The Jailer’s Release: From Hell to the Western Pure Land

This is a record of an interview with Muteng Yuan, who sought deliverance at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. She now resides in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. This account reflects upon her life during the Tang Dynasty. Recorded by the chief writer, Shi Fa, on May 2, 2026.

Muteng Yuan speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. I am profoundly grateful to Namo Amituofo, and I am deeply indebted to Practitioner Su. Today, I, along with fifty-nine other jailers, have finally stepped onto the sacred soil of the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. It is a miracle that I can hardly put into words.

I was born during the Tang Dynasty, the eldest daughter in my family. From my earliest memories, I was raised under my father’s strict guidance to become a virtuous woman, trained in the domestic arts and the virtues of a devoted wife. I held onto this identity for years, nurturing the hope that one day I would be a supportive and loving wife to a husband of my own.

A Life of Exile and Hardship

However, fate took a cruel turn. My father was demoted by the imperial court, and our entire family was exiled to the harsh, unforgiving borderlands. The shock of this sudden fall from grace was too much for my parents; they passed away shortly after our arrival. I was left entirely alone in that desolate region. The environment was incredibly brutal, a far cry from the comfort of the capital. At first, I struggled immensely to adapt, but I told myself that one must have a goal, a reason to keep breathing. I simply took life one day at a time. I drifted from household to household, working as a labourer, helping with the farm work. Most of the local residents were engaged in animal husbandry, raising cattle and sheep, while others cultivated melons and fruits.

I worked for various farming families, and in doing so, I became acquainted with the locals. Some men expressed interest in marrying me, but without parents to guide me or a family name to uphold, I felt too ashamed to accept such proposals. I felt that without my family, I was merely a solitary wanderer. I resigned myself to the idea that I would spend my entire life as a hired hand, drifting from one home to the next until my final days.

The Burden of Attachment

Unexpectedly, I met someone who was willing to help me. Seeing how diligent I was in my work and feeling sympathy for my tragic family history, he recommended me for a clerical position in the local government office. Although it was not common for women to be educated in those days, I had received some schooling in the capital and was literate enough to handle basic documentation. I was able to be of some service. However, when I reached the age of thirty-five, I fell ill with a mysterious disease. It left me constantly weak, dizzy, and unable to focus, forcing me to resign from my post.

A local gentleman eventually offered to take me in. I felt this might be the arrangement of destiny, so I accepted his kindness. After we married, I dragged my ailing body through the daily chores of managing a household. I eventually gave birth to a son and a daughter, but during the birth of my daughter, my strength completely failed me, and I passed away from this world.

Even after I had left my physical body, I remained deeply attached to my children. They were so young—my son was only three, and my daughter was a newborn. I could not let go of them. I stayed by their side, becoming like a cell within their own bodies, lingering between them, watching over them with a desperate, clinging love.

The Truth of Karmic Retribution

Years later, when they travelled to the capital, they visited a famous temple. As they entered the temple grounds, I was suddenly reminded of the poems I had known in my youth. When I heard the monks chanting the Sutras, I was finally released from that space. It brought back memories of my life before the exile, before the marriage and the children—those innocent, simple days.

Shortly after I left that space, a jailer brought me before the court of Yama. As I stood before him, Yama explained that the circumstances of my life were entirely the result of the laws of karma and cause and effect from my previous lives. My life of displacement and suffering was a direct consequence of having conspired with my parents in a past life to frame an official and strip him of his position. I had to endure the same fruit of that action. The hardship I faced in the borderlands was also a debt I had to repay for having caused others to suffer in a past life.

Although I had not committed any major crimes in that lifetime, I had not truly cultivated a heart for the nation or for all beings. I had spent most of my time focused on myself and my family. After death, my inability to let go of my family led me into that space of attachment. Yama asked me whether I wished to be reincarnated into the ghost realm or to serve as a jailer. I knew the bitterness of life, and I felt deep shame for my attachment to my family and my own life.

Service in the Hells

I remembered that when my father was an official, he taught us that we must think of the civilians and put the world first. After his demotion, I had not only failed to uphold his legacy, but I had also grown to despise the very idea of public service, becoming incredibly negative. Even with the chance to return to the human world, I felt there was no way out. My life had been decades of aimlessness. I decided that serving as a jailer to help other beings might be more grounded and meaningful than simply being reincarnated into the human world again.

And so, I became a jailer, serving the beings in the hells. I witnessed so many people suffering from emotional entanglements—anxious, worried, and pained by their inability to let go of their families or various relationships. I could empathise with them completely. I also saw many who had taken their own lives because their careers had failed, and I could understand that despair as well.

I would counsel them, urging them to let go of themselves. I told them that this was merely the karma of past lives and that there was no need to be so attached. Emotions are merely the entanglement of karmic affinities from the past; they are not real, nor are they permanent. In the end, we all come alone and we all go alone. There is no one who can stay together forever; there is only the infinite cycle of the white-haired person sending off the black-haired person.

The Wisdom of Practitioner Su

Later, while in the hells, I heard Practitioner Su giving a Dharma talk. His explanation of the Words of Namo Amituofo was so profound that it left me completely shaken. I was amazed that someone could analyse the nature of emotion so thoroughly. He hit the nail on the head: one must let go of all these emotional entanglements. At first, I struggled to understand, as these emotions are so difficult to escape and seem beyond our control. But after listening to Practitioner Su, I finally realised that letting go of emotion is the only true way to help others.

The entanglement of emotion is a trap that binds us to one another. It is not just one person holding on; it is both sides consuming each other, gripping each other tightly, which is the most dangerous factor preventing us from escaping the cycle of rebirth. Therefore, letting go of emotional attachments is the best thing one can do for their family or loved ones. It is the only effective way to truly help them, and this is the essence of the Buddha’s teachings. Helping everyone to learn the Buddha’s teachings, to free themselves from the shackles of emotion and the entanglements of the world—this is the only way to leave suffering behind and gain happiness. If one has the opportunity to learn the Buddha’s teachings and receive the Buddhist education of Namo Amituofo, one has the chance to return to the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss.

The Path to the Western Pure Land

Once there, anyone can reunite in the Western Land without any issues. Even if one does not reunite, one can clearly see every single being in the worldly realm. Seeing one's own family is not difficult, but most beings in the worldly realm are trapped in the cycle of rebirth, suffering constantly. Even if you see them, you cannot help them. Without the Buddhist education of the Buddha’s teachings, beings continue to drift according to their karma, with no end in sight.

Several hundred years later, my name was finally placed on the list to go to the Western Land. For me, this day felt like an eternity of waiting, yet it also happened in an instant. It felt long because, in the human world, I had no goal, and every day feels like a year. But the moment I arrived in the Western Land, I realised that all that time and hardship was nothing more than the blink of an eye. Human life is short and, without the Dharma, it is meaningless.

In the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, everything is serene, beautiful, and bright. One can have whatever one wishes, and there are no emotional entanglements. If I wish to see my parents or family from past lives, I can see them at any time, though most are now reincarnated in the six realms of existence, no longer in the human world. How can we meet when we are in such different realms? My life was so short, ending before I was forty. But now, having arrived in the Western Land, I feel incredibly fortunate.

I truly hope that those who have karmic affinity with me will also learn the Buddha’s teachings. I am kneeling before the Buddha now, kowtowing in gratitude for his grace, and kowtowing to Namo Amituofo for saving my drifting, helpless spirit. I hope to practise diligently in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss and learn the ability to help others, just as Practitioner Su does. When the time comes, I will return to Earth to save those who have karmic affinity with me. I am so grateful to Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su.

On behalf of the sixty jailers, I kowtow in gratitude for the unforgettable kindness of Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su. We will all strive to learn the Buddha’s teachings, hoping that one day we can return to Earth to help all beings.

Namo Amituofo.

Muteng Yuan"