The Awakening of a Prison Guard

This is a record of an interview with Tan Jinquan, who sought deliverance at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. He now resides in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. This account reflects upon his life and his subsequent service as a prison guard in the hells. Recorded by the chief writer, Shi Fajing, on May 7, 2022.

Tan Jinquan speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. 'Practising Buddhism is the only right path.' This was the very last sentence I spoke to everyone before I passed away. Even now, I still wish to tell everyone the same thing: 'Practising Buddhism is the only right path.'

Now that I have arrived in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, I look back at my life and realise that everything in the world is truly illusory. For people living in the world, it is incredibly difficult to see through and let go of worldly attachments. The physical body is a deceiver; it tricks every soul into falling for its traps.

A Profound Transformation

I am deeply grateful to Practitioner Su for guiding us sixty prison guards to the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. We can now say that we have thoroughly awakened. Having come from the hells to the Western Pure Land, such a monumental transformation has allowed me to see the tragic nature of samsara in its entirety. If I had not come to the Western Pure Land, I would have soon been reincarnated once more. No one knows where the next destination would have been; everything is determined by the laws of karma and cause and effect. But regardless of where one goes, as long as one remains within the cycle of rebirth, one can never escape the word 'suffering'.

My name is Tan Jinquan. In the human world, this name now remains only on an urn—a name and a photograph representing the person I once was. No one knows where I have gone, and likely, no one thinks of me anymore.

The Meaning of Life

What is the true meaning of life? How many people have actually pondered this question? For modern people, perhaps the older generation might reflect on life a little, but for the majority of the youth, the path of life is simply following the trends. This is what I witnessed while in the hells; the times have truly changed.

If I were still alive in the world today, I would be an elderly man. Looking back at what I did and what happened over the years, I feel a sense of regret. Life simply follows the currents of fate. Without the guidance of the Buddha’s teachings, one is forever walking on the path of samsara, unable to awaken.

The Youth in the Hells

I once provided counseling to a young man in the hells. He was only in his twenties. His spirit was captured at night to suffer retribution in the hells, and by day, it returned to his body. I asked him, 'What wrong did you commit to end up in the hells?' The young man replied, 'I do not know.' He did not seem to recognise his faults. I asked the prison guard beside me, and he told me, 'He is a child from a wealthy family. He recently graduated from university and wanted to start a business using his own abilities, but he relied on speculation and trickery. He was not honest, so he was sent to the heart-gouging and brain-gouging hells.' I asked the guard, 'Are all young people like this now?' The guard replied, 'Not entirely, but modern youth lack tempering and are influenced by technology and media. Their character is vastly different from people of the past. They always want to find easy ways to make money. As long as they conceive the thought, they easily create negative karma and fall into the hells.'

After hearing what the guard said and looking at this young man, I could not help but sigh. This child was talented, yet he did not receive a proper education that would teach him to adjust his character. That is why he chose this path, ruining his future and harming his own soul. I urged this child to chant Namo Amituofo and practise Buddhism, but he could not take it in. The prison guard beside me said, 'He was just brought down here and has not yet been taken in for punishment, so he does not yet know suffering. If you tell him these things, he will not listen.'

I know that young people today are all like this. It is very difficult for them to take the Buddha’s teachings to heart. Even if they listen, they just brush it off, feeling that we are wasting their time. It is a great pity. Technology has harmed these children. With the convenience of modern life, everyone wants to live an easy life, and there are too many temptations in society that pollute the children's hearts. To speak of practice is very difficult to include in a young person's life plan. One can only wait for those children who have deep Buddhist affinity to choose the path of practice.

The Dream of Wealth

Before I passed away, I did not understand how to practise Buddhism. My dream since childhood was to become a wealthy person. When I was young, our family was very poor. My parents had seven children, but we had no money to support ourselves. Life was so difficult that sometimes we had nothing to eat for an entire day, and we could only drink water or beg from nearby neighbours. I was truly terrified of those days of suffering. When I was seven, I made a vow: in this life, I must earn a lot of money so that I and my whole family could live a good life.

I moved forward towards my dream. At a young age, I went everywhere looking for work. If there was no work, I would learn skills from others. I learned every kind of skill, wanting to be capable in everything so that I would surely have a place to shine in the future.

Although my family had no money for me to study, I did not give up. Wherever there were free courses, I would go to learn. Sometimes I would take the initiative to ask others to teach me. For example, some children in the village were younger than me, but they were in school and knew more than I did. I was not afraid of losing face; I always took the initiative to ask them to teach me how to read. When these children saw that a big brother like me wanted to learn from them, they were happy to act as teachers and taught me one character at a time.

As I grew older, I could do more and more things. Wanting to make money, I wanted to do everything—whether it was legitimate or illegitimate, right or wrong, I did it all, as long as it allowed me to earn money.

The Restaurant Business

When I was older, around twenty, I became increasingly ambitious. I no longer wanted to just blindly work here and there to earn small amounts of money; I wanted to build a larger business. At that time, the best skill I had learned from others was cooking, which was also a job I was quite interested in. So, my dream was to open a restaurant, which was much more meaningful than doing odd jobs here and there.

However, running a restaurant was not easy; it required capital. Looking at my savings, I was still very far from my goal, but I did not give up. I continued to work desperately, day and night, just to earn that money. After five years of hard work, relying on what I had earned and what I had borrowed, I successfully opened a restaurant. I handled all the design inside myself.

Since the restaurant opened, my life became even busier because I had to constantly find ways to attract customers and improve my culinary skills, all to ensure the restaurant could make a lot of money and pay off the debts I had borrowed. I invested my life, my life, and my life into this restaurant—not just ten years, but even twenty or thirty years were all poured into it. To me, this was the greatest achievement of my life.

A Life of Toil

During the time I ran the restaurant, I met a female regular customer. She was a year younger than me and was quite interested in running a restaurant. We often talked about these things and always had a great time, soon developing feelings for each other. After dating for three years, we decided to get married and had two sons and a daughter. After we were married, we worked even harder to run the restaurant together. Later, we even opened three branches and earned a lot of money. We were busy every day, and we didn't even have time to take care of our children, leaving them for my parents to look after.

In my mind, I just had to keep working and earn as much as I could. So, I only rested one day a week, but even that day was used to improve my abilities to help me run the business better. I believe many people have lived the same life as I did, working hard every day for work, for family, and for everything they wanted. But does such a life really have any meaning or value?

The Wake-Up Call

At the age of fifty-one, a medical report woke me from my illusion. The doctor clearly and explicitly told me that I had a brain tumour and that it was already pressing on my nerves, so my physical movements were gradually becoming impaired. I knew that if things continued like this, I would soon be living a very painful life. When I received this news, I was initially stunned, followed by a series of angry emotions, and finally, I slowly accepted the fact that I had this illness.

After calming down, I looked back at my life. From my youth until now, I had been working desperately and had never stopped. In the end, what I got in return was this outcome. Such a life really had no meaning at all. What was the use of earning so much money? The blindness in my heart led me to decide to seek the power of the Buddha for help. I began to come into contact with the Buddha’s teachings and devoted my body and mind completely to them. When I did so, I realised what a foolish life I had been living. If the Buddha’s power had not helped awaken me, I would never have had the chance to wake up.

After practising Buddhism, I began to understand Generosity and Goodness. I donated the money I earned to many places in need of help and supported many bodhimanda. To me, this was the last thing I could do in my life. I also taught my wife and children, hoping they would not follow the same path as me. Life is enough as it is; there is no need to earn so much money and waste one's life. It is better to use one's life to practise Buddhism; that is the most correct path.

Repentance and Deliverance

Before I passed away, I did not say much to my family because none of that was important. The most important thing was to remind them: 'Only practising Buddhism is the most correct path.' After my spirit left my body, I first went to the hells to suffer retribution. The hells I had to go to, I had to go to. After all, to run a restaurant, I had killed many animals and sea creatures, and they were all accusing me in the Ninth Hall. In addition, to run the business, I had used a lot of my brain and even used some schemes, so the brain-gouging and heart-gouging hells were unavoidable.

In the process of suffering punishment in the hells, even though it was painful and unbearable, I continued to chant Namo Amituofo, with infinite repentance in my heart. Because of my sincere repentance, King Yama gave me a chance and allowed me to serve as a prison guard to assist in managing the order in the hells. I feel very sad that I spent most of my life living a life that I could not take with me. If I had seen through and let go earlier and recognised the Buddha’s teachings earlier, perhaps I could have had a different ending and would not have created these sins.

I share my story with everyone, believing that many people have lived a life similar to mine. I hope my story can help everyone reflect on their own lives. Do you really want to live your whole life like this? At the end of life, must you also walk through it in such pain? It is truly not worth it. It is better to cherish this magnificent Buddhist affinity, practise Buddhism and chant Namo Amituofo diligently, help all beings, and seek rebirth in the Pure Land.

Namo Amituofo.

Tan Jinquan"