A Voice from Two Million Years Ago

This is a record of an interview with Shi Daoming, a being who sought Chao Du 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 approximately two million years ago. Recorded by the chief writer, Shi Fa, on July 31, 2020.

Shi Daoming speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. On that afternoon, I and several other sages performed a dance in the sky, representing auspiciousness and harmony. We manipulated the clouds so that the physical eyes of the fourfold assembly at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre could witness our presence. These clouds belong to the space of the Four Holy Realms; they are distinct from ordinary clouds. The most significant difference is that these clouds are light, thin, and even somewhat translucent. To the naked eye, they appear incredibly soft—that is the very space we inhabit."

A Shared Vow to Reach the Western Pure Land

"We all heard the Dharma voice of Practitioner Su and yearned with all our hearts to depart from the ten realms and be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. With the causal conditions finally ripe, we gathered together above the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre to request that Practitioner Su perform Chao Du for us, allowing us to fulfil our wish for rebirth. Through Practitioner Su's compassionate guidance, we have all reached the West. Each of us is profoundly grateful to him. The Western Pure Land is vastly different from the space of the Four Holy Realms. If one has not personally arrived here, experienced it, and seen its magnificence and dignity with one's own eyes, it is truly beyond imagination."

A Life Two Million Years Past

"I am Shi Daoming; this is my Dharma name as a monastic. I had two secular names—it might sound strange to have two, but the circumstances were completely different from what people experience today. Even to me, it feels inconceivable and hard to believe.

I was once a human on Earth, existing at the same spatial level as the people of today. I was born nearly two million years ago. The land I walked upon had not yet been divided into the nations that exist today, so I do not know which modern country I was born in. But that is not important. What matters is that I was a very innocent and happy human being."

Communication Before Language

"At that time, my name was 'Keng'—a sound produced through the nasal cavity, tongue, and throat, resembling a breathy tone. Our people communicated with one another, but we had no written language. We did not speak in clear, word-by-word sentences like people do today. Instead, we used our nasal cavities, lips, tongues, teeth, throats, and abdomens to produce various distinct sounds. By varying the pitch, texture, tone, and volume, we could distinguish the messages being conveyed. To make our meaning clearer, we also used our hands and feet to make gestures, assisting in our communication so the other person would know exactly what we were saying. To people in the twenty-first century, this would be impossible to decipher; you would only think we were making strange noises and not communicating at all. But in truth, we were genuinely conversing. We understood each other clearly, naturally grasping the intended meaning. This was the unspoken understanding among our people—an innate ability from that pure, unblemished time and space."

This space is somewhat different from the one I inhabited in my past life. The most significant distinction is that the people here can naturally communicate through their 'hearts.' It is incredibly easy to perceive exactly what another person's heart is expressing. Consequently, this world is remarkably quiet. People walk past one another without uttering a single word, yet they already understand what the other intends to convey. Just as I was wondering in my heart what kind of place this was, my mother had already used her heart to converse with me, answering the questions I held within. Thus, in this realm, spoken language serves only as an auxiliary mode of communication; most interactions occur through the exchange of heart-to-heart connection.

The Nature of Innate Ability

When I speak of this, you might imagine the people here to be like extraterrestrials, but that is not the case. The people here possess human bodies just like you, and their forms are identical to those of humans. It is simply that the level of the space we inhabit is different, and therefore the degree to which our inherent abilities manifest varies. Every individual is born with the capacity for heart-to-heart resonance. One does not need to seek it externally, nor does one require special instruction from parents; this instinct is present from the moment of birth. Therefore, a newborn baby here can already communicate and converse with its parents using its heart. However, depending on the clarity of each child's spirit, the precision of the messages received will differ. Even the parents, when receiving messages from their child, will experience varying degrees of clarity or ambiguity.

Here, we use a scale of 'ten points' as a benchmark for measurement. When a child is born, the midwife first tests the child's spiritual clarity and then informs the parents whether the child has one, two, three, or even up to ten points of clarity, depending on the individual circumstances of each child. A child with one point has the lowest level of spiritual clarity; such a child is usually unable to communicate with their parents using their heart during infancy and cannot yet speak. Because they are influenced by karma or various other factors, their bodies are more 'cluttered' and less clear than those of other children, so any attempt at communication results in a muddled or unclear situation. Conversely, those with eight, nine, or even ten points possess a level of clarity and spiritual brightness that increases with their score. The higher the score, the clearer the child, and the more accurately they can transmit and receive messages from others. Throughout their growth, these children are less susceptible to external interference or influence—the kind of interference that humans currently experience as spiritual attachment. Because these children have high spiritual clarity, they naturally understand their own state; if there is external interference, they have the capacity to discern and perceive it, striving not to let themselves be affected.

A Surprising Realisation

So, what was my score? My mother told me, 'You are a clever child. You were born with ten points of spiritual clarity, which is why you can understand what I say to you.' I, who was a dull and slow child in my past life, had become a clever child here! It turns out that my past dullness was not necessarily a bad thing; it kept my mind purer than others. Therefore, when I arrived in this space that uses spiritual dialogue, I became a clever child because my mind was purer than other children's, allowing me to receive the messages others wished to convey to me more quickly and clearly. This is truly a wondrous thing!

I was an infant, and although I could converse with my mother using my heart, in every other aspect—whether eating or doing anything else—I was no different from any other baby; I needed my mother's help. One day, as my mother was feeding me sugar water, I told her with my heart, 'I have not forgotten the things from before I was born. I am a boy from another space, and my name is Keng. That is the name my father in my past life gave me.' Upon hearing this, my mother smiled and replied in her heart, 'Keng, what a unique name! I have already seen the space where you lived before. It is an undeveloped environment, filled with flowers, grass, and trees everywhere. The humans there still looked very much like animals. I also saw you at that time; you were so cute, with long fur all over your body and big eyes. Am I right?' I marvelled at my mother in my heart: 'You are truly amazing to be able to see my past.' My mother said, 'Everyone here is like this. Many children remember their past time and space when they are first born. To us, it is a very normal thing because our bodies are very pure. However, as we grow older and encounter more things—having afflictions, thoughts, desires, and attachments—we gradually forget the past.' I asked my mother, 'Can I still return to that space?' My mother replied, 'You cannot go back! You can look back now; when you arrived in this time and space, your physical body had already stopped breathing, lying at the entrance of that forest.' I followed my mother's guidance and used my spirit to look back at that past space. It was exactly as she said; my physical body was indeed lying at the entrance of the forest. My lifespan had ended, and in that very instant, my spirit had traversed to this time and space. I was now entirely a human of this realm. It was truly hard to believe.

The Conflict Between Spirit and Flesh

One evening, my mother told me, 'Mother has to go on a long journey tomorrow, so I will leave you in the care of the aunt next door. She is a very kind person, so do not worry.' When I heard my mother say this, my heart already reacted. The next day, after my mother handed me over to the aunt and turned to leave, the reaction in my heart became even more pronounced. I suddenly realised that although my spirit had come here from another space, my physical body had been gestated in this mother's womb for ten months. While this body was still in the womb, it had already developed emotions toward her. Naturally, after I was born, I felt an attachment and reliance on her—this was the feeling I was experiencing at that moment. I did not want my mother to leave me; I needed her by my side. This was the sensation of my physical body. At the same time, my spirit was wondering, 'Why do I have this feeling toward this mother?' Can you understand what I am saying? My physical body had emotions toward this mother, but my spirit did not have such feelings. Although my spirit was clear, it was still influenced by the physical body. The reaction I displayed was an emotional dependency on this mother; in other words, my spirit was enveloped by the physical body and was influenced by it to the point where it could not be completely autonomous.

When I discovered this phenomenon, I became alert: 'My spirit must absolutely not be influenced by the physical body.' No matter how long I live here, my spirit must not be led or covered by the outside world, nor must I lose the spiritual clarity that is inherently mine. Once I am completely replaced by the physical body, I will never know what my spirit truly needs, and I will never be able to know, as I do now, that my spirit does not need to have emotions. The 'me' of the past and this mother were originally two unrelated people; naturally, my spirit would not have any feelings for her. But now, this physical body was born of her, and the body has feelings for her. Since my spirit is inside this body, it is also influenced by it. One could tell from my physical movements that I could not fully master myself. When I saw my mother leave, this body began to wail, and my eyes revealed a longing to be by her side. From this, one could see that my spirit could not escape the dominance of the body.

The Struggle for Spiritual Clarity

Because I had this awareness, throughout my growth, I tried my best to protect the clarity of my spirit. I absolutely could not let my body replace my spirit; I wanted my spirit to remain autonomous. I asked my mother, 'Is there any method to ensure my spirit does not forget the past?' My mother did not answer me. Because among the people living around us, everyone naturally grows older and, influenced by the Five Desires and Six Dusts of this space, forgets the matters of their spiritual dimension. No one cares about these things, so no one knows how to preserve the capabilities and memories of the spirit.

It was another time when I had to rely on my own exploration, just as I had in that past space where no one knew how to extend their lifespan. I relied on myself to search, and only then did I enter this space and extend my life as I had wished. Now, what I wanted to know was how to maintain the clarity of my spirit and not be dominated or influenced by the body. I did not want my current body to completely replace my past and bury my spiritual knowledge.

As I grew year by year, the changes in my body became more and more apparent—a feeling I had never experienced in my past space. In the space where I lived before, I faced the flowers, trees, and nature every day. I rarely even encountered other humans; everyone went up the mountain to hunt, returned home to rest, and the next day followed the same pattern. It was a monotonous life. But here, it was completely different. Although the people here have the ability to converse with heart-language and possess this instinct, the environment here appears more polluted, filled with various forms of entertainment from modern society. No matter what desire one has, the people here can develop gadgets to satisfy human cravings. The more one becomes addicted to this world, the more one's inherent ability for heart-language gradually diminishes. Perhaps at six years old, one can still clearly read what the other person is saying in their heart; by seven or eight, it becomes harder to hear clearly, becoming increasingly blurred; until by fifteen or sixteen, perhaps that ability disappears entirely, because one has become too addicted to the falsehoods of this world, covering up the abilities one was born with.' Namo Amituofo.

My spirit understands that this space is merely an illusion. I must absolutely not allow myself to be bewitched by anything in this world. However, my physical body possesses emotions, and it is only natural for it to develop feelings for those around me with whom I have a connection. This is a powerful force that I cannot block; it constantly pulls at me, tugging at the clarity of my spirit, causing my spirit to lose its ability to be the master the moment emotions are triggered. Once I lose my awareness, forgetting to protect my spiritual knowledge, and allow myself to be led away by this physical body, in that very instant, my spirit is completely covered up. Fortunately, I am able to raise my awareness in time, immediately waking up from that state of confusion. Perhaps I was just about to develop an emotional dependency on my mother, but I immediately tell myself: 'I do not need this! What I want is the clarity of my spirit!' At this moment, the influence of this physical body on me instantly diminishes, and it can even completely lose its control and dominance over my spirit. I have gradually come to view this situation as something quite interesting. I have decided to challenge my physical body. I want to become a person whose spirit and body can be separated, one who is not dominated by the physical form, and who attains true liberation of the spirit.

The Mystery of Bloodlines and Memory

Before I left home, I lived with my mother just like any other child. I was an obedient child; whatever my mother told me to do, I would listen and follow through. The family I was born into was very poor. Up to this point, I have not mentioned my father. I heard from my mother that my father was killed by a carriage the night before I was born! When I heard my mother say this, my heart suddenly trembled. I became alert again: 'What is this feeling? Why do I have such a reaction when I hear that my father was killed by a carriage?' I began to explore deeper within this body. Clearly, I had never met this father, so why would my physical body have such a reaction? When I found the answer, it was truly miraculous! It turns out that there are multiple factors involved. Firstly, the reason I became this father's child is because we already had Causal Conditions from the past. My spirit was aware of this past connection, even if I myself was not yet clear about it. Secondly, when I began to form in my mother's womb, my father was always by her side. During the period when I was just an unformed ball of flesh gradually developing into a human, I had already become very familiar with my father's voice and the magnetic field of his body. It was just that the process of being born, passing through the birth canal—an experience akin to traveling from the underworld to the world of the living—had caused me to 'falsely' forget some things I originally knew. I say 'falsely' because my physical body actually knew, but I was not aware that it knew. When I carefully raised the memories of this physical body, I discovered that both my body and my spirit held memories of my father. If this memory had not been awakened, I would have truly believed that I had never known my father; but once awakened, I knew that I had already spent time with him while in the womb. I had clearly heard his voice and knew his magnetic field; the moment he approached my mother's body, I knew my father had arrived. This requires an extremely high level of spiritual knowledge; only those whose spiritual clarity is extremely pure can achieve this. Thirdly, the human body itself possesses emotions. When I heard that the deceased was my father, the emotional lines within the physical body naturally began to function. Even though my physical body had never had direct contact with my father, this emotional line could still connect the emotional relationship between us through the blood ties inherent in the physical body, causing me to react to his death, making my heart tremble, and even showing an expression of surprise and sorrow. These are all phenomena that appear naturally, and they are entirely my physical body exerting its dominance over me. When I discovered this, I immediately raised my awareness and told myself: 'My spirit is being controlled by the physical body again! This emotional line is dominating my body, and in this instant, my spirit has forgotten to maintain its clarity, allowing my heart to be shaken by emotions!' I immediately stopped it, refusing to let this body continue to be controlled by emotions. This is not what I need! Although this man was my father, my spirit clearly knows that this is merely a relationship of the physical body, just an illusion existing in this space. Once I leave this space, this body has absolutely nothing to do with me. Perhaps I will change into another body and have a different set of parents. Therefore, I do not need these emotions to pull at my spirit and cause me to lose the clarity and awareness inherent to my spirit.

The Illusion of Relatives

My mother knows I am searching for something, but she cannot help me at all because her spirit has been too heavily influenced by her physical body. She can no longer truly understand that the spirit and the body are two separate, unrelated entities. Thus, the tugging of her physical body on her spirit is already very intense—a phenomenon common to all people, not strange at all. But I do not want to become like that. Since I have already understood that the spirit and the body are separate and unrelated, I will absolutely not let my spirit be influenced. Doing so would only cause me to fall into the turbidity of this world, unable to find my true self.

Although I grow older year by year, I never forget to keep myself pure. Even when I am working or earning money to support my mother, I must maintain the clarity of my spirit and not let work or anything in the environment influence or interfere with me. Therefore, I try my best to avoid reading other people's hearts; what they are thinking has nothing to do with me. I simply do my own work and maintain my purity. I am also not very curious about this world. The more curious I am about everything in this world, the easier it is for me to be dominated and influenced by the physical body. This is because I have discovered a terrifying power: our physical body is a product that belongs to this world, and the body and the world are two units that fit together perfectly. Therefore, once this body sees any person, event, or object in this world, it naturally reacts. This reaction can be positive or negative. Positive reactions are like liking, happiness, or infatuation; negative ones are like hatred, anger, or sorrow. But regardless of the type of reaction, when it appears, the physical body has already established a further connection with this world, adding another difficult-to-sever connection line, tightly linking the body to the world. In truth, if one looks clearly, this is also just an illusion.

I do not let this world influence me. I continue to live my life, but I never forget to seize every critical moment to find my spirit. I firmly believe that in this world, there must be a way for my spirit and body to detach, only I have not found it yet.

The Key to Liberation

When I was fourteen, my mother told me: 'Your great-uncle has passed away, and we must go to his house.' I had never met my great-uncle, nor did I know who he was or what relationship he had with us. My mother said: 'Your great-uncle is your grandfather's younger brother; he is a relative.' So that was it. At this moment, I suddenly discovered a peculiar phenomenon of human beings: I did not know my great-uncle, and I had absolutely no emotions toward him because he was too distant from me. However, because my mother told me the relationship between him and me, my mind naturally connected me to him. When I arrived at his funeral hall, my brain knew that the person lying in front of me was my grandfather's younger brother, called 'great-uncle,' and that he was a relative, so I should feel sad about his death. At this moment, I suddenly realized that if my mother had not told me that the deceased was my great-uncle, I would not have had much of an emotional reaction. After all, people are passing away everywhere on the road; I cannot possibly feel sorrow for every deceased person I encounter, right? Unless I have a relationship with them. This is truly the marvelous thing about humans: 'relationships' are things we connect ourselves, and 'emotions' are things we invent ourselves! How wonderful! When I discovered this mystery, I instantly no longer felt any sadness. It was not that I was heartless toward my great-uncle, but that I clearly knew this feeling was just an illusion.

I left first, while my mother remained at the funeral hall, chatting with those relatives I had never met. A relative asked my mother: 'Why does this child seem so like a stranger? He doesn't want to be close to us at all?' My mother was suddenly asked this and could not answer, because they did not understand me. I am not heartless, nor am I cold, and I am certainly not an impolite child; rather, I am pursuing the clarity of my spirit. I do not want to be entangled in this illusory relationship of relatives. I can choose to break free, be a self-contained individual, and maintain my spiritual knowledge.

As I walked to the entrance of a house, someone there had also passed away. This family was talking to a person dressed in a special way, whom they called 'Master.' This family felt great sorrow over the death of the deceased. The Master was teaching them the Dharma, telling them about the sufferings of birth, old age, sickness, and death—the sufferings that the human body must experience. When I heard the Master say this, I realized that once a person takes this body as real, they must suffer these pains; if one does not take this body as real, these sufferings can have no effect at all! I began to feel curious about the Dharma this Master was teaching. Although he said it was suffering, I did not feel it as suffering. However, the Master's teaching seemed to help me get closer to finding the golden key to liberation. I believe I am almost there!

I stood quietly to the side, listening to the Master expound the Dharma. Every single word resonated deeply within me, for the teachings he shared aligned perfectly with the spiritual liberation I had been searching for since the moment I was born! I was so close—just a tiny fraction away from complete awakening. It felt like a clogged drain that had been cleared of almost all its debris, with only a small, stubborn blockage remaining at the exit. That was all that stood in my way; if I could just clear that last bit of grime, the water would flow freely at last. That final obstruction was all that kept me from total enlightenment.

The Path to Awakening

When the Master finished his teaching, I immediately followed him. I wrote a letter to my mother, telling her that I was embarking on the path to awakening and that I was on the verge of seeing the brilliant light. I knew my mother would understand; she had always known that once I found my true purpose, I would eventually leave her behind. It was an outcome she had long anticipated.

I followed the Master to his place of practice, where many other practitioners were sitting in meditation. I dared not make a sound to disturb them, but the Master reassured me, saying, 'They have already entered deep samadhi and will not be easily swayed by your presence. Even if you were to shout or make a commotion right beside their ears, they would remain unmoved, anchored firmly in their meditative state.' I was astonished! I had never imagined such profound skills were possible. I yearned to learn, and I knelt on the ground, begging the Master to accept me as his disciple. I, too, wanted to attain such unwavering concentration and enter the stillness of deep meditation.

Mastering the Body and Mind

The Master, having long ago perceived that my spiritual roots were different from those of ordinary people, accepted me as his student. Every day, I stayed by his side, listening to the Dharma and applying everything I learned directly into my practice. I did not need to struggle as other practitioners did to prevent their spirits from being influenced by their physical bodies. From the very moment I was born, I had been practicing this very ability—to prevent my true self from being interfered with by my physical form. Therefore, whenever the Master taught the Dharma or explained the key points of meditation, I was able to grasp them instantly, allowing my body to naturally reach the state he described.

The progress was remarkably swift. As I delved deeper into the Master's teachings and understood the mysteries of this physical body, I gained greater mastery over it. I used the precepts to govern it, ensuring it would not easily engage in behaviors—or even thoughts and emotional reactions—that would hinder my spirit. I also used the Buddha’s teachings to restrain the fluctuations within my mind. When my physical body clearly understood the Dharma, accepted its guidance, and followed its instructions to act in accordance with the truth, my spirit was protected, shielded from interference or control.

The Moment of Clarity

Gradually, the duration of my meditation grew longer. In the very instant I achieved complete enlightenment, I saw everything with absolute clarity: I was a spirit that had been reincarnated endlessly within the six realms of existence. After enduring suffering for countless eons, I had finally encountered the Buddha’s teachings once more and remained here to practice. In that moment, I was fully awake!

This world is certainly not a place I should cling to; I must attain liberation! In that split second, my spirit—nurtured by the Dharma over these past days, combined with my own diligence and inherent abilities—ascended into the realm of the Sravakas. It was a natural phenomenon, a state reached when one's capacity is fulfilled and one's wisdom is opened. It was the result of my practice over many past lives, which allowed me to achieve this rapid breakthrough, transcending the physical body and attaining the liberation I had always longed for.

A Call to Save the World

Now, while in meditation, I hear Practitioner Su expounding the Dharma. It is as if I have been awakened once again, for every word Practitioner Su speaks strikes me like a golden staff, jolting me out of the deep meditative state I had been enjoying. In the past, I knew of the suffering of beings, but I had never considered that I could help them alleviate or leave that suffering behind. I had been focused solely on my own achievements; I had not realized that they, too, could be helped and attain the same liberation as I had. When I was stirred by the Dharma taught by Practitioner Su, the inherent conscience within me began to stir as well. I could no longer enter that state of pure, deep concentration as I once did. Because of this influence, the light within me began to flicker, like a lightbulb dimming and brightening—though it remained brilliant, its intensity had clearly diminished. I did not care about these changes. Having spent nearly two million years in the realm of the Sravakas, it was time for a change. I focused my entire attention on Practitioner Su’s teachings, listening with total concentration to every sutra. This, I realized, was the true Great Dharma—something I had never heard before in all my time! I felt immense admiration and a deep, profound respect for Practitioner Su!

Now that the Causal Conditions have matured, I have joined the celestial beings and other sages in dancing above the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, hoping for the opportunity to be guided by Practitioner Su to the Western Land, and from there, to return to the human world to save others. However, Practitioner Su now wishes for us to come to the human world immediately to join the ranks of those working with Amitabha Buddha to save the world. I agree with this wholeheartedly; it is a duty I must fulfill. I am willing to join immediately, following Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su to help all beings leave suffering behind. I, Shi Daoming, kneel and kowtow in gratitude for the Buddha’s grace and the grace of Practitioner Su.

Namo Amituofo.

This interview record was written by the chief writer, disciple Shi Fajing.