The Plague Demon's Return to the Buddha's Gate

This is a record of an interview with the spirit known as Shi Zhongsheng, a plague demon who sought deliverance at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. He now resides under the guidance of the Buddha, having turned his back on his former life of darkness. This account reflects upon his profound transformation during a Dharma assembly. Recorded by the chief writer, Shi Faxin, on March 23, 2020.

Shi Zhongsheng speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. I am Shi Zhongsheng. This is the very first time I have ever participated in an event of this nature since becoming part of the demon crowds. Ever since I arrived at this Buddha-land, the Buddha-light has not left me for a single moment. It is a constant, radiant warmth that has been steadily thawing the heart I once had—a heart that was so deeply wounded and filled with such bitter resentment toward this world.

I have been observing this place intently, and I have also been observing the human bodies I was once so familiar with. When I look at Practitioner Su, I see absolutely nothing—no darkness, no blemishes, not even a single black spot. This is a human being unlike any I have ever encountered in all my existence. In the past, my fellow demon children and grandchildren and I would specifically seek out the weaknesses in people. If a person had a corrupt heart, we would see the stains upon it and attack that heart directly. If someone harboured intense fires of anger, we would strike at their liver. To our eyes, the condition of a human body was clear at a glance. That is the only way I have ever seen humanity—as a collection of murky, polluted beings. This is how the vast majority of people in this world appear to us."

A Vision of Unfathomable Light

"But here, in this place of true light, Practitioner Su’s body is translucent and crystal clear. It radiates a brilliance that is identical to the Buddha-light itself—a light that stretches out into infinity, with no discernible boundaries. It is just like the magnificent, towering form of Namo Amituofo that I see before me, whose entire body emits rays of light that scatter into the furthest reaches of the universe. When I look up, I see the incredibly compassionate smile of Namo Amituofo, and it moves me to my core, softening my own ugly visage and my long-suffering heart. I take a deep breath, allowing myself to finally relax, and I try to cast my gaze even further than I ever dared before.

When the Dharma assembly first began, I stood off to the side. That was my habitual way of doing things; I always chose to observe my surroundings first. For thousands of years, I had grown accustomed to living in the shadows, to controlling people, to making their hearts flutter with anxiety and unease. In truth, my own heart has never known a moment of peace until now."

The Unstoppable Tide of Deliverance

"The site of the ceremony was incredibly crowded. As I watched, I saw an endless, boundless sea of spirits arriving from every direction. The moment the Buddha-name began to resonate, the speed at which these spirits moved toward Namo Amituofo was relentless. They did not stop. Their numbers surged from behind, wave after wave, growing more numerous by the second, as they shed their various forms and attachments. The Dharma protectors were everywhere, moving through every corner, bringing these spirits back to the light. The speed of this process was so fast that, had I not spent my own existence wandering through the vastness of the universe, I would never have been able to keep up or even see their faces clearly.

I looked all around me, and everywhere the Buddha-light touched, the scene was the same. I was moved to tears—moved because I finally understood the Buddha’s equality of heart in saving all beings, and because I saw that the Buddha grants every single being the chance to be reborn. For the longest time, I believed that birth, aging, sickness, and death were simply the natural order of things. I thought they were merely tools to be used to control humans by exploiting their most vulnerable states of mind. I believed that those who fell under the control of our Demon Realm were all bound by the laws of karma and cause and effect and their own Causal Conditions, and that we were all just birds of a feather flocking together in our misery."

Returning to the Buddha’s Gate

"I never imagined that there was a place in this universe that could truly liberate one from the cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death. Seeing it with my own eyes has left me in absolute awe. To see the Buddhas gathered together, shining with such incomparable brilliance, and to see the demon crowds I had known throughout the universe gathered here at this temple—it was a shock beyond words. It is only through the great compassion of the Buddha that beings like us, who have lived as demons, can be accepted, turn back, and eventually become Buddhas ourselves.

I am filled with gratitude. I am washing away the past, and I have now returned to the Buddha’s gate. I am Shi Zhongsheng. Namo Amituofo."