The Demon Who Found the Path Home

This is a record of an interview with the spirit known as Demon Basha, who later received the Dharma name Shi Yuzhen. He sought deliverance at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. This account reflects upon his experiences across the galaxy and his eventual transformation through the guidance of Practitioner Su. Recorded by the chief writer, Shi Fajing, on May 25, 2022.

Shi Yuzhen (formerly Demon Basha) speaks:

"When I first saw Practitioner Su, I felt as though I were looking at a fool once again. I turned to my demon companions and said, 'Only a fool would want to do such good deeds.' I said this because I, too, was once such a fool. That was over ten thousand years ago.

More than ten thousand years ago, I first entered the Milky Way. At that time, my practice had reached a certain level of success, and I allowed my spirit to enter the galaxy, hoping to use my abilities to help sentient beings. The region I entered was entirely occupied by demon crowds. There were countless planets controlled by the Demon Realm. These planets could have lived in peace, but they were gradually invaded and controlled by the demon crowds. Eventually, they lost all autonomy; the entire population and the operations of the planet were manipulated by the demon crowds."

The Foolishness of Compassion

"When I learned of this situation, I felt a strong desire to help these planets. I used my own abilities to sneak into these worlds and began to propagate the Dharma of Goodness. The teachings I shared helped the beings on these planets change their mental notes. Perhaps in their moments of despair, the goodness I transmitted gave them the strength to be reborn or provided them with the support they needed. It helped them shift their perspective in the face of adversity, gaining a powerful positive force that allowed them to reduce the extent of their control by the demon crowds.

When these long-suffering beings heard the Dharma of Goodness I transmitted, they were deeply moved. They had long yearned for such 'good power' to enter their worlds. However, under the control of the demon crowds, it was impossible for them to allow such goodness to destroy their influence. They were strictly vigilant, preventing any goodness from appearing. If any citizens were caught discussing these teachings, they would be severely punished—often by having all their energy drained or by being made to disappear from the planet entirely.

To avoid being discovered by these demons, I was always extremely cautious in my good deeds. I believed that everything I did would surely help immeasurable and boundless spirits across the galaxy to be saved. I thought that perhaps, very soon, I would see many planets that had been occupied by demons regain their autonomy."

The Fall into the Demon Realm

"I successfully and secretly transmitted the Dharma of Goodness into four thousand five hundred planets. As long as the beings on these planets heard the teachings, they began to study them in secret. They used the Dharma to transform their character and shift their mental notes, making it impossible for the demon power to control them. Some even used this positive force to lead the entire planet in transforming its magnetic field.

Just as I was about to continue transmitting the Dharma to more planets, my actions were discovered by the Demon Realm. Because the transformation of these four thousand five hundred planets was so obvious, the demon power could no longer exert its influence as it had before. They grew suspicious, quickly sensing that another force was operating within the planets. Eventually, they discovered my existence and began to launch attacks against me.

At that time, I became the greatest enemy of this group of demons. A large crowd of them united to attack me. My cultivation was quite good, but under the assault of so many demons, I was eventually surrounded. They treated me with extreme cruelty, destroying the cultivation I had built over a thousand years. One of the reasons they were able to destroy my power so quickly was that I lacked sufficient meditative concentration. When they harmed me, my heart experienced a subtle fluctuation. Once I wavered, the demon power completely took control of me, causing me to lose everything.

My thousand years of practice were destroyed just like that. My heart began to drift further and further astray, and eventually, I entered the Demon Realm myself, becoming one of them, known as 'Demon Basha'. After becoming a demon, I quickly learned various demon powers. To me, this seemed even easier than practicing for a thousand years. As long as my mental notes became more hateful, evil, and malicious, my demon power would increase rapidly. Combined with the foundation of my past thousand years of practice, even though I no longer had my original power, I could apply it to my demon power, causing it to double in strength. In the galaxy, I was considered a famous demon, because no other demon had ever transitioned from transmitting the Dharma of Goodness to doing evil, and with power greater than my peers."

Observing the Power of Practitioner Su

"I attacked other planets everywhere, and my actions were completely contrary to my past intentions. I could not stop my mental notes and deeds; I simply kept performing these evil acts, enjoying a sense of superiority from possession and victory. Precisely because of this, when I saw Practitioner Su doing good in the galaxy just as I had done in the past, I laughed instantly, feeling as though I had seen a fool exactly like me.

A demon friend told me, 'You must not underestimate Practitioner Su. He is completely different from the you of the past. The number of planets he has saved is already far beyond four thousand five hundred; it is countless. Even now, many demons in the galaxy have surrendered to Practitioner Su and are working with him to save all spirits. So, you must not mock Practitioner Su as a fool; his power is far greater.' When I heard this, I was somewhat shocked, but I did not fully believe it. Because of my past painful experience, I deeply felt the ignorance of doing good. The evil forces in the galaxy are so powerful; how could the power of one person with good intentions resist them? The end result would surely be the same as mine. Therefore, I did not believe my friend, nor did I believe that this Practitioner Su before me could have enough power to confront the evil forces in the galaxy.

I continued to observe Practitioner Su with a skeptical mind. Wherever his Dharma Body went, I followed. The phrase 'Namo Amituofo' that he chanted truly possessed immense energy and emitted golden light. It was completely different from the energy of the Dharma of Goodness I had propagated in the past—it was far, far stronger. I truly found it hard to believe; how could this phrase 'Namo Amituofo' have such powerful energy?

I kept observing and saw Practitioner Su quickly helping many planets replenish their energy or directly saving the beings within them. Watching these beings all head toward the golden light, I knew clearly in my heart, and could even feel, that they were indeed saved. It was true."

The Battle and Deliverance

"Practitioner Su's Dharma Body saved beings with incredible speed. Many times, I could barely keep up with him. When I finally caught up, he was already preparing to head to the next location. I looked around and saw that the planets, stardust, nebulae, and gaseous beings in the vicinity had all been saved by Practitioner Su. Many low-energy planets had also been replenished with energy. When I saw these scenes with my own eyes, my initial skepticism began to break down. I had to believe that Practitioner Su's energy far exceeded what I had possessed at that time. Moreover, the Dharma that Practitioner Su transmitted was entirely different from the goodness I had taught; it was truly capable of helping these galactic spirits attain liberation, not just helping them shift their thoughts or learn to be good.

As I became more certain of Practitioner Su's power, my mental notes began to turn toward the right path, as if I had finally found a comrade on the same side, and I no longer had to fight alone. I secretly followed Practitioner Su to learn, and wherever his Dharma Body went, I continued to follow, all the way back to Earth. I had been to Earth before; it was not unfamiliar to me. I had once propagated the Dharma of Goodness on Earth, adding my teachings to the existing religious beliefs, helping those believers become more active in spreading the Dharma and doing good. Returning to Earth now, it felt both familiar and strange, because in these thousand years, Earth had changed too much. I followed Practitioner Su to his residence on Earth, which was a temple. I had never heard of the Buddha’s teachings, nor had I ever seen a Buddha, but in fact, the Buddha had always existed; I simply did not know.

As soon as Practitioner Su returned to Earth, he immediately let his Dharma Body return to his physical body. That scene was quite shocking; hundreds of billions of Dharma Bodies returned to Practitioner Su's body in an instant. I watched in awe. At that time, a grand event was being held at the site; they told me it was a Thrice Yearning Ceremony. I had never seen such a ceremony, so I watched quietly. Just as I was dumbfounded, I suddenly saw a group of demons surrounding Practitioner Su. I was startled; what were these demons trying to do to him? I quickly learned from other spirits that these demons were displeased with Practitioner Su's Chao Du and wanted to attack him to stop him from saving beings. When I heard this, I became instantly furious and agitated, because I had been treated the same way by demons in the past, which led to the loss of my thousand years of cultivation. I was so angry I nearly went mad. I could not stand to see these demons being so rampant. All the resentment I had accumulated over the past surged into my heart, and the images and memories of being harmed surfaced one by one. I could no longer suppress the intense hatred in my heart, and I rushed toward the group of demons, demanding they stop interfering with Practitioner Su's work of saving beings.

When this group of demons saw me return to my past appearance, they also remembered how I had destroyed their control over those four thousand five hundred planets. At that moment, all the resentment we held toward each other was triggered. I began a fierce battle with this group of demons, and the location of our confrontation was exactly the parts they wanted to attack on Practitioner Su—his left groin and left lower leg. We were all outside these two areas, using our powerful demon forces to confront each other. We even pulled at each other, and the scene was so intense that even Practitioner Su's groin and leg felt it. Before the battle could be decided, we were all brought into the Western Dharma-Nature Land by Practitioner Su. Seeing this group of demons also being taken away, I felt happy, even though I had not won against them just moments before."

Demon Basha

Practitioner Su gave Demon Basha the Dharma name 'Shi Yuzhen'.

Reflections on the Thrice Yearning Ceremony

"After we were sent to the Western Dharma-Nature Land by Practitioner Su, the ceremony was still ongoing. I listened to the music of the ceremony, which quickly allowed my heart to calm down, and then I chanted along with the Buddha's name. This was my first time chanting the Buddha's name, and after just one phrase, I felt the energy of this Buddha-name was immense. This was truly the Great Dharma. Compared to the goodness I had propagated in the past, this was the only Great Dharma that could truly help sentient beings.

During the ceremony, I watched Practitioner Su use his Dharma Body to perform Chao Du. It was unexpected that in these countries—whether in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, various Southeast Asian countries, or Australia—every space within each country could be saved by Practitioner Su through his countless billions of manifestations, and the speed was extremely fast. For Earth, what impressed me most was the ocean, which occupies a vast area. In the galaxy, not every planet has such an ocean; many do not. So, when I first saw Earth's ocean, I was quite surprised.

What surprises me even more now is that there are so many spirits existing within the ocean, and these spirits are all being saved by Practitioner Su's Dharma Body. Practitioner Su's Dharma Body enters the ocean, rushing from the surface to the deep seabed. Wherever the Dharma Body passes, all spirits are saved. The space of the ocean has its own temporal differences; the space of this second is completely different from the space of the next second, let alone the space of this year compared to the next. Regardless of the year or the generation, all spaces exist simultaneously within the ocean. Therefore, when Practitioner Su's Dharma Body enters the ocean to perform Chao Du, the time and space saved are all different, and the spaces are infinitely layered.

I saw a very special scene: places that were originally land later became the ocean. When Practitioner Su's Dharma Body entered the ocean to perform Chao Du, he also saved the land space that had originally existed there. That was a past space, and now it has all become a vast ocean. When I saw this, I felt it was truly inconceivable; the spaces are infinitely layered and all still exist. Practitioner Su's Chao Du is truly worthy of praise. Looking back at the time when I was propagating the Dharma of Goodness, I lament that if I had met Namo Amituofo back then and propagated the Buddha's teachings, perhaps I would not have encountered such things, nor would I have become a demon and committed sins. It is a great sin!

Everything is a matter of conditions. I am very fortunate to have met Practitioner Su now and to have learned this Great Dharma. I will cherish this connection, strive diligently, and turn from evil toward goodness.

Namo Amituofo."

Shi Yuzhen