The Healer's Sacrifice and Redemption

This is a record of an interview with Yao Zhihao, 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 as a physician and his time as a prison guard in the fourth hall of hell. Recorded by Venerable Haize on December 18, 2019.

Venerable Haize: I invite the representative of the sixty prison guards who were sent to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss today: Yao Zhihao, please accept this interview.

Yao Zhihao speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. I am Yao Zhihao. Standing here with my sixty fellow prison guards, I wish to offer our deepest and most sincere gratitude to Namo Amituofo, to Practitioner Su, and to everyone present." (Yao Zhihao stands at the front, with the others behind him. They bow respectfully to the assembly, followed by three full prostrations.)

"I am Yao Zhihao. I assumed the position of a prison guard in the fourth hall of hell at the age of sixty. By the grace of the Fourth Hall Yama King, I was nominated to be included in the list of those to be delivered by Practitioner Su from the human world to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. To have this precious opportunity to enter the Western Pure Land today—I am truly, profoundly grateful!"

A Life Dedicated to Healing

"I was a physician, inheriting my father's family practice. From a very young age, I followed my father into the mountains and fields to gather all kinds of medicinal herbs. I became intimately familiar with various ancestral prescriptions. My father taught me from the very beginning: 'A healer must save the urgent, the poor, and the weak; one must never be greedy.' Because of this, I became highly skilled in emergency medicine. However, during one of my attempts to experiment with a new herb, I lost sight in one eye.

"Often, for emergency prescriptions, the efficacy must be rapid to save a life. But because the medicinal properties are so potent, one must be extremely careful with the dosage. You must be both fast and precise. During that particular experiment, I misjudged the herb. It so happened that this specific formula was highly irritating to the eyes. If used correctly, it could cure the blind and allow them to see the light; if used incorrectly, it carried the grave risk of permanent blindness. Fortunately, I still had one eye left. I did not lose faith in the herb because of this; instead, I meticulously recorded the details of this double-edged sword of a prescription. Since I had already paid the price and obtained these results, I felt a duty to pass on this precious experience so that future generations would not repeat my mistakes."

The Legacy of the Ancestors

"Although I married, I did not have children. Given this, I knew these precious ancestral prescriptions could not be allowed to vanish. I took on several apprentices who were interested in herbal medicine and taught them everything I had learned throughout my life without reservation. I hoped they would save more people and not let the prescriptions—which our ancestors had developed by testing various plants and their properties with their own lives—fall into obscurity. Although I lost an eye, my life was not lived in vain. I finally left behind some experience for future generations. In the years that followed, those very prescriptions saved several blind people, allowing them to see the light again.

"Because of this merit, when I reached the age of sixty and caught a slight cold, I was taken by the prison guards in the middle of the night to the fourth hall of hell, where I was appointed to the position of a prison guard."

The Grace of Deliverance

"I am so grateful for the compassion of the Buddha, and I am eternally indebted to the kindness of Practitioner Su. Without their intervention, I would still be trapped in the cycle of suffering, performing my duties in the darkness of the fourth hall. To be delivered from that place to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss is a miracle I never dared to dream of. Think about it—who would expect a simple physician, who spent his life trying to save others, to be granted such a supreme blessing? It is the power of Namo Amituofo and the tireless work of Practitioner Su that made this possible. I am humbled, I am grateful, and I am finally at peace."

"Yao Zhihao and the sixty prison guards bow in gratitude for the Buddha's grace. Namo Amituofo."