Interview with Li Peng (Former Premier of the State Council of China)

Interview by Chief Writer: Fa Ning

July 11, 2026

Li Peng:

Hello everyone, I am grateful for the compassionate guidance of Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su.

I am Li Peng; this name once resonated throughout China and remains in the hearts of the masses. The older generation will surely remember me, and while the children of this generation may not know me, my name was once so prominent, causing fear and unease in many hearts—this is where I now feel deep remorse.

A person like me, who has committed so many evil deeds, actually has the opportunity to be reborn in the Western Land of Dharma Nature; Heaven is truly too merciful to me. I have only been in the Western Land of Dharma Nature for a short week, and after receiving Buddhist education and purification here, I realise how shameful my past actions were.

Everyone can see that the hell I entered is called the "brain-gouging hell," but in truth, it is not just that. I had already descended into countless hells, even while I still possessed a human body, let alone in the six or seven years after my death. I have been wandering through various hells to suffer retribution, enduring immense torture, and I thought I would never have a chance to turn my life around. This is an indisputable fact, for the negative karma I created in the past was truly too much. If not for the compassionate deliverance of Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su, I believe I would never have had a chance to turn my life around.

I once served as the Premier of the State Council of the nation, a position second only to one and above all others, yet I did not truly think of the people. The only thing I cared about and held tightly in my hands was the word "power." Power and status accompanied my reputation; I wanted to consolidate the Chinese Communist Party under totalitarian rule so that it would not be subject to even the slightest infringement or opposition, and thus I carried out immense oppression and harm.

The most well-known event is the "June 4th Tiananmen Incident." At that time, the national leaders were divided into different factions; some moderates hoped to handle it through persuasion, but I placed great importance on the power and status of the Chinese Communist Party among the people, so I was single-mindedly determined to define this event as a "turmoil," hoping that Deng Xiaoping would respond with the highest level of force.

As expected, that is exactly what happened. Although everyone believes that the June 4th incident was caused solely by Deng Xiaoping, I must honestly tell everyone that my influence in fanning the flames was perhaps even greater than that of Deng Xiaoping himself. The reason I was a person with a heart of stone is that, from a young age, I harboured extreme unease and fear that accompanied my growth. I had great anxiety regarding "gain and loss," fearing that power would be stripped away and that the state's centralised power would be dispersed, so I clung to all of this and took action, and thus I truly harmed the lives of many people.

If I had been a little more compassionate and understanding back then, perhaps things would not have evolved to such a point. I have a very unpleasant title called the "Butcher of Beijing," which is a title I have always wanted to deny in my life. I have seen all the various international evaluations of this event, so in my later years, I tried hard to restore my innocence and attempted to cleanse my reputation, but none of this seemed to work.

The evaluations of me by future generations remain just as harsh, which is actually directly proportional to the evil deeds I committed. I do not feel aggrieved, because this is the retribution I deserve; the world cursing me like this is already getting off lightly. The lives I harmed far exceed the curses they have cast upon me, so I willingly accept all of this.

I hope that everything I am about to say can reach the families of those involved, especially the families of the students who perished in the June 4th Tiananmen Incident; this is my way of expressing my deepest apologies to them. Now that I no longer have this body, I cannot make any amends, and I can only sincerely apologise to everyone from the Western Land of Dharma Nature. I also hope that after reading this letter, everyone can understand the truth of the human world: the suffering of the six realms of rebirth is something everyone must experience, but if one can encounter the Buddha’s teachings, especially now that Namo Amituofo abides at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia, only then will everyone have the opportunity for liberation and to leave suffering behind.

This is an indisputable fact. Relying on one's own strength to escape the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death is truly too difficult. As for my Chinese compatriots, I still do not see anyone who has such capability. Apart from knowing the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia, learning the Buddha’s teachings to adjust one's body, mind, and spirit, and reciting "Namo Amituofo" to the end, no other method will be of any help, and one will still have to endure the suffering of the six realms of rebirth.

I, Li Peng, have experienced this test of life and death, and I have also realised the painful situation of my body being completely broken down in old age, entirely controlled by countless karmic creditors and demon crowds, enduring unspeakable and immense pain. After death, I wandered through many hells without rest; the hellish suffering I have endured over these seven years has truly been profound. If not for the compassionate guidance of Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su, I think I would have spent seventy, seven hundred, or seven thousand years or more in hell, and I would not know how to repay all this negative karma!

When I was in office, I also strongly promoted another well-known project, the "Three Gorges Dam project." I came from a background as a technical bureaucrat, and my studies were in power generation engineering; this was my field of expertise. I believed that my understanding of this area was far superior to others, so when making this series of decisions, I chose to insist on my own opinions and did not listen to others. Although there were many experts in power generation engineering like me at the time, and they had better insights than I did, I was never able to lower my pride to accept opinions different from my own when promoting this project.

This led to environmental destruction, cultural destruction, and huge economic losses after the project was completed, and even today, people are still suffering from it. This is an indisputable fact and one of the most negative evaluations among the many evaluations people have of me.

At the time, this project was intended to solve flooding and to dredge the river channels, which would be beneficial for the operation of cargo and ships. To be honest, this project was truly too massive, because I always wanted to do things on a grand scale, and I hoped that after the project was completed, it could solve problems on a larger scale, so I chose to execute this project with all my might. After not listening to others' opinions and implementing the project, although it solved one aspect of the disaster, it simultaneously derived disasters in other aspects, especially the destruction of the ecosystem, which is irreversible.

For such a massive project, to be honest, the land submerged was about the size of a dozen to twenty towns. On such a vast piece of land, more than a million people were forced to migrate, which caused damage to people's body, mind, and spirit, and the ecological balance within this large piece of land has been severely destroyed by this project, and many precious water sources and lives have perished as a result. This project is truly a major catastrophe in Chinese history.

Therefore, although it helped improve some problems, I did not actually solve the root cause. Among the many experts who promoted this project with me, some of their opinions were actually better than mine, and they could have solved the core of the problem without causing such great harm. But I chose not to listen to their opinions and insisted on executing it according to my own, because my power allowed me to control all of this, and I could act as the final decision-maker, one of the most important ones, so I chose to act in this way.

What I did not know was that in the later stages of my life, especially when I was suffering from illness, how many karmic creditors came to seek revenge on me. Among them were a large number of beings who were harmed in this project disaster, whether they were civilians, or the countless earthly creatures, animals, plants, and aquatic life. They found me one by one in panic and sought revenge on me, to the point that in the last few years of my life, I lived a life worse than death.

Although I received very comprehensive medical care provided by the state, I could not stop the pain on my sickbed for even a moment. The suffering at that time was truly too bitter. Looking back now, this is also reaping what I sowed, and there is nothing sympathetic about it.

There is another stain, which is that my children have actually learned the very bad side of me; they did not walk the righteous path and have caused a very bad influence on the country.

I have two sons and a daughter, and their personalities are as fierce and unyielding as mine; they are all very tough people. Under my promotion and support, our family monopolised many important state-owned enterprises, and the situation of corruption and bribery within them was very serious. Of course, I did not dare to admit it at the time, and I have always tried to hide all of this.

As a former Premier of the State Council, the assets of my family were so high that it inevitably made everyone suspicious. Therefore, whenever I was clearing my sins, I always tried my best to defend myself and my family. Everyone covered for each other, and it can be said that it was a gathering of a family's karmic creditors.

I can clearly see that this is indeed the case now in the Western Land of Dharma Nature. Our whole family are karmic creditors gathered together, doing all sorts of harmful and unreasonable things, and yet at the time, we did not have even a shred of shame. Especially my protection of my youngest son, which shocked many people at home and abroad. He was involved in a huge case at the time and also participated in corruption and bribery. But when many people were punished or even executed, he fled to Singapore to start over, transformed, used a new alias, and began a new life. This was a very shameful matter internationally at the time. I withstood this pressure and still protected him to the death, allowing him to escape all legal responsibilities without being punished.

I did such things, and although I was worried about being discovered by others, I still had no sense of guilt; I only thought about how to cleanse my own negative karma, but I did not know how to face the huge stain on my morality from the heart.

In the human world, the word "morality" is called morality, but in the Buddha’s teachings, it is called "Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way." I have only now discovered in the Western Land of Dharma Nature that the morality spoken of by people in the world is actually very narrow and not very comprehensive. The Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way spoken of in the Buddha’s teachings are the ultimate and perfect manifestation. This is because Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have realised their true nature and attained Buddhahood; they see through the origin of all things in the world and know what the Universal Principle is. Only by following the Universal Principle can people possibly break free from the shackles of the false body and walk on the path to becoming a Buddha.

I have learned a lot in the Western Land of Dharma Nature, and although it has only been a short week, I can now say that I am a transformed person. Of course, I have done too many things that have let the public down, and it is very difficult to speak of them. But I still want to explain to everyone here that I, Li Peng, now know that I was wrong, and what makes me feel very remorseful is that I no longer have this body to repent.

I sincerely hope that my family in the human world, especially my children, if you see this letter, you will know the truth that the laws of karma and cause and effect are not empty, and you will understand that my seven years of suffering in hell were not at all unjust; everything was deserved.

In fact, my children are all walking my old path, their spirits are suffering immense torture in hell, and I believe they will definitely go to hell to suffer retribution after they die. It is just that they do not know it yet, and they are still striving for all kinds of enjoyment or everything they want in this life, which makes me feel ashamed.

To be honest, a human life is only a few decades long. Because I did not understand Buddhist education and had never received positive guidance since I was young, my character gradually deviated from the righteous path, stepping into the abyss of suffering step by step. Not only did I make my own body, mind, and spirit suffer immense pain, but I also caused the vast masses of people to suffer along with me.

Looking back on this now, it is truly too painful. There are too many innocent people who have been implicated by me and harmed by my policies. If anyone is willing to see the content of this interview and is willing to share it, I hope that people from all walks of life in China can see it.

Everyone can also know that as a person who once held great power, in fact, like everyone else, one still has to go through birth, aging, sickness, and death, and even go to hell to suffer extreme pain. No one can be pardoned, because this is the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way.

This body of ours is too complex. I see here that I was no longer myself long ago, and I could not autonomously control this body; it was precisely because my personality was too strong, and my heart was full of unease and selfishness, that I was controlled by many demon crowds step by step, and finally created immeasurable and boundless negative karma. To be honest, looking around, many of our national leaders are walking my old path, or some have already been sanctioned by the law, and some have been protected in various ways.

Among them, every single thing is accompanied by huge cause and effect, so we really cannot have even the slightest thought or behaviour of sacrificing others for our own benefit; this is a great taboo in the Buddha’s gate and is also a great violation of the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way. Looking around, many people in the world, whether they are officials or ordinary civilians, are walking the same old path as me, and that is the word "selfishness."

Once a person develops selfishness, especially when power expands rapidly and their status is very high, this selfishness will create heavy karma for them. Often, leaders do not intend to create great negative karma, but once a selfish thought arises, they can be controlled by beings and demon crowds; with two, three, and more and more thoughts, they can be controlled by immeasurable and boundless demon crowds.

The result is that a person's body, mind, and spirit cannot be autonomous, allowing demon crowds to manipulate their body. They must also suffer great torture because they allow these demon crowds to act within them, obeying their words to create negative karma. This is the sorrow of the human world; being unable to be autonomous is something everyone will face.

Today, because Namo Amituofo has come to the human world and resides at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia, it is possible to unravel this mystery for the world, so that everyone does not continue to sink in this world of impermanence, creating immeasurable negative karma and suffering extreme misery.

Now that I am in the Western Land of Dharma Nature, looking at all the magnificent scenes in the human world, I still feel comforted. Although there is no true Buddha’s teachings in China now, with Practitioner Su conducting extensive Chao Du for the spirit realm in China, as well as the propagation of Buddha’s teachings in the human world, with various forces moving forward together, can the situation of Chinese people lacking Buddha’s teachings be improved? I believe there will be such a day.

This is certainly not the fault of the people; it is because the government's long-standing policy is indeed like this, not acknowledging the existence of any religion, and certainly not considering Buddha’s teachings as a form of education.

Regarding such matters, as a former national leader, what I see is that the policies of that kind appearing in China at that time were also because the leaders were controlled by demon crowds, and these policies were produced through mutual cooperation. Speaking of this, it is truly worrying!

Today, there are so few people who believe in the Buddha in China. If there is no Buddha’s education from the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia to unravel these mysteries for everyone, the situation is likely difficult to change. Everyone always thinks that Buddhism is just a traditional form of religion, unable to bring people any substantial help and benefits, and many even regard it as a product of feudal superstition. This is truly too pathetic and too sad.

China was once a great Buddhist nation. In a situation where everyone knew Namo Amituofo, it is a great pity that they could not truly believe when Namo Amituofo came to the world, and humbly learn from the Buddha to help themselves and other beings obtain the benefits of not growing old, not getting sick, and the spirit never dying! But I believe that as more and more people begin to pay attention to this precious land of the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia, this will definitely improve.

The Buddha’s teachings taught at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia are very different from other places. There is truly a Buddha residing here, who can provide everyone with the teachings and messages of Namo Amituofo, and there are also vast amounts of Buddha’s words. There are not just a few pieces of content here, but thousands of pieces of Buddha’s words provided to the world. In every Thrice Yearning Ceremony, people achieve purification of the mind and spirit by reading the Buddha’s words. Every teaching is instructing people on how to walk in the world with a righteous heart and righteous thoughts, and to correct wrong thoughts and views. As long as people reach a certain level of purification, they can receive messages from Namo Amituofo, allowing everyone to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss at ease, and even realise one's true nature and attain Buddhahood.

This is a very great education. Everyone has to face birth, aging, sickness, and death, and suffer the misery of the six realms of rebirth. If there are no Buddhas or Bodhisattvas to help everyone understand these truths, everyone will still follow the old path of ordinary people in reincarnation, living a painful life. Buddha’s teachings teach us to elevate our spirit, let go of this body, and help other beings entirely with a righteous heart and righteous thoughts, and we can gradually move towards the path of not growing old, not getting sick, and the spirit never dying. This is easy to say, but very difficult to do, because the world is so deeply stained, and everyone has already been possessed by many beings and become unrecognisable; this is what Practitioner Su said.

Under the leadership of Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su, the way the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre propagates Buddha’s teachings is very compassionate, which is "teaching according to the individual's capacity." For those who have deep faith in Buddha’s teachings, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will provide guidance and teachings, allowing them to leave their false bodies early and realise one's true nature and attain Buddhahood. For those who do not believe in the Buddha or have never heard of Buddha’s teachings, the Buddha also propagates this phrase "Namo Amituofo" in the most compassionate way, letting the Buddha-name enter their ears. Although they cannot believe it at present, "Once it enters the ear, it becomes a seed for the Path forever," which can at least bloom and bear fruit in the future, helping more beings leave suffering and gain happiness.

I am very moved watching Practitioner Su in the human world conducting Chao Du for the world and immeasurable and boundless beings in the spirit realm. Because Practitioner Su's heart is in sync with Namo Amituofo, it has moved Namo Amituofo to come to the human world and help Practitioner Su establish the Western Land of Dharma Nature. This is a turning point for rebirth in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, allowing immeasurable and boundless beings and demon crowds to settle within it, be purified, and be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss early. This kind of unprecedented good deed is now happening at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Goombungee, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia; those who are connected by karmic affinity must go and see it.

At present, the scale of the temple is still small and cannot accommodate too many people coming to seek the Dharma. This is also why Practitioner Su is actively looking for financial groups to expand the bodhimanda. Without a larger-scale bodhimanda, how can we lead immeasurable and boundless beings to come and learn from the Buddha? Practitioner Su is also planning for this day and night. Practitioner Su himself has no heart and no thoughts, and does not need to think, but his Ultimate Vow is to hope that a financial group will come to the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre to promote the expansion, helping Namo Amituofo surface to the public early.

This is true Buddha’s education, not just to solve the superficial problems of the world, but to lead everyone's spirit to a higher realm, and finally truly be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Today, the great compassion and profound wisdom of Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su have already set up Namo Amituofo billboards in many countries around the world. This matter must have attracted great attention from beings in the spirit realm, but most people in the world do not know it.

These billboards used for publicity are currently spread across nine countries around the world, some of which are located in more hidden places. All of this is to lead the immeasurable and boundless beings in space, giving everyone the opportunity to be saved. Because these billboards are blessed by the power of the Buddha, they are always shining brightly. Beings who come into contact with these billboards can have the opportunity to be saved, that is, they can come to the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia to receive Chao Du and be reborn in the Western Land of Dharma Nature.

Looking at this from the perspective of beings in the spirit realm, besides feeling very surprised, we are also very moved. The ways in which Buddhas and Bodhisattvas save beings are ever-changing, but they never depart from this heart of compassion.

What I lacked most before was compassion. I have always been known as a cold-blooded person, and everyone has given me such an unpleasant title, which is the "Butcher of Beijing" mentioned earlier. All of this makes me feel that when I am in the Western Land of Dharma Nature, I do not fit in, because my full body of sins makes me unable to integrate into this compassionate environment.

But the Buddha is very compassionate and has been helping me purify the various filth on my body, so I have now purified a little, and only then can I talk about these things with everyone. I believe that in the future, I will definitely be able to get better purification and have a deeper understanding and realisation of Buddha’s education.

I hope that when I share with everyone again, I can help more Chinese compatriots truly understand Buddha’s education.

I will stop here for today.

Gratitude to the compassion of Namo Amituofo, gratitude to the compassion of Practitioner Su.

Namo Amituofo

Li Peng