day, I returned home, my body weary and my spirit exhausted. Suddenly, I heard a blue bird singing in the trees. It was not just a bird; it was singing along with the Buddha's name chanting echoing from a nearby temple. I sat beneath the tree, letting my body relax, listening intently. In that moment, I finally understood. I realised how cool, refreshing, and free it is to be without worldly attachments, to keep one's heart and mind pure and natural. The sound of the Buddha's name pierced through my ears and resonated throughout my entire being. My heart finally found stability.

Just as I was about to close my eyes to rest, I saw a little novice monk returning to the temple. I approached him and asked, 'What is the taste of practice?' The little novice replied, 'The purity of practice is so clean that it cannot be described in words. Once you let go of the shackles of the world, your only goal is to help suffering beings leave suffering behind and gain happiness.'"

The Compassionate Ship of Deliverance

"From that day on, I sought every opportunity to go to the temple to listen to sutras and hear the Dharma. For someone like me, who had been drifting through life without a goal, I had finally found hope. I began to share the Buddha’s teachings with the passengers on my boat. My vessel was no longer just a boat; it became a 'Compassionate Ship' carrying people from the sea of suffering back to the Western shore. When I saw people suffering for the sake of love, I no longer turned a blind eye. I introduced them to the name of Namo Amituofo, helping them understand the nature of suffering and the preciousness of the Buddha’s teachings.

Though these passengers were merely passing through my life, I sincerely planted the Vajra Seed of the Buddha in each of them. Three years later, I resolved to enter the temple to practise, to purify myself completely, and to use a pure, clean body to deliver sentient beings. I hoped that more people could board this Compassionate Ship and return to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. On this path of delivering beings, I dared not slacken for even a moment, guiding the boat toward the West and helping every single being return home."

The Infinite Compassion of Practitioner Su

"The light of Practitioner Su is vast beyond measure. All beings enveloped by the light of Practitioner Su are led by her to rebirth in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. The speed at which the Dharma Body of Practitioner Su moves and transforms cannot be described in seconds; in the briefest of moments, she has already led immeasurable and boundless beings back to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.

The Compassionate Ship now sails across the universe. In the spaces where I have karmic affinity, I continue to lead spirits and sentient beings back to the Western shore, for only by returning to the West can suffering truly be ended. In the star-filled belts of different colours, spirits from different spaces reside, and depending on their level, the realms of these spaces differ in height and depth. No matter where these beings are, they are all 'missing residents' of the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. When the six-character name of Namo Amituofo is brought into their space, they finally remember that there is a Western home waiting for them. The Buddha's name wanders through the spaces of the universe, continuously leading spirits from all directions. The gates of the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss are forever open, waiting for every lost child to return home and reunite. I am so grateful for the compassion of the Buddha, and I am so grateful for the compassion of Practitioner Su."

"Namo Amituofo."