The Missionary Who Found His Home in the Dharma

This is a record of an interview with Jason, a Western missionary who spent over three centuries in China before seeking deliverance at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. He now resides in the Western Dharma-Nature Land. This account reflects upon his long journey through the spiritual realms of China and his eventual encounter with the Buddha's light. Recorded by the chief writer, Fa Ning, on December 14, 2025.

Jason speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. I am Jason, a Western missionary who, from my youth until my final days, became deeply enamoured with traditional Chinese culture. People often ask me why I chose to root myself so firmly in the soil of China. It is because I developed a profound love for the people of this land and the noble deeds they performed. I often felt that while my exterior was that of a Westerner, my very bones were those of a Chinese person. I crossed the vast oceans as a missionary when I was only a teenager, and by the time I passed away in this land, I was over eighty years old. I never once returned to my homeland. You can see just how deep and enduring my love for this land and its people truly was.

A Western Soul with a Chinese Heart

I never married in my life. In the end, I did not truly fulfil the duties of a traditional missionary; instead, I allowed myself to be completely dissolved into the vast and profound depths of traditional Chinese culture. Initially, I approached the people under the guise of a preacher, but I was eventually entirely assimilated. After my death, I even became a guardian spirit for a local ancestral hall. It sounds quite unbelievable, does it not? I began entering the great Chinese regions during the transition from the Ming to the Qing dynasty. For over three hundred years, I existed within the vast mountains and rivers of China, sometimes as a human, sometimes as a spirit. I transformed from a staunch preacher of Jesus into someone who bowed in reverence to all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, deities, and spirits I encountered. I even became a fervent advocate for the Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist cultures. This transformation was perhaps destined; it was merely the different Causal Conditions and opportunities that created such a unique turning point in the life of Jason.

I once travelled far to the Tibetan regions, seeking the profound meanings of Tibetan Buddhism and the essence of the Vajrayana from the lamas. Yet, in the end, I returned to the path I had determined to be the most correct: the essence of Chinese culture, founded upon traditional Confucian thought. I am deeply convinced that only such profound and rich moral education can truly untie the knots in people's hearts and lead society toward prosperity and peace. Consequently, I diligently studied various sutras and classics, learning the Chinese language and memorising countless texts. People often enjoyed asking me about Western culture, as it was something they were unfamiliar with and curious about. I would explain these things to them one by one, yet I could deeply feel that I had no interest in those past events or my original cultural background. Truly, I was just a Chinese person wearing Western clothes.

From Missionary to Guardian Spirit

I dedicated my life to teaching, academic exploration, and cultural exchange. I was even summoned to the palace by the Kangxi Emperor, where I shared my life experiences and engaged in cultural dialogue with the Emperor and his ministers. Although this was not something I was particularly interested in—after all, the Emperor was high above and far away, and I could not truly open myself up or touch upon the deeper, more authentic levels of my being—it does serve to show that I was quite well-known at the time. Later, I chose to spend my twilight years in the south, moving from the earthly paradise of Hangzhou to Guangzhou, where I lived out the rest of my life. The cultural customs of the south were vastly different from those of the north; the worship and reverence for the realm of ghosts and gods were much more pronounced, and Zen Buddhism was the primary sect for those seeking the path of practice.

Why did I, Jason, become a guardian spirit of an ancestral hall after my death? It was my attachment to Confucian culture, my obsession with the Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist traditions in my old age, and the fact that I was still studying the 'Anshi Quanshu' at the very moment of my death. Such attachment caused me to suddenly enter the space of the ancestral hall where I had been residing. In that space, I continued to watch the people coming and going, offering sacrifices to their ancestors and to the faiths they revered. I watched them silently and felt a sense of profound joy. I continued to do the same things over and over, reading the 'Anshi Quanshu' as if nothing had changed. The only difference was that I no longer felt fatigue, nor was I tormented by the suffering of illness. I only needed to continue doing what I was doing.

The Tragedy at Wang Fuk Court

Life as a spirit is incredibly long. I remained in that ancestral hall for at least a century, witnessing China transition from the peak of the Qing dynasty to its decline, and finally to its collapse under the pressure of internal strife and external aggression. As a Westerner with a Chinese soul, I felt indignant at the invasion and various atrocities committed by my motherland against China, but I was helpless. Since I no longer had a human body, I could only silently transmit the belief in peace, hoping that all nations and cultures could coexist harmoniously and not sacrifice national peace and stability for economic gain. I still remember when the Opium War broke out; I saw the devastation that opium brought upon the civilians and felt deeply heartbroken. I silently worked to counsel people to change their mental notes, sending out thoughts of staying away from opium, hoping to help people avoid addiction and the ruin of their bright futures.

By this time, I could no longer be satisfied with merely guarding an ancestral hall. I began to travel throughout southern China, actively promoting the beliefs of goodness and moral values found in the Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist classics I had studied. I hoped that my very humble strength could contribute a little to the revival of China. Looking back on that century of wandering as a spirit, it was truly a very meaningful time. If you ask me whether I, Jason, believe in the Buddha, I know that I believe in Namo Amituofo and the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. It is just that because I was more interested in the study of the teachings, my understanding of the Buddha’s teachings remained at the level of intellectual knowledge, rather than deeply applying the essence of the Dharma in my daily life. Even after death, this remained true; for me, the Buddha’s teachings were a high-level discipline, a body of knowledge that complemented Confucian and Taoist wisdom to form the Universal Principles.

Later, I came to Hong Kong, which was a city many yearned for at the time. Hong Kong was then under British rule, with a developed economy that differed from the mainland, and it became a place where many dreamed of making a living. I drifted to Hong Kong with a heart full of curiosity and exploration, and I stayed there for at least fifty years. The people of Hong Kong no longer had much attachment to traditional culture, and their moral values were becoming increasingly weak. What the people yearned for and pursued were often modern lifestyles and the satisfaction of desires. I looked at this and felt that this was exactly where I could be of use! I had many ways to help people, but primarily, it was through the method commonly used in our spiritual realms: the broadcasting of positive thought waves to spread seeds of kindness. I carried a simple heart of wanting to save others and continued to wander through the spiritual realms of Hong Kong for all those years.

The Light of Deliverance

It was not until a massive fire occurred that the spiritual life of Jason took a different direction. The causes of this fire were complex, and the spiritual realms were certainly involved, but in truth, these things are always part of the inescapable law of cause and effect. The massive fire at Wang Fuk Court in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong caused the death of many lives and the shattering of many families; this event caused great suffering for the people of Hong Kong. I had heard whispers that this fire was no simple matter. It was said that after the fire, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas arrived, bringing a great light to that place and taking many spirits away! Half-believing and half-doubting, I arrived at the scene of the fire at Wang Fuk Court and wandered there for a time, wanting to witness what kind of light this was.

Not long after, the light shone once again upon the buildings and the surrounding land. I flew toward it rapidly, wanting to become a part of that light. In an instant, I vanished and arrived in another world. At first glance, this was a world of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas! So, it was all true! I, who had been half-believing and half-doubting, now understood completely. It was the Buddha, it was Namo Amituofo, and it was Practitioner Su from the human realm doing the work of saving the world! Although this world is not yet the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss—it is the Western Dharma-Nature Land at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia, a world for settling spirits—it is connected to the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, so I feel a deep sense of intimacy, as these are the worlds I only ever saw in the sutras. I am so grateful that I had such good fortune to leave the human world and enter the world of the Buddha. Although I am still far from the Buddha, being able to draw near to the Buddha and learn from the Buddha means that I, Jason, did not spend those hundreds of years in the human and spiritual realms of China in vain.

I hope that the Chinese people and all the people of the world can believe that the Buddha has truly come to this world. More precisely, the Buddha has come to the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Goombungee, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. As I, Jason, look out over this land from the Western Dharma-Nature Land, I am so envious of the people here who can practice in such a wonderful environment! I hope more people can come to recognise the Buddha and draw near to the Buddha; your lives will be transformed in profound ways! I am grateful to Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su for their compassion! Disciple Jason bows in deep gratitude to the Buddha!

Namo Amituofo.

Jason"