The Bird-People Planet and the Path to Liberation

This is a record of an interview with Venerable Liu Baoguang, the 738th Venerable, who sought Chao Du 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 approximately 1,809 years ago. Recorded by the chief writer, Shi Fa, on July 20, 2018.

Venerable Liu Baoguang speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. I am Liu Baoguang. My father was once an incredibly wealthy man. His fortune was so vast that he never needed to work a day in his life; he lived in absolute luxury. In our entire village, he was the wealthiest, while the other villagers lived in extreme poverty. Why was there such a stark contrast? It was because my father was the first in the village to engage in commerce, while the other villagers relied solely on manual labour or farming to sustain their basic needs.

My father’s accumulated blessings from past lives allowed him to earn a massive fortune from his very first trade. Following that, he engaged in several smaller business ventures, and the wealth continued to pour in, cementing his status as the village tycoon.

A Life of Excess and a Tragic Union

My father, like the villagers, was born into humble beginnings. Yet, after becoming wealthy overnight, he completely forgot his past life and began to look down upon the poor villagers with contempt. He used his wealth to purchase whatever pleasures he desired, spending his nights drinking and carousing. It was on one of these nights that he met my mother.

My mother was a performer. Despite her family's poverty, she possessed a beautiful face, and my father fell in love with her at first sight. That very night, she became his woman. He brought her home and initially decided to cherish her. However, my mother was not favoured by my paternal grandparents. They conspired to bully her, often making her feel humiliated in front of my father whenever he was home, leaving him caught in the middle and feeling quite conflicted.

Although my mother’s heart was heavy with sorrow, she understood her lowly status. Even when she suffered great insults or mockery, she chose to endure it. At the very least, my father still loved her deeply, and that love was enough to help her remain strong through those years of mistreatment.

The Downfall of a Family

For many years after their marriage, my mother did not conceive. My grandparents constantly pressured my father to take another wife to carry on the family line. Though my mother felt a sting of bitterness, she accepted the reality of her infertility and allowed my father to marry another woman.

My mother had hoped that my father would protect their love for a lifetime. To her shock, once he married the other woman, his character changed completely. He not only forgot the deep affection he once held for her but even joined my grandparents in bullying her. When my father was drunk, he would behave in an unreasonable and cruel manner toward her. My mother could no longer endure such a life, and on the final night before she left home, she suffered a mental breakdown.

My mother had always been alone; her parents had passed away when she was young, and she had turned to performing to survive. Her life was incredibly arduous. Fortunately, after leaving home, her mental state improved significantly, and she was mostly stable.

A Mother’s Sacrifice and a Son’s Solitude

Months later, my mother discovered she was pregnant—that child was me. To prevent my father and grandparents from finding out, she hid in a deep mountain, staying with a kind-hearted family, and decided to raise me alone, relying on each other for survival.

When I was born, my large frame and fair, tender skin made me very endearing. Seeing my cute appearance, all the suffering my mother had endured in her life seemed to vanish. However, we were together for less than a year before my father’s servants discovered my mother’s whereabouts. Upon learning that she had given birth to me alone, they sought to snatch me away.

One night, I was secretly taken from my mother’s side, and I never saw her again. When I was six, I kept asking the servants where my mother was and why I didn't have one. They were so annoyed by my constant questioning that they finally told me the truth: my mother, overwhelmed by the pain of missing me, had suffered a severe mental decline and eventually jumped off a cliff to her death.

However, my father’s household did not fare much better. By the time I was seven, he had lost his entire fortune. My grandparents had passed away in an accident, and the family estate was seized by the state and returned to the national treasury.

The Parrot and the Path of Goodness

My father took me with him as we wandered, and most of the time, it was I who had to beg for food to feed him. Eventually, my father fell gravely ill. I had no money for his treatment, so I sold my own blood to pay for a doctor. But the doctor said his illness had been neglected for too long and could not be cured. He eventually passed away.

My father had a hobby: he loved birds, especially parrots. When he was wealthy, he kept many, patiently teaching them to speak one by one. After losing his fortune, he released them all. After my father died, a parrot appeared before me. It stood on my shoulder as if it were not afraid of me at all. I slowly began to feel that this parrot was my father. Even though it was a bird, after spending time with it, I could sense it was him—a feeling beyond words. He seemed to want to protect me, constantly making sounds that resembled "I'm sorry."

Though I was only seven, I had already experienced the suffering of life’s separations and deaths, transforming from a wealthy young master into a street beggar.

Seeing through the world, I understood that life is merely a play, and this was the script for my current life. I had decades left, and I did not want to waste them. I believed I could live a more meaningful life, especially by helping my father escape the suffering of his bird body.

The Monk’s Compassion

Although I was young, I could perform small acts of kindness. I walked through the streets and alleys doing good deeds, but the stench on my body made people shun me. Even so, I did not lose heart; I offered my labour to serve others. Those people were kind-hearted; after I finished helping them, they would give me food, giving me the strength to continue helping others.

Whenever I worked, my father (the bird) would wait nearby, returning to my shoulder only when I was finished. One day, while he was waiting, I lost track of him. When I finally found him, I saw he had fallen into the hands of a group of children.

They were playing with him, pulling out his colourful feathers one by one. Just as I was about to rush forward to stop them, a practicing monk appeared and rescued him. The monk taught the children that they should cherish all life, even the flowers and grass by the roadside. He explained that all things possess spirituality and that by teaching sentient beings to chant the holy name of "Namo Amituofo," they have the chance to be liberated from their respective realms. He told them that if this parrot heard the Buddha’s name and was willing to chant along, it would surely attain liberation.

The monk gave teachings to my father on the suffering of reincarnation, urging him to chant the Buddha’s name and seek rebirth in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, rather than continuing to cycle through the six realms. Finally, my father passed away peacefully in the monk’s hands.

A Vow to Save All Beings

I immediately knelt to thank the Buddha and the monk for saving my father. I understood then that it was this holy name, "Namo Amituofo," that could bring liberation. It wasn't just about saving my father; there are countless birds and infinite spirits in this world that need this holy name to be saved. I made a great vow: in this life, I would follow the Buddha’s teachings, working step by step to gain the ability to save all sentient beings.

I immediately begged the master to take me back to the temple. He was incredibly compassionate and agreed without hesitation, allowing me to follow him back.

The master first let me serve in the temple, and later allowed me to listen to the sutras. I awakened quickly because life was truly too bitter. At eleven, I shaved my head to become a little novice, practising diligently every day. Later, I received the Precepts to become a Bhikshu, lecturing on the Dharma and saving sentient beings within the temple.

After entering the temple, I was busy every day, and time passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, decades had gone by. I never forgot the Buddha’s grace. Namo Amituofo’s vow to save the world is my vow. I am willing to act on behalf of the Buddha to save the world, wearing my kasaya robe across the land, propagating the holy name of Namo Amituofo and the Buddha’s teachings. The hardships of my youth gave me more perseverance, a firm heart, and a heart of renunciation. Life is a process of fulfilling karmic retribution, and in the end, I achieved a perfect conclusion. I not only saved many human beings and spirits in various spaces, but at the time of my passing, I chanted the Buddha’s name and was received by Namo Amituofo to be reborn in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. I am grateful for the compassion of Namo Amituofo!

The Bird-People Planet

Since entering the Dharma Body of Practitioner Su, I have followed her every day to perform Chao Du across the universe. The vastness of the universe is truly indescribable. In this mysterious world, there exist various kinds of creatures; some resemble humans, while others are completely different and quite peculiar.

Today, I encountered the Bird-People Planet. The inhabitants here are giant in size; they are as intelligent as humans, but their bodies are those of birds. Why are they so peculiar? Normal birds are their original form, but after years of planetary evolution, they began to develop ways to evolve from bird bodies into human bodies. They have now successfully evolved their heads into human shapes; the next step is to evolve their bodies into human form. They are on the verge of success.

Today, when the Buddha-light of Practitioner Su shone upon this Bird-People Planet, they finally understood that by chanting the holy name of "Namo Amituofo," they could immediately be liberated from their bird forms and seek rebirth in the beautiful and dignified Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. The bird-people were so joyful; they all chanted "Namo Amituofo," following the Buddha-light to seek liberation and return to the place of light.

Namo Amituofo."