The Particle Planet and the Cycle of Souls

This is a record of an interview with Venerable Luokanfu, 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 in ancient India approximately 1,446 years ago, as well as his previous existence on a distant planet. Recorded by the chief writer, Venerable Haize, on June 5, 2018.

Venerable Haize: "May I ask one of the Venerables residing in the Western Pure Land, who protect Practitioner Su, to share with us the details of the Chao Du mission performed this morning in the galaxy alongside Practitioner Su? We are deeply grateful for the compassion of the Buddha and the compassion of the Venerables."

Venerable Luokanfu speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. I am Venerable Luokanfu, the 416th Venerable. I was born in India and attained rebirth in the Western Pure Land in 572 AD, which is approximately 1,446 years ago, during the Tang Dynasty in China. I was an orphan from birth; my parents passed away early, and I was raised by a childless couple who lived next door. My foster mother told me that on the morning I was born, they were awakened by the crying of a baby outside their door. When they opened the door, they found me wrapped in cloth. They picked me up and rushed to my mother's house, as she lived alone and was near her time of delivery. Upon entering, they found my mother lying in a pool of blood. It turned out that after giving birth to me at dawn, she had used her last ounce of strength to carry me to the neighbour's doorstep. She had bled profusely, and by the time the neighbours reached her, she was too weak to speak. She only had enough strength to beg them to raise me before she passed away.

A Life of Sensitivity and the Call of the Buddha

For reasons I cannot explain, I was a quiet child, often carrying a sense of melancholy. Even when I smiled, it was only a faint, gentle expression. As I grew, I became tall and refined. My life was simple, and my foster parents loved me dearly. Although I never received a formal education, I possessed an incredibly sharp intuition and quick reflexes. I would often sit alone, quietly listening to the sounds of the natural world, never feeling lonely. I could understand the steady or light-hearted whispers of the wind, the weeping, frustration, or anger of the rain, the patience, compassion, and tolerance of the earth, and the way flowers and trees seemed to accept their fate, dancing or rejoicing in the moment. I could hear the calls and soft murmurs of the insects.

One day, a sound I had never heard before drifted on the wind. I listened intently, and I could discern the words: 'Namo Amituofo.' What did this mean? I had never heard it before, yet my heart felt an immense sense of peace and stillness. This sound continued for a long time. I sat under a tree, listening quietly, and before I knew it, I began to chant along. Although I did not understand the meaning, I knew that these words were good and virtuous. I found myself chanting them even when I was not consciously thinking about it.

The Path to Practice

One day, a friend of my foster father, whom we called Uncle Ya, came to visit. When he saw me, his eyes lit up, and he began to chant that very same Buddha-name. I responded immediately, chanting along with him. We looked at each other and laughed—a deep, joyful laughter. Although we were strangers, there was a sense of familiarity and unspoken understanding between us, especially in the rhythm and tone of our chanting. Uncle Ya was a lay practitioner of the Pure Land school. He had once dreamt of a lay practitioner chanting the Buddha-name on the earth, who then ascended to the West on a lotus flower. That practitioner looked exactly like me. Because of this, Uncle Ya asked my foster parents if I could accompany him to practise the Dharma. My foster parents were reasonable people; though they were reluctant to let me go, they saw that I did not object and that I wore a rare, genuine smile, so they nodded in agreement. I was overjoyed. I followed Uncle Ya to visit a Master and began my practice with the community. Sometimes we would not speak a word all day, yet we understood each other perfectly. Every morning, after our daily practice of chanting, the Master would teach us, and often, a strange, wonderful fragrance would fill the air! The Buddha-name bound us together and guided us toward the West. My heart was filled with nothing but this Buddha-name, and I was often filled with an irrepressible joy. At the age of seventy, on a blue-sky afternoon with a gentle breeze, I heard celestial music and saw Namo Amituofo descending on a lotus pedestal to receive me. I followed Him and attained rebirth in the Western Pure Land.

Beyond the Limits of the Physical Body

When I descended to the human world this time, I thought it was merely a simple protection mission. I never expected that following Practitioner Su to perform Chao Du in the galaxy would lead to such unexpected gains and learning. The sentient beings connected to us truly pervade the entire Dharma-realm and empty space, including outer space, other planets, and extraterrestrial beings. Through the leadership and Chao Du of Practitioner Su, they were able to connect with Namo Amituofo and attain rebirth in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. I realised that Chao Du could be performed in this way, not just within the six realms of the human world.

The conditions in the galaxy are beyond what the physical eyes can see. Within infinite space, there are endless layers of space; this realm and others have no boundaries. Although the atmosphere creates pressure, buoyancy, and thin oxygen levels that make breathing difficult, these factors pose no obstacle to the Dharma Body! Chao Du is a practical action born of compassion for the suffering of beings. The Dharma Body can transcend these external environmental limitations and move with complete freedom. This is because the Dharma Body no longer has the physical 'feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness' of the body. It has no limitations of the 'self,' reaching a state of no-feeling, no-perception, no-self, and no-mind. Thus, it can integrate perfectly with any environment and any being, regardless of which realm they are in. We were in perfect harmony with the beings in that environment, without any obstruction. This is a form of positive spiritual energy; only then can one truly understand and empathise with the needs and thoughts of beings to save those with karmic affinity. One's ability to save beings is directly proportional to one's level of practice and positive energy. Beyond mind-capacity, one also needs the skills of practice.

The Particle Planet and a Past Life Revealed

As we surged through the sky, Practitioner Su waved her sleeves, flying past the twenty-eight heavens and the Four Sacred Realms, and continued further. The space first appeared as a dark, blue-black world, then a vast expanse of white mist appeared before us, and the void suddenly turned into a white haze. We broke through the white mist and entered a grey haze. Moving forward, we encountered a field of white light—the world of outer space, like entering an adventure. Further ahead, a field of yellow light appeared. There are heavens beyond heavens, and this is exactly what it is. Along the way, I saw many scenes, but there was no time to look back. I intuitively knew that this process was so similar to the human world: the yellow light of the heavenly realms is carefree; the white light of the human world is filled with joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness; the grey haze is the ghost realm; and the dark, blue-black world is the realm of animals and the lower hells where beings suffer.

As we passed by, under the illumination of the Buddha-light, I could see that the air was filled with many particles. Looking closely, I was shocked to see that each particle had a head, large eyes, a small mouth, and a tiny dot for a nose. They were blinking at me, which made me recoil in fear. Densely packed spirits filled the space. Among them, one pair of eyes looked so familiar that I felt the urge to look closer. I saw that each particle had a different appearance—some had hands and feet, some had bodies, and they all had different shapes. It turned out that these particles in space came from various planets; they were also undergoing karmic retribution, becoming particles in this 'Particle Planet' space. These particles were shrunken versions of their original forms—a great gathering of extraterrestrials from various planets. I stopped breathing, fearing I might inhale these living beings.

The Interconnectedness of All Beings

The pair of familiar eyes suddenly shed two lines of tears. I gasped and looked again. The particle in the air suddenly magnified. It was my intention to look closely that caused it to be magnified. Magnification and reduction in the West are governed by the mind, and it is the same here. I saw that this particle was a female being, her body entirely transparent, surrounded by a thin circle. Beside her, she was holding a small transparent person. Looking further ahead, a scene appeared: when this female being was young, there was a male being beside her, taller and more handsome. My heart skipped a beat—this male being was me! Although his appearance was different from my current one, when one's spiritual nature is developed to a certain degree, one can recognise oneself regardless of changes in appearance. The female being and I were holding hands. Looking closer, we were not actually touching; there seemed to be a layer of buoyancy between our bodies and hands, yet this was already an intimate physical gesture. Most importantly, our hearts were in perfect harmony. The next scene showed a small floating ball appearing between us, containing a small life. In this world, the next generation is not born from the female's body but is nurtured by both parents. The energy for the small life inside the floating ball comes from both parties, with the male providing more energy, while the female is responsible for protecting the safety of the small life within the ball. When the small life grows and takes shape, the floating ball gradually thins and disappears, and the small life officially arrives in this world. The time it takes for the small life to grow varies, depending on whether the male provides enough energy. The more sufficient and bright the energy, the faster the small life grows; the weaker or darker the energy, the slower it grows. Therefore, if the energy of this planet is exhausted, there will not be enough energy to produce the next generation, eventually leading the planet toward darkness and a lifeless state. The next scene showed the male being gradually disappearing, leaving only the female and the small transparent person. Because the male's energy was exhausted shortly after the birth of the small transparent person, he gradually vanished, leaving the female and the small transparent person as two particles of different sizes existing in this space.

I was astonished, wondering how long ago this had happened. Then, the information naturally surfaced: three lifetimes. If that is the case, my current life of chanting the Buddha-name to go to the West is one lifetime; the previous one was being born as an orphan in India; and the one before that was as this male being on an extraterrestrial planet—and that was over a thousand years ago! Why did my spirit fall from such a great distance into the human world and enter a mother's womb? Because the energy shield of that planet had ruptured, and the karmic conditions between me and my mother's past life in the human world had matured, creating a powerful attraction that pulled me from the extraterrestrial planet into the human womb. Wow! This was truly a shocking revelation. There is a relationship of karmic conditions and causes and effects between all things in the universe! In other words, the relationship of karmic conditions is not limited to the six realms of rebirth in the worldly realm; this attraction creates the life and encounters of the next existence! No wonder when I was an Indian in my previous life, my sensitivity was different from other children, and I could understand the sounds of nature—the wind, the rain, and the earth. At the time, I was even considered an oddity with special abilities. It turns out this was the ability brought over from my life as an extraterrestrial. And the inexplicable melancholy I felt since childhood was because of my longing for the female being and the small transparent person on that planet. This is truly a unique story! Crossing time and space, it actually happened to me. There are so many connections involved—from being an extraterrestrial on the Particle Planet, to the female being, to the small transparent person, to my energy being exhausted, being drawn into a human womb in India, chanting the Buddha-name to attain rebirth in the Western Pure Land, entering the body of Practitioner Su to protect her, and following her into the galaxy to perform Chao Du, where I encountered the particle female being in the air and saw my past lives unfold. This series of events and connections is a subtle relationship of karmic conditions. These karmic conditions and their fruits are all linked together, resulting in all my current encounters.

I felt as if I had entered a time tunnel, and time seemed to have suddenly stopped before my eyes! After I regained my composure, those weeping eyes were still before me. At this moment, I hoped that these particle beings in the air would be saved and would no longer drift aimlessly. Our presence had already brought light and brightness to this space, and the Buddha-name had been following us constantly. I suddenly thought to call out to everyone with my mind, telling them to follow the Buddha-name and chant 'Namo Amituofo' to be saved! I kept repeating this message. This is a world of silence; even if one shouts, there is no sound, so messages are transmitted through the mind. I heard their hearts chanting the Buddha-name. Then, Practitioner Su waved her sleeves, and I saw the particle with the weeping eyes, along with countless tiny particles around her, being swept into Practitioner Su's sleeves. They were then brought into the even brighter, softer golden light that appeared before us—the infinite, compassionate Buddha-light of Namo Amituofo. They were taken away by the Buddha and entered the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss! Because I learned of this past life of mine in such a short time, an infinite sense of gratitude arose in my heart! The Buddha-light, the Buddha-vow, and the Buddha's grace benefit not only the ten directions of the human world but also pervade the entire Dharma-realm and empty space, reaching countless beings in boundless and infinite spaces!

I am grateful for the compassion of the Buddha. I am grateful for Practitioner Su's boundless deliverance of beings. I am grateful to everyone! Namo Amituofo!"

The interview content was written down by Venerable Haize.