The Final Voyage: An Interview with Chang Yung-fa

This is a record of an interview with Chang Yung-fa, the founder of the Evergreen Group, who sought deliverance 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 and his journey to liberation. Recorded by the chief writer, Shi Fa-xi, on June 6, 2017.

Chang Yung-fa speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. I suppose my fame is such that I do not need much of an introduction or a grand display. Who in this world does not know the name Chang Yung-fa? Yet, for a long time, no one came to find me. I cannot blame you all, as the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre has only recently opened its doors to the outside world. But now that you have received my message, are you still hesitant to reach out? Is humanity truly so pragmatic and cold? The moment one stops breathing, everything one built seems to vanish into thin air. I knew that the moment I passed away, my family would descend into chaos over the inheritance, tearing each other apart. Is that what a family is supposed to be? Out of all the billions of people in this world, the only ones who truly mattered were those few, and yet, by failing to live in harmony, they were simply shooting themselves in the foot. If I had not received the messages from this Centre, I would have long since stopped caring about these worldly affairs. I am in the Western Pure Land now, feeling cool, calm, and at ease. It just so happens that this reminds me: all of your reckless actions have their own causes and effects. I am going to speak about serious matters now. How did I, Chang Yung-fa, manage to reach the Western Pure Land? It was because I had accumulated merits."

A Life of Ambition and the Illusion of Success

"I spent my entire life fighting for my career. From the moment I started working on ships, I never dared to relax. I worked with fear and trembling, constantly striving until I gained a deep understanding and a foothold in the shipping industry. Only then did I dare to let go and build my own enterprise. That is how I, Chang Yung-fa, operated—with extreme caution and prudence. Those who knew me should understand my character. I started with my core business, shipping, and founded Evergreen Marine. I had been observing the market for a long time. I knew that from the moment I started, I had to be different; I had to have my own unique edge. I designed many secondary plans. To start a business and invest so much capital and resources—I did not come from a wealthy background, so I was driven by the belief that I was only allowed to succeed, never to fail. That constant pressure reminded me to maintain an attitude more serious than anyone else's. I believe that your sincerity is written on your face; how much heart you put into your work is always visible to others.

The journey of entrepreneurship is never simple, but I persevered. When I saw a business opportunity, I did not hesitate. If something was right, it was right; there was no room for retreat. You have to be bold, you have to charge forward. It was not easy to establish the Evergreen Group, but now, looking back, everything is empty. Ha! It is quite amusing. When I was fighting for my career, I had the opportunity to make a great fortune. Since I was a child, I was closest to my mother, and the principles she taught me—that one must plant good causes to reap good fruits—stayed with me. From the beginning of my career, I told myself that no matter what, I had to give back to society. Whatever benefits I earned from society, I would return when society was in need. That way, my blessings would not be exhausted. One must know how to enjoy blessings, but also how to accumulate them. That is why I engaged in charity throughout my life. Even during major disasters, I donated large sums of money. However, doing these things was not ultimate; it was not enough to lead me to the Western Pure Land."

The Limitations of Faith and the Search for Truth

"For my whole life, I followed my mother’s faith in I-Kuan Tao. I became one of their most devout followers. As a well-known entrepreneur, everyone knew of my devotion. I often felt distressed by the chaos in society, so I travelled everywhere to save fellow practitioners, hoping to propagate the teachings of I-Kuan Tao. To make my mother happy, I also started a vegetarian diet. Actually, once you get used to it, it is a very good habit—it is compassionate, hygienic, and healthy. I believed in I-Kuan Tao deeply, and I believed it would lead me to the 'Limitless Heaven of Truth.' But after I died, I do not know why I did not go there. Instead, I arrived at your Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre. I heard you calling me. Even after I died, I was still waiting by my body, expecting a lotus boat from the Limitless Heaven of Truth to come and pick me up. Before I could wait for it, I was surrounded by a light you call 'Buddha-light' and brought here. Listening to the sutras every day has been a very unique experience.

The whole world says that Chang Yung-fa is dead, but only here do you say that I do not have to die. Inside the lotus seat you manifested for me, I feel very comfortable. The space is vast, and the scenery is beautiful. I, Chang Yung-fa, am a man who knows how to enjoy life, and for me to praise something, it must be extraordinary. I am truly in awe of the scenery here. I live inside it very happily; I do not need a restroom, and whatever I wish for appears. When I listen carefully to the content of your lectures, they are quite excellent. I have spent my life listening to teachings, but this is the first time I have heard these lectures, and they are wonderful. It is also the first time I have heard of a different kind of Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. I have heard how beautiful and magnificent the West is. It is through this opportunity that I truly came to believe and abandoned the 'Limitless Heaven of Truth' I had pursued my entire life. I-Kuan Tao was the faith I pursued for a lifetime, but not only did I fail to ascend there, I had only accumulated worldly blessings. By the calculations here, I had almost no practice; I was very worldly. On the contrary, your Centre is magnificent in every way."

The Hidden Reality of Spiritual Attachment

"One day, Practitioner Su, with great compassion, guided many famous people to the Western Pure Land. It was done with great speed and simplicity—a skill that cannot be found in the human world. These are true practitioners. I, Chang Yung-fa, have officially attained rebirth in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. Knowing kindness and repaying kindness is my nature. When I speak, I am very clear about what I am saying; it is the Truth. What is the Truth? I am very open-minded. I have a sincere heart to help establish the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre. From the moment the Buddha’s teachings mentioned building a Great Buddha Temple, I wanted to come down and help, but the causal conditions were not sufficient, so I could not. It was only with great difficulty that you called me down, but there is a limit to how much I can help, because my descendants in the world have long since stopped believing in these things. They are content to believe in the fact that their father is dead.

I, Chang Yung-fa, never did anything malicious in my life. I did good deeds and made large donations, so I am truly content with my blessings. The blessings I exhausted were quickly replenished. I did everything with sincerity; I could not bring myself to do fake things. Of course, the basic competition in the business world is not included in that. I married two wives, and there were others outside as well. For an entrepreneur, this is unavoidable. In my struggles outside, I hoped to enjoy life. How can a man enjoy life without the company of women? So, I had quite a few women in my life, but this was a secret that could not be spoken of openly. My 'three hun souls and seven po souls'—I only heard about this now. When I was alive, I had never heard of it. Now that you have asked me to look, I finally understand. My soul was being drained by others. The reason was my indulgence with women. Whenever I had money, I would get into trouble. This is a common ailment of men. Because of that kind of pleasure—alas, which entrepreneur does not play around? If you try to lie to me, I will not believe you. As my career soared higher, more and more people flattered me. Some even knew I loved 'powder and perfume' and would introduce me to places or arrange entertainment. I had my fixed spots. I did not like things to be too complicated, and I was willing to pay any price, but I feared complexity. I was also afraid of death.

My career was stable, my income was stable, and my sons began to get involved in the business. Although they were still green, I was somewhat satisfied. Sometimes I wanted to push them, as managing such a large enterprise requires competence. I had my own unique way of teaching my sons, and people generally showed me basic respect. Often in my dreams, I would see naked women—not just one, but a group. Of course, I was happy. I always forgot I was in a dream, and until dawn, I would be reluctant to part with them. We would hold each other tightly, unable to let go. But when I woke up and realized it was a dream, and then looked at my wife beside me, I would always let out a heavy sigh. Every night, I looked forward to dreaming of women again. In my dreams, I always became very young and powerful. I was very satisfied, but I did not notice the changes in my own body. My face became puffy. It turns out that these women who came to find me in my dreams were all the women I had abandoned in the past. The reason I, Chang Yung-fa, was so successful in this life was also because I had accumulated merits in the past.

In a past life, I was Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, so I had both merits and faults. In this life, my career was very successful, and my family was not too bad, but we were not very harmonious. That is true, because I did not achieve liberation in the Western Pure Land, so I had no merit. Everything I accumulated in my life was merely worldly blessings. Because I had a heart—an entrepreneur values having a heart and having action—I did not understand how to act without a heart. Although I, Chang Yung-fa, donated without counting the cost, I measured and calculated too much in my heart. I was very sharp and saw things clearly. In your terms, it is because I had practiced in the past. Looking at my past, establishing the Tang Dynasty—ha! That was not simple either. Perhaps, if you calculate it, it is the same as this life: merits and faults, neither of which could get me to the Western Pure Land, leaving me to continue in the cycle of rebirth. If I had not met Practitioner Su and the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in this life, I might have continued to reincarnate. I do not wish to express opinions on the practice of I-Kuan Tao, as I believed in it for a lifetime, but taking this opportunity, I want to say: it is not ultimate, it is not achievement. I hope everyone will think twice. I have 'penetration' now, and I know that at best, it leads to the Heavenly Realm, which is still very far from the world of true liberation. Enough, I will not comment further. In the Western Pure Land, listening to the compassionate lectures of Namo Amituofo, I have come to understand that a practitioner must change their personality. If you do not change your personality, you cannot even be called a practitioner. I was a practitioner of I-Kuan Tao, but I did not change my personality. If I had, I would not have suffered from illness and death, nor would I have had to spend money to treat my body, only to suffer anyway.

My later years were hazy and dim because my spirit was kicked to the side. I was like a wandering ghost, so by the time I was sixty, I began to feel lost, and my mind was no longer as sharp as before. Compared to the past, the difference was huge. I loved women, and from my thirties, my soul was being 'captured'—all taken away in dreams. The initial reaction was that I became easily tired, but at that time, I was fighting for my career, so I had no time to worry about such things. However, I was truly interested in 'powder and perfume,' and the speed at which my soul was being captured was fast. I began to lose my strength, which is a great loss of face for a man. I saw traditional Chinese doctors and secretly took supplements. Forget it, talking about this now seems a bit embarrassing. In short, I began to have my soul captured repeatedly. My face began to change, and I was possessed by others. My body was occupied by others when I was in my fifties. Sometimes, when my spirit was relatively strong, I could still be in charge, but when my body was weak, I would let external spirits take over, operate, and control me—all for that taste I liked, the 'powder and perfume.' In my later years, I had no real affection for my wife. I preferred freedom and excitement, often using business and social engagements as excuses. Now that I think about it, for an entrepreneur, wanting a complete family is very difficult. If everyone gets involved in the so-called struggle for assets, a complete family is truly impossible. The fighting between each household is just like the struggle for the throne in the ancient imperial palace. There are no kind faces; everyone is afraid of losing out. It is truly terrifying.

However, I, Chang Yung-fa, want to appeal to everyone, to appeal to a fact: if your spirit is captured by others, it has no value at all. It is just like me. From the age of sixty-five, I became empty. I was completely kicked out of my body, and I could not get back in. I was unaware of all the things that happened later. My face kept changing, and my eyes were not clear. The medical diagnosis was dementia, but in reality, I, Chang Yung-fa, was no longer in this world. I was already suffering retribution in hell, paying off the debts of this life and my past lives. I spent my whole life fighting for my career, and although I believed in I-Kuan Tao, I neglected the part about karma and karmic creditors. Therefore, I still suffered from birth, aging, sickness, and death, and my temper and personality made my sons resent me. Sometimes I did not want to act that way, but there was a force that wanted to make us, father and son, fall out. I am a person who does not forget his roots, and of course, I had deep feelings for my sons, but I did not know how to express them. In my later years, when it was no longer me, I was actually very afraid. When I was in great panic, I found myself in darkness. I called out the names of my predecessors and the holy names of the Buddhas, but it only became darker. I spent decades in that darkness. At the moment I died, that darkness finally dissipated. The darkness turned out to be all the civilians and soldiers I had harmed in the past. The moment I truly died, they left; they had finished their revenge. Only then did I stay by my body, wanting to wait to reach the Limitless Heaven of Truth, but in the end, I was sent to the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre. This moment was the most blessed moment of my life. Coming here, I finally reached the Western Pure Land and truly attained liberation from birth and death."

A Final Message to My Descendants and the World

"My greatest blessing is being able to come out and talk to my descendants again. After reading this, whether my children believe it or not, when their father became ill, he was no longer himself. Some things were not what I meant, but because I was controlled, I lived for nearly thirty years a life that was not my own. Now that I have this opportunity, I hope everyone can come and listen to what I want to say. I am at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, and there are reporters and media here. I, Chang Yung-fa, usually treated everyone quite well, and I was very generous. I held many press conferences, and I treated the reporter friends quite well. I know that every industry has its hardships, so finally, I want to say as Chang Yung-fa: the Western Pure Land is truly wonderful. When I was alive, I liked to share my practice with everyone. Now that I have died and have the experience of rebirth in the Western Pure Land, I want to share it with everyone even more. In the Western Pure Land, you do not have to die. Only the media can help with this. I hope everyone can help me one more time. I beg you. Based on my understanding of my sons, perhaps if you media reporters come to interview me directly, it will be faster than my sons coming to find me. I hope you will believe me once. I am Chang Yung-fa, and I am waiting for you here. Namo Amituofo."

Message content written by the Buddha’s disciple, Shi Fa-xi.