This is a record of an interview with the demon known as Mo Han, who sought deliverance at the Hsiang Kuang Buddhist Centre in Australia. He now resides in the Western Land of Nature. This account reflects upon his life as a demon and his subsequent transformation. Recorded by the chief writer, Venerable HaiZe, on April 1, 2021.
Mo Han (Shi Yingqun) speaks:
"Mo Han has arrived! Mo Han is here! I have brought my demon children and grandchildren with me, and we all look quite simple-minded, don't we? We have come to this Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, and to my surprise, once we arrived, we could not leave. My headquarters and the rest of my demon kin are still waiting for me to return. I am one of the individuals responsible for the current pandemic. My headquarters were set up in the space between dimensions, where I could receive news about the pandemic from all directions at any moment. I was responsible for adjusting the demon power and coordinating the movements of the demon crowds to ensure the pandemic continued unabated.
The Search for the Missing Leader
While I was busy commanding everyone, one of my simple-minded demon grandsons came to me and said, 'Grandpa Mo, Grandpa Mo! We received news! We heard the sound of the Buddha coming from the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. They are chanting the interview transcript of our pandemic leader! Didn't you tell us before that you were interested in defecting to that demon leader named Zhou Chuanfu? Practitioner Su is currently reading his interview transcript, and we rushed over here specifically to report this to you. This is the only news we have had since he disappeared for a while. Didn't you instruct us to report back immediately if we heard anything about him?'
When I heard this, I knew it was significant. I immediately slammed the table and said, 'Yes! I have been waiting for news of him! You have done a great service by reporting this today; consider it a major merit.' It seems that Zhou Chuanfu has already defected to Practitioner Su. He must be an extraordinary individual to have the ability to subdue someone like Zhou Chuanfu. I wanted to see for myself exactly what kind of person he is! I looked from the space towards the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia, and my goodness—it was such a bright place. It was not a place that we demon beings would normally want to approach. In my heart, I knew that this light was truly extraordinary.
A Demon's Curiosity
A grandson standing nearby said, 'Grandpa Mo, I know a little about this, let me report it to you as well. Once, I happened to pass by that area and saw a large group of people gathered there. They all seemed to be good people, like they belonged to a completely different world than us. I heard that there is a Buddha inside, which is why such light can be emitted. Because I knew my own Dharma power was not enough, I fled as fast as I could to avoid being absorbed.' I knocked my grandson on the head and said, 'How useless! You are nothing like your Grandpa Mo's grandson, and you dare to tell me you fled in terror!'
Although I may look simple-minded, my heart and my brain are anything but. That is how I was able to take on such a heavy responsibility during this global pandemic, managing the distribution of the pandemic's status on the ground. If there were areas where the situation was improving, I would immediately redistribute the information to absorb more demon crowds to go and strengthen the blockade in those areas, ensuring the pandemic would not ease up. I maintained the pandemic's distribution across the Earth as evenly as possible, and if there were any special situations, I would dispatch more assistants.
The Challenge of the Unknown
At this moment, my demon son stepped forward and told me, 'Daddy Mo! This Buddhist centre in Australia has long been famous in our demon realm. You are truly behind the times to have only heard of it now! It seems that I, your son, am much more progressive than you.' He continued, 'There is a person there called Practitioner Su. I hear he specializes in subduing our demon realm. The demon beings who enter that place go in but never come out. Isn't that exactly what happened to your idol, Zhou Chuanfu?' I replied, 'My son, I have been busy with the pandemic lately; I haven't had time to deal with these trivial matters!'
My son warned me, 'Daddy Mo, you had better not deal with this, or you don't know what the consequences might be. Our headquarters cannot function without you.' I said, 'You really don't know your father, do you? The more challenging a place is, and the more inaccessible it seems, the more I must go and explore it. Only then can I gain something significant. I, Mo Han, have always won more than I have lost. I must go and see for myself what kind of divine being has such ability! I will leave the headquarters to you for now.' My son was terrified, but I patted his shoulder and said, 'Don't worry! I am just going to take a look and will be right back. It is not as if I am not returning. Look at how worried you are—how useless!' I saw the look of horror on his face, so I comforted him, 'Your father has been through hundreds of battles. What kind of trouble or powerful beings have I not encountered? Otherwise, how could I have achieved my current skills and status?' With that, I immediately took some curious demon children and grandchildren, and with a 'whoosh,' we vanished from our headquarters and arrived here. I even had to wait for the ones who couldn't keep up with me.
The Power of the Golden Shield
We descended directly from space into the temple. Of course, we did not walk through the front gate—that kind of politeness is not the style of us demon beings. We landed right in the centre of the temple. I used my sharpest eyes, which can penetrate different dimensions, to see the changes in the same place at different times. I saw that the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre used to be a piece of wasteland with only a dilapidated house. Now, it has been beautified into a small white house. Although the surroundings are open, there is plenty of greenery; it is a place where people live and are managed. The difference is that this place is truly radiating golden light. My intuition told me not to be careless here. Looking further into the future of this place, I saw in the space that many houses of varying heights had appeared on the surrounding land, and I knew that this temple would continue to survive in the human world.
Currently, many temples have been conquered and occupied by our demon crowds, and the space for the True Teachings to survive and develop is limited. Yet, this temple is able to develop so well during this period when demon beings are spreading everywhere. I had an ominous feeling. According to my experience, this place would indeed make us demon beings highly vigilant. At the very least, we had to ensure we were not assimilated. But I did not expect that the Buddha-light would discover us at that moment. It shone directly at us, and we had no time to evade it. My heart became warm, and I had a subtle feeling, as if I had returned to my childhood, the feeling of when my parents gave me a gift. That was a memory from so long ago; I was astonished that it surfaced under the illumination of the Buddha-light! What was going on?
A Call from the Heart
Suddenly, a voice came—a gentle voice, like the voice of my mother in my childhood memories. The voice told me, 'Child, look into Practitioner Su's eyes, and you will have a different harvest.' I did not expect that I would obediently follow his words and walk towards the direction of Practitioner Su's eyes. Practitioner Su was sitting on his seat giving a Dharma talk, and the surrounding area was filled with beings listening to the teachings. I wanted to walk towards Practitioner Su's eyes, but seeing how focused everyone was, I felt embarrassed to pass through them and disturb their listening. I wondered why I had suddenly become so kind and considerate of others; this was not like me, Mo Han at all.
Being able to enter and exit different dimensions is my specialty, so I left this dimension and entered another, trying to pass through to Practitioner Su from there. But after entering that dimension, I found it was still full of beings listening to the teachings. How many dimensions of beings were listening to Practitioner Su's Dharma talk? I did not believe it, so I entered another dimension, and it was still full! Just as I was hesitating whether to move forward, that warm, motherly voice appeared again: 'Child, you wouldn't give up just like that, would you? Continue forward!' Strange, why did I have no resistance to this voice? So I rushed straight forward, and while rushing, I kept saying to the beings, 'Excuse me! Excuse me! Please make way.'
The Moment of Deliverance
Just as I was about to get close to Practitioner Su's eyes, I was bounced away by a force, and I was so dizzy! A voice nearby told me, 'Practitioner Su has a Vajra Shield protecting him; you cannot get in!' I saw my demon children and grandchildren who were rushing forward with me being bounced away one by one, some even further than me, and some doing several somersaults. I, Mo Han, had never encountered such a thing. I had never heard of a human being protected by a Vajra Shield. I did not expect the Vajra Shield to be so powerful that it could resist my ability to travel through dimensions. That was an easy task for me, yet I could not resist the space of the Vajra Shield.
At this moment, I was closer to Practitioner Su. I looked carefully at his eyes; they were very deep and vast. It seemed this was not a simple character! Perhaps that bounce had sent a vibration to Practitioner Su, or perhaps Practitioner Su had received the waves of my ill-intentioned gaze? So Practitioner Su said, 'Someone wants to enter my eyes; let's see who it is.' I had no choice but to confess truthfully and briefly stated the reason for my arrival and my name. I did not expect that before I could react, Practitioner Su struck the large qing, restoring me to my original, simple-minded human form. He even shaved my head and changed me into monastic robes. My demon children and grandchildren were also restored to their human forms, and I did not even recognise them. Everyone looked surprised and innocent. This is truly not an ordinary skill! Even more magical was that when his qing was struck, we all entered another dimension. How many dimensions are there in this temple? Ordinary humans can only live in one dimension, so how could this place manifest so many different dimensions? And he wanted me to accept an interview immediately—what was going on? At that moment, I was completely lost, just like when I was a human, often called 'simpleton' by others. My thoughts suddenly returned to the past.
A Life of Hardship and Change
Back then, I was an innocent person who would not say 'two' if someone said 'one.' I was slow to react and was often looked down upon. My parents were the only ones who loved me, especially my mother. My mother often told me, 'Son, your personality is simple and honest. Never lose your upright nature. No matter how others treat you, you must never become bad or hurt and retaliate against them. Only then can you maintain your simple and upright nature. Believe your mother; this is good for you.' I remembered these words firmly. But my mother was sickly, and she left us when I was eight years old. I cried so bitterly. I felt that the world without my mother would change, and indeed, no one would ever love me like that again.
After my mother passed away, my father remarried. My stepmother was a capable woman who did not appreciate my simplicity at all. She often criticized and scolded me to my face. At first, I remembered my mother's words, but she was too much. She said very ugly things to me, especially that sentence: 'How did your mother give birth to you, making you so stupid! Stupid to death!' I did not care how she scolded me, but she even insulted my mother. I was so angry! From that time on, I started to become bad and talk back, not giving her a chance to scold me again. Only then did I know that to deal with capable women, one had to do this to stop their mouths and prevent them from scolding me or looking at me with disdain.
From then on, my heart changed. Good people and bad people were the same to me. I became disobedient and rebellious. People used to call me 'simpleton,' but later they called me 'bad boy,' and then 'bad boss.' I married a woman from the bad group I formed and had a 'bad boy.' To protect our precious son from being bullied and suffering the humiliation I had endured, I told him to be as bad as possible, with his parents as his backing. Sure enough, the bad boy did not disappoint us and later became the local boss. I was happy to retire, travelling around and spreading our methods of being 'bad.' Especially when seeing children or adults who were bullied become strong and un-bullied under our training, it was the greatest satisfaction in our hearts.
A New Beginning
When I was fifty-two, I fell ill. I was usually very healthy, but once I fell ill, I died! After I died, I was attracted to the demon realm by an irresistible force. I was appreciated by the Demon King because he saw my simple nature and my ability to be 'bad.' Penetrating dimensions was my greatest skill. I could exist without any 'self' in the moment, using my spirit to sense another dimension, entering it with my whole heart, and combined with my sharp eyes, I could enter layer after layer of dimensions and see beings at different levels. Other demon beings could not do this as thoroughly as I could, so I was valued by the Demon King and promoted to establish a headquarters, specializing in teaching this skill to demon beings, and I was promoted to a Demon King.
During this pandemic, I was elected as one of the leaders, passing information about the ground situation to the demon beings in the space, helping them pass through dimensions to enter the countries affected by the pandemic and join the ranks of the pandemic. The exchange of information required the ability to break through dimensions, which was an easy task for me.
Now, I have been settled by Practitioner Su in this place, which is full of light, called the Western Land of Dharma Nature. I did not expect my life to evolve into this situation. I feel my whole body is relaxed, as if I have found my simple nature from childhood again. This is truly a different place! I look at myself, and I am in the form my mother loved most when I was a child. All these changes are too fast! My demon children and grandchildren have also entered here with me, but they are no longer in their previous forms; they all have shaved heads and are wearing monastic robes like me. I have a new name, which just gave me: 'Shi Yingqun.' I do not know what my future will be like, but I feel a force leading me to adapt to this group. Here is a salvation group composed of demon beings who have been subdued by Practitioner Su and have turned over a new leaf. They exert great power to save the world. The name 'Yingqun' given to me by the Buddha must be for me to adapt to this group, right? My descendants and I will surely live a life different from the past.
All these changes are too fast, really too fast! It is simply inconceivable! Namo Amituofo."
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