The Karmic Price of the Slaughterhouse

This is a record of an interview with Guo Shenghao, who sought Chao Du 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 subsequent service in the underworld. Recorded by the chief writer, Shi Fa, on November 15, 2020.

Guo Shenghao speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. I am Guo Shenghao. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to Practitioner Su for his immense power and compassion in helping to deliver the sentient beings of the underworld, as well as for assisting me—a prison guard—in my quest for rebirth in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. If not for the compassionate heart and the Great Vow of Practitioner Su, it would have been truly impossible for us to escape our suffering. The grace of Practitioner Su is something I can never repay; I will certainly dedicate myself to actively performing deeds that benefit all sentient beings.

In my past life, I witnessed the life of a butcher in the marketplace. His job was to unload livestock—chickens, ducks, cows, and more. Every single day, he had to slaughter hundreds of chickens and ducks, and dozens of cows, pigs, and sheep. Sometimes, he would even kill dogs, rabbits, snakes, and eels. The market was always bustling, as he had to supply many different locations, especially several high-end restaurants. Every day, countless animals were brought to that market, only to be slaughtered and butchered by his hands. So many lives were extinguished by those very hands. For a long time, I did not think there was anything wrong with this, until one day, I saw the karmic retribution come knocking at his door.

A Life Defined by the Market

I grew up in that marketplace. I did not have much of an education, as I was born into an ordinary family that had been selling vegetables in the market for generations. Since I was a child, I loved wandering around the market, and sometimes I would do odd jobs here and there to earn a few coins. I knew how hard it was to earn money. Watching the hardworking figures in the market, I knew that one day, when I grew up, I would have to be like them—toiling for my daily meals and working diligently just to make a living.

My family owned a shop in the market, and I often went there to help. Business was inconsistent; sometimes, when business was slow, the unsold vegetables would wither, turn yellow, and rot. The losses often amounted to several days' worth of profit. Seeing these operational difficulties and the economic pressure, I wanted to change things. I often did odd jobs throughout the market, learning how others managed their businesses and picking up skills from various trades. Consequently, during my upbringing, I encountered all sorts of people, which allowed me to accumulate quite a bit of experience in management. When I finally took over the family shop, I began to implement changes. At first, I only made minor adjustments to our operations, but business gradually improved, and the shop began to turn a profit. After a period of time, our business was far better than it had ever been before. My family was very satisfied and felt at ease handing the business over to me completely.

The Butcher's Blade

I managed the shop in the market for many years, and business continued to thrive. Sometimes, after selling out of vegetables, I could close the shop early. One afternoon, after tidying up and closing the doors, I walked alone through the market. As I walked, I suddenly saw an old man squatting in a small shop, cleaning his knives. There were many knives of different sizes—some pointed, some long, some wide, some narrow. They were all different, but the one thing they had in common was that every single blade had been sharpened to an extreme edge. I watched as the old man skillfully cleaned each knife, and after cleaning, he would oil them. I even saw him sharpen the blades further. It took him only a very short time to complete these tasks. When the old man finished packing his tools, he looked up and finally noticed me. I smiled at him and turned to leave. That was the first time I had ever met him.

I had never seen this old man before, and I usually did not have much time to wander around the market. It was only when I closed the shop early that I had the luxury of doing so. After that encounter, a long time passed before I had another chance to visit that part of the market. Time flew by, and the Lunar New Year arrived. Every year, families would go to the market to buy supplies for the festival, and I took my family along as well. When we passed the old man's shop, I deliberately stopped. My family thought I wanted to buy meat, so they told me that the meat at this shop was top quality and had to be pre-ordered; there was no way we could buy any on such short notice. Just as my family was speaking to me, the old man seemed to hear our voices. He looked up, was startled to see me, and asked with a smile how much meat I needed. I was caught off guard, so my family replied for me: 'Half a jin.' The old man replied, 'Coming right up!' With his incredibly fast knife skills, he butchered over half a jin of meat for us in no time. He charged us very little, not much different from the price at any other stall. My family thanked him happily, and even when we got home, they were still saying, 'To think he gave us such high-quality meat at such a great price.' Hearing this, I only smiled.

The Chilling Reality of Karma

Six months had passed since that first meeting, and this was the first time I had seen the old man at work. His skilled knife work surprised me, and his expression while working seemed different from the last time I saw him—it was as if he were a completely different person. Even the smile he gave me when he looked up felt alien. How could there be such a difference? It left me completely baffled. The next day, I woke up early and wanted to go to the market again to see the old man. Because of the New Year festivities, the market was exceptionally lively. Every year, I would close my shop for a few days, partly to prepare for the New Year and partly to give other shops in the market a chance to earn some money. On this day, I left early and soon reached the old man's shop. Sure enough, he had already started working. Large chunks of meat were being sliced into thin pieces by his skillful hands, and an entire cow was quickly dismantled. Standing on the side, I witnessed the entire process. Usually, I could hardly imagine that the meat I ate had undergone such a slaughtering process. Seeing it today, I could not help but feel deeply distressed. How much pain must these animals have suffered? And all that suffering was merely to satisfy human cravings. Just as I was thinking this, the old man was already raising his hand to begin cutting the next animal. His movements were swift, clean, and efficient. While working, he did not look like an old man at all. I watched him for I don't know how long, when suddenly he turned and coughed a few times. The sound was somewhat like the cries of the animals. At the time, I did not think much of it, only feeling that seeing the slaughtering process had left me shaken. I wandered around the market for a little while longer and then decided to go home early.

Back home, at dinner that evening, several delicacies were laid out on the table, including meat dishes. Seeing the neatly cut slices of meat, I was instantly reminded of the butchering process I had seen in the market earlier that day. It completely killed my appetite. After a simple dinner, I went to my room to rest. That night, I dreamed of many animals crying and begging for their lives. They struggled in pain, yet they could not escape death. They were butchered into slices of meat. The look of agony on their faces made me wake up in a cold sweat. I could not calm my heart, which was still reeling from such a shocking scene. I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep for a long time until dawn. After a simple wash, I went out. Today was the last day my shop was closed for the holidays, and I went to the shop to tidy up, ready to open for business the next day.

The Inescapable Law of Cause and Effect

When my shop opened, many other shops in the market were just beginning their New Year holidays. There were only a few scattered customers. At this time, one had to pass by many shops before finding one that was open, and mine was one of them. Business was not bad, and every day I sold out of all my goods early and closed the shop. Several days passed, and the New Year festivities ended. The market returned to its usual routine, but the old man's shop remained closed. I thought perhaps he needed a rest.

For several days, the shop remained closed. It was not until six months later that I went to the market and passed by his shop, only to find it open. Looking inside, I saw the old man still skillfully processing meat, but what was different was that his physique seemed to have changed. His back was hunched, and his hands and feet seemed to have withered. I heard that he had fallen seriously ill over the past six months and had barely returned from the gates of hell. Although his knife skills were still excellent, the business had been severely affected by his six-month absence. In truth, the old man did not lack the money earned from this work; he only continued because his customers had begged him to. Another six months passed, and before the next New Year, I heard that the old man had died. It was said that when he died, his hands and feet had been severed. His death was gruesome. Later, when the authorities caught the culprit, it was revealed that it was his own child who had returned to demand money and ended up murdering his father. The entire market was discussing this. Many felt a deep sense of pity for the old man's life, but what I saw was the law of karmic retribution.

The old man had been a butcher his entire life, and in the end, he could not escape the backlash of that killing energy. Every time I had visited his shop, I could feel the thick smell of blood and the aura of killing. When he was working, his focus and the efficiency of his movements made him seem like a different person—as if he were possessed by the killing nature of his trade. The old man's fate made me feel that the laws of karma are truly terrifying. In particular, that killing energy had even affected his child, making him rebellious and unruly. In the end, he used the very knives the old man used daily to slaughter animals to kill his father and dismember his body, making the old man suffer the same agony that those animals had endured. In this world, the cycle of karma is real. It is not that there is no retribution; it is just that the time has not yet arrived.

A Path to Liberation

From that incident onward, I never ate meat again. I began to follow a vegetarian diet, keeping my palate pure and avoiding the karma of killing. Whenever I met people, I would offer a few words of advice, urging them to do good, to eat vegetarian, to avoid the karma of killing, and to believe in the laws of cause and effect. Many years later, I heard more news about the old man's family. I heard that after the old man's child was released from prison, he offended a gang of criminals and was eventually hacked to death by them, his body abandoned in the mountains. He was only discovered because his head rolled onto the roadside, terrifying a person who was up in the mountains picking wild vegetables in the morning. After reporting it to the authorities, it was discovered that the deceased was the old man's child. Such karmic retribution truly serves as a lesson to society. Killing and consuming these animals brings with it an aura of violence and prevents a person's heart from ever finding peace.

I left the human world at the age of seventy-six. I passed away very peacefully, leaving in my sleep. At the time of my departure, I was able to let go of everything; I had already handed the shop over to my children years earlier. In the twilight of my life, I lived a quiet existence. I spoke mostly of urging others to do good and to eat vegetarian; I no longer concerned myself with the affairs of the world. After I left the human world, I arrived at the underworld market. I knew I had died, but I did not know where I was supposed to go. Walking through this underworld market, which was not much different from the one in the human world, I could not help but sigh in my heart: what exactly is the cause and effect of human life and death? And how can one find liberation? I did not know how much retribution I would have to face for the experiences and actions of my life, because in the era I lived in, there was no Buddha-Dharma, no education on cause and effect. It was the old man's experience that reminded me to be a good person, otherwise, I would never have known the importance of karma.

I do not know how long after my death, but I was brought before the Yama Hall. I guessed that the judgment of my karma was about to begin. I knelt respectfully before King Yama, listening carefully to his verdict. I had not done many good deeds in my life, and in fact, I had created some karma while managing the shop. King Yama told me that he could offer me a way to atone for my past sins: to serve as a prison guard. I agreed immediately and became a prison guard in the Ninth Hall. King Yama said that because I had often urged people to eat vegetarian during my life, I had unknowingly formed good affinities with those animals, which is why he assigned me to the Ninth Hall to manage cases related to these animals.

I have served as a prison guard for many years, and I am very honoured to have recently heard the Dharma voice of Practitioner Su. This has allowed me to understand the Buddha-Dharma. In my past life, I did not have the opportunity to know the Buddha-Dharma. I am very grateful to Practitioner Su for his compassion in giving lectures every day, allowing the beings in the underworld to benefit as well. After hearing Practitioner Su's lectures, I also wished to vow to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. I am very grateful for everything Practitioner Su has done for all sentient beings. I will also learn from the vow of Practitioner Su and do my utmost to help all sentient beings.

Thank you, Practitioner Su, for your compassion. Gratitude to Namo Amituofo. On behalf of the sentient beings with karmic affinity who are being reborn today, I bow in gratitude for the Buddha's grace. Namo Amituofo."

Interview information recorded by the Buddhist disciple Shi Fa.