This is a record of an interview with Mo Ma An, a demon king who sought deliverance at the Hsiang Kuang Buddhist Centre in Australia. He now resides in the Western Land of Nature, having been transformed by the of Practitioner Su. This account reflects upon his journey from a life of negativity to the path of the Buddha. Recorded by the chief writer, Venerable HaiZe, on May 23, 2022.
Mo Ma An (Shi Miao Shan) speaks:
". My name is Mo Ma An. Anyone who sees me is usually drawn to my cute and innocent appearance. I am of average height, with an oval face and round eyes. Because I have very little hair, I often wear a hat. I change my hats frequently depending on my mood—who would have thought that a demon could look like this? In our galaxy, there are all sorts of appearances, each one unique, and I am just one of them.
My planet is called the Puwashalu Planet, a world where ordinary people and demons coexist. Every demon on this planet has a different age. Some are born as demons because their parents are demons, while others are ancient demons whose spiritual light is about to extinguish. Between birth and extinction, one must learn to 'see through' and 'let go'. Many realistic things happen over time, and they flow away with time as well.
A Heart Inclined Toward Darkness
Although I look cute, my heart has always been prone to seeing things in a biased or evil way. No matter how much I tried to learn, this tendency always persisted. Sometimes, even when I encountered something good, the end result would always be unsatisfactory or negative. From the time I gained until now, I have never lived a day where I saw things in a positive or upright light. However, I developed a heart of indifference. Even when I encountered setbacks or unpleasant situations, I would think, 'Well, this is fine too,' and live a life different from others. This demon nature has always followed me, and I felt it was the most reliable way to protect myself.
I come from a broken family. On planets where physical contact is required for reproduction, there is much instability, and such planets are considered to be at a lower level in the galaxy. The higher the level of the planet, the less physical contact is needed. On the most advanced planets, a new life can be conceived simply through the mutual agreement of thoughts, reaching a certain intensity to manifest the next generation containing the intentions of both parties.
The Burden of a Misaligned Nature
I was born on one of these high-level planets, but when my parents conceived me, they did not carry kind or beautiful thoughts. If I had been conceived under the influence of kindness and beauty, I would have become a friendly and beautiful being. Instead, my parents conceived me under circumstances of mutual benefit between two families, filled with reluctance and displeasure. Because of this, my very nature was inclined toward negativity and pessimism. Yet, I possessed my mother's cute and beautiful appearance, creating a dissonance between my outer self and my inner self. Under these circumstances, I was never happy. Later, my parents separated due to incompatible personalities, which only reinforced my tendency to see the worst in everything.
As I grew older, this personality became more and more pronounced and impossible to change. I sought support but could not find it. Eventually, I was discovered by the Demon Realm and absorbed into it, allowing me to indulge in being evil, pessimistic, and destructive to the core. This was when my demon nature truly manifested. With the support of the power within the Demon Realm, my tendency to see the worst and do evil was greatly amplified. To ensure I would not be bullied, I constantly strengthened myself and absorbed other demon children and grandchildren. Finally, I became a demon king. Seeing the worst in everything and harboring negative thoughts became the signature trait of myself and my demon followers.
The Threat of Positive Energy
I have my own territory on our planet. Here, the demon kings do not interfere with one another. When necessary, we cooperate to defend against external enemies, but otherwise, we act independently or expand our own demonic influence. Some demon kings have expanded their power to the point where several planets must follow their commands. I did not have such grand ambitions, so on my planet, I lived a life of 'you don't provoke me, and I won't provoke you.'
Recently, news began to spread around our planet. Some demon kings found their demonic power fading significantly because they had absorbed an extremely strong positive energy. Planets that had been occupied were suddenly liberated; the inhabitants, having absorbed this strong positive energy, awakened and resisted, successfully driving out the demons and reclaiming their homes. This news made many demon kings feel threatened. We reached a consensus to join forces and expel this positive energy. To protect their own domains, many demon kings joined this crusade.
The Encounter with Practitioner Su
We received information that the leader of this positive energy was Practitioner Su, from Earth. We had never heard of Earth. After further investigation, we learned that Earth is extremely far away. How could Practitioner Su travel such a vast distance to spread such powerful positive energy in our galaxy? After understanding the range of Practitioner Su's flight, the demon crowds of the galaxy formed a protective layer, preventing Practitioner Su from entering our galaxy. We thought that by combining our strength, we could effectively stop Practitioner Su. To our surprise, Practitioner Su's positive energy broke through our protective layer and easily entered our galaxy.
After the first failure, we realized that Practitioner Su was not an ordinary enemy. We adopted a new policy: when Practitioner Su left the galaxy, we would follow him back to his origin. We later received information that Practitioner Su is a bold practitioner from Earth, someone who has achieved spiritual success and has already subdued many demons. He often says, 'If you don't enter the tiger's den, how can you catch the tiger cub?' He has a strong heart for saving beings, and now his actions are not limited to Earth but extend to the galaxy beyond. What kind of mindset does such a human have to be so actively positive? This sparked my curiosity, so I joined the ranks of the interstellar demons tracking Practitioner Su.
The Power of the Buddha-Name
Finally, Practitioner Su arrived. A massive golden light circled the galaxy rapidly. We waited, and when Practitioner Su was about to leave, we followed him out of the galaxy. Under my leadership, I told my demon followers to follow closely, as this was not our own planet or galaxy, and we did not know what the future would hold. As soon as I entered the golden light, I could clearly feel my demonic power fading. I knew I had to keep following. At that moment, the sound of 'Namo Amituofo' echoed through the starry sky. As Practitioner Su flew, this Buddha-name emitted energy that, together with the golden light, helped restore energy to the darker planets. I was astonished and became even more determined to follow him to the end to find out the truth.
Practitioner Su led us through many places, scenes we had never seen before. I could see many beings being sent into the golden light as Practitioner Su passed by. My intuition told me this was a very good thing, but my pessimistic nature thought that Practitioner Su could not sustain this for long because it would consume too much energy. Finally, Practitioner Su arrived at a brighter place. The followers in the golden light returned to their positions, and Practitioner Su entered a human body. Only then did I realize that this was the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. Practitioner Su's spirit originated from this body; this was Practitioner Su's physical form, and what we had been following was Practitioner Su's spirit. I never imagined that a human spirit could fly to the galaxy to bring energy to planets and beings for such a long time.
The Attempted Interference
I did not have much time to hesitate. A sense of unease arose in my heart. I had to enter Practitioner Su's body as soon as possible to stop his spirit from acting. Because my demon nature of seeing the worst manifested through my eyes, I have always been adept at attacking the eyes. I had already seen red bloodshot lines in Practitioner Su's eyes, indicating they were under attack and were defending themselves, so I decided to enter through the eyes.
Our demon nature began to take effect, and we tried to enter the eyes quickly, but we were blocked by an invisible force. After a second attempt failed, we did not want to waste our energy, so we adopted another method. Outside the corners of Practitioner Su's eyes, we released our negative demonic elements to block his vision. When these elements took effect, they would make everything Practitioner Su saw appear negative or bad, hoping to make him give up his mission of saving beings in the galaxy. Although we succeeded in releasing the demonic elements, it did not make Practitioner Su see things negatively. Instead, it only increased the time he spent circling the galaxy. The demonic elements did effectively make his vision blurry—what Practitioner Su called 'white mist'—and this situation lasted for several days. The amount of demonic elements we released exceeded our usual capacity. Normally, a little bit of demonic power is enough to make someone see the worst and give up on doing good deeds. I never expected that this would have no such effect on Practitioner Su. Even though the white mist made his vision less clear, it could not stop his footsteps in saving beings in the galaxy.
Transformation in the Dharma-Nature Land
We stayed at the temple for a while. Our demonic elements were exhausted, and we needed to return to our demon planet to replenish them. At the same time, I thought our energy would be depleted, but that did not happen. Later, I realized that what we were absorbing here was the golden light; there was naturally positive energy to replenish us. However, this also accelerated the depletion of our demonic elements, because demonic elements are a form of negative energy, which is naturally neutralized by the positive energy of the golden light. I understood everything now. This place is different from our demon planet. The positive power here is stronger than our negative power, so our demonic power was constantly being neutralized. This place was not suitable for us to stay. When I reached this conclusion and was about to take my demon followers away, Practitioner Su discovered the demons in his eyes and, with a powerful sound, sucked us into my current location: the Western Land of Dharma Nature.
Here, I learned what it means to listen to the sutras and hear the Dharma, what the Buddha's teachings are, and why Practitioner Su, having awakened his true nature and developed compassion, went into the galaxy to save suffering beings. During my time in the Dharma-Nature Land, the most amazing thing is that I cannot manifest my personality of seeing the worst or doing evil. My heart is filled with a kind of calm and gentleness. I even feel that this is a very good place. For me, this is already a huge change; I have never had such a feeling before. Participating in the temple's Dharma assembly has changed me completely, making me a person entirely different from who I was before.
Shi Miao Shan (Mo Ma An)
The Buddha gave Mo Ma An the Dharma name 'Shi Miao Shan'.
Reflections on the
During my time in the Dharma-Nature Land, I heard about Namo Amituofo, the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, and the deliverance of beings to the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. During the Dharma assembly, I saw everything. I saw the tall and bright Namo Amituofo, and I saw Practitioner Su sending the beings from the Dharma-Nature Land and the sixty jailers waiting at the temple into the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss.
I was amazed that such a place exists in the world. A very faint voice sprouted in my heart: 'I want to go to this place in the future, too.' I hid this thought deep in my heart, so whenever there was news about going to the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, I listened very carefully. I heard a key point: one must chant Namo Amituofo and enter the Buddha's golden light to reach the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. Therefore, during the Dharma assembly, whenever everyone chanted Namo Amituofo, I would chant along in the Dharma-Nature Land. I feel that I have changed, as if I am a child looking forward to something and working hard for it. This is completely different from the old me who saw everything as bad and held no hope. Furthermore, when Practitioner Su mentioned in his Dharma talks that one must change their personality, I would have ignored such words in the past—that was not my style in the Demon Realm—but now, I have truly changed.
It turns out that the one who went to the galaxy was one of the countless manifestations of Practitioner Su. They represented the actions of Practitioner Su's spirit, and all these actions were for the sake of saving beings. No wonder the energy Practitioner Su radiates is all good and positive. This kind of good, positive energy made me deeply feel that my past actions in the Demon Realm were evil and wrong. Suddenly, I felt a sense of remorse and regret for the pain and despair I had caused beings in the past—a feeling I had never experienced before. This is repenting. I believe it was the Buddha-light and Practitioner Su's teachings during these days that transformed me, causing my demon nature to fade and my Buddha-nature to arise. It turns out that Buddha-nature is good, kind, and helps beings leave suffering behind. This is what I have learned here.
I am still continuing to learn. I think I have left behind the 'Mo Ma An' of the past and have become a new person, 'Shi Miao Shan'.
