Rupert Smoker (Australian Senior Finance Executive)

Interview with Rupert Smoker (47 years old)

Rupert Smoker was an Australian senior finance executive, co-founder and CEO of Evolution Trustees. He possessed extensive experience in corporate trusteeship and asset management, leading teams to manage over ten billion Australian dollars in assets, and contributed to the fields of renewable energy and carbon credit investment.

Rupert Smoker:

Dear family, colleagues, and friends, I have passed away. You have likely seen this shocking news in the press or through company media. But, oh, how could I have left so early while still so young?

In truth, I am more shocked than any of you. I never expected my life to be so short, with my career at its peak and still flourishing, I never imagined I would leave you all like this. I never thought about it. Of course, my family might feel sad for me, but there is nothing I can do to change it now. Having gone through this, I have gradually come to see things more clearly.

The truth is, after I passed away, I did not return to heaven, nor did I go to any other place in the human world; instead, I went directly into the hells to undergo punishment. You surely cannot understand why I went to the hells instead of some other good place. That is because everything I created in my life did not truly follow the universal principle, nor was it fair, just, or moral. In the process of managing investments, it was inevitable that there would be some operations that were not entirely in accordance with the Dharma. Because of these improper operational behaviours, I ended up in the brain-gouging hell to practise.

Because of my intelligence, I exploited many loopholes to gain more benefits and earn more money. To the outside world, those who did not know the inside story would think this was a very bright and brilliant achievement. But if you delve deeper, you will find that these improper behaviours—these actions taken for my own benefit using my own abilities and intelligence—will return to me bit by bit. The result was that after I died, I ended up in the brain-gouging hell to undergo punishment.

In the process of undergoing punishment, it is extremely painful, to a degree that an ordinary person cannot bear. I hope you will not walk this path, and I advise my colleagues: please do not follow my methods. For the sake of selfishness, greed, and the desire for achievement in the world—the greed of wanting more and better, the competitive spirit, and twisted desires—did not actually bring me any success. On the surface, it seemed successful, as if I had great achievements in business and career. But when I was in the hells undergoing punishment, with my brain being gouged out time and time again, leaving me bloodied and broken, I finally understood that all these achievements were completely worthless.

Facing such intense pain, what does glory matter? No amount of money can be used, and it cannot buy a chance to pause the punishment even once. This punishment happens one after another; this is the true appearance of the hells. I hope you all deeply understand this truth and do not commit such acts again.

I am now in the form of a spirit. The reason I was able to leave the hells is because there is a temple called the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre. It is located in Goombungee, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. It appears to be a very rural area, but its scale is very large. It is a very famous charitable organisation. If you have not heard of it, you can search online for the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, and you will find that this temple is very actively helping us, the spiritual beings.

The so-called spiritual beings refer to those who, after passing away, no longer have a body and exist as a spirit, living a spiritual life in that form. This is what a spirit is. The life I lived after death was the life of the hells, which was full of suffering, and no one could help me. Even if I called out to my family, called out to the Lord I believed in, or called out to everything I believed in, no one could come to save me. I thought of and tried every religious faith I could recall. But in that moment, it could not solve my problems. The constant gouging of my brain also made my spirit very dim and my consciousness unclear.

Eventually, I could no longer distinguish directions, nor did I remember where I was. As a spirit, I continued to endure this punishment in the hells in a very blurred, unstable, and extremely fearful state. Later, after being saved by the temple, I arrived at the Dharma-Nature Land, a bright world filled with golden light. It was very stable and peaceful, and my spirit gradually calmed down. Here, the golden light shines everywhere, and warm golden rays constantly shine upon me and my head, allowing my head to gradually recover its clarity and helping me recall everything that had happened. Looking back, it makes me feel very afraid; it turns out the hells are so terrifying. I hope you will not easily attempt such things.

Therefore, to avoid these things, you should understand that everything in life must conform to the Truth, the righteous path, the principles, and the guidelines. It must conform to what is called fairness and morality; there must be the Way and there must be justice. These were problems I had never thought about before; I never expected them to be so serious. But now, as a spirit, I understand that the profundity of the spiritual world lies in the fact that the spirit itself has no destination, which is a very painful thing. Whether in the space of the hells or elsewhere, having no exit and not knowing where the goal lies is an incomparably painful thing. This is why everyone must learn Buddhist education. With Buddhist education, you can avoid walking these wrong paths.

The principles I am explaining now are what I learned while listening to the explanations of Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su in the Dharma-Nature Land. These two are very important educators; they constantly teach people and spirits how to face life in a positive and proactive way, and how to truly and effectively make the most of this limited and precious life.

When I was alive, I did not encounter such Buddhist education, and I missed the opportunity, which is why I fell into the hells to undergo punishment. Therefore, I advise all my family, friends, and colleagues: while you are still alive, do not waste this great opportunity. Strive to learn the Buddha’s teachings to change your own destiny; do not end up like me, undergoing punishment in the hells—it is truly too painful.

If you are truly interested, you can search online for the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre. This temple is a world-class charitable organisation, and their information is open to the whole world. If you want to learn Buddhist education or any knowledge related to spirituality, you can go online and read it directly; there are very detailed descriptions and clear explanations there. You might as well spend some time learning.

If you are interested in finding me, you can contact me through the temple. It would be best if you could take the initiative to visit the temple. Friends in Brisbane can also see the billboards on the highway; these billboards are meant to help everyone know Namo Amituofo and the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, so that you have the opportunity to understand the essence of spirituality.

This precious life is very limited. If you cannot make good use of this life to help others, let go of yourself, think entirely for others, and elevate your own spirituality, then this life is a great pity. What is the most important investment in life? What is the most precious thing in life? In fact, you really need to carefully examine this question. The resources in this world are limited; they are nothing more than money and time.

In reality, the most precious of these resources is never meant to be commodified. It is a profound tragedy when you barter your finite life force for money, only to turn around and spend that money trying to buy back your health and time. Wealth cannot purchase an authentic, meaningful existence; it only secures a hollow, superficial imitation of one. Trading your precious years on earth merely to accumulate capital is utterly futile, because the wealth you acquire cannot serve any true spiritual purpose—leaving you with nothing but wasted time.

Therefore, the most valuable investment in life is to invest in spiritual elevation. In Buddhist education, the help that spiritual elevation provides is that after death, you can freely go to different worlds, and the most comfortable one is to go to the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss created by Namo Amituofo.

That world is incomparably bright, and I yearn for it very much. I learned about the existence of the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss while listening to the sutras in the Dharma-Nature Land, which made me feel very amazed; I did not know such a world existed. I have heard that it is an extremely pure, bright, and beautiful world where you can do as you please.

There, you can enjoy all kinds of material comforts, and there are also opportunities for spiritual elevation. Most importantly, it allows the spirit to continuously grow in wisdom, to continuously break through, and to see through all the false and illusory things in this world.

If the opportunity arises for me to transcend to the Western Pure Land, I long to go as soon as possible. This is the truth I desperately want my family to understand: life is fleeting, and our primary investment should never be in material wealth. Once you accumulate vast riches, you quickly realize how empty they truly are. Wealth is transient; once spent, it is gone, and even assets that retain their worldly value become meaningless if you cannot take them with you. Leaving an inheritance to your spouse and children may secure their earthly comfort, but it does nothing to aid your soul. In the realm of the spirit, material wealth cannot follow you. It remains behind in the living world—reduced, from your new perspective, to nothing more than worthless paper, scrap metal, and empty plastic.

To hoard wealth is a hollow pursuit. A far better path is to invest in your own spiritual elevation, allowing your resources to circulate through acts of charity and the promotion of Buddhist teachings. By doing so, countless suffering spirits can be liberated, and the living can discover the Buddha's wisdom, sparing them from these immense pains. Alleviating the agony of others is the ultimate way to reduce your own, for this is the natural law of cause and effect. When you project goodness into the world, that goodness naturally returns to you. This does not happen through force or rigid, man-made regulations; it is an effortless, cosmic reciprocity that requires no human intervention whatsoever.

This return on investment is the true one hundred percent, or even two hundred percent; it is a true return on investment that exceeds your imagination. Being able to invest this limited life in this way is the only truly meaningful thing. Therefore, I also advise my children: in this life, do not follow your father’s path. Your father has had many investments in this life that seemed successful, but they were actually very unsuccessful. The true investment is to invest in your own spiritual elevation; this is the true meaning.

Rupert Smoker