The Redemption of a Demon-Hearted Executioner

This is an interview with Shi Ganyuan, a former prison guard who sought Spiritual Deliverance at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. He now resides in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. This account details his life of cruelty, his six centuries of penance in the hells, and his eventual transformation through the compassion of Practitioner Su. This interview was recorded on November 4, 2023.

Shi Ganyuan speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. Returning to the Western Pure Land at this very moment, my heart is finally at peace.

Today is the day that we, these sixty prison guards, are reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. We have been looking forward to this for so long. Now that I am truly standing upon the golden ground of the West, my heart is overflowing with emotion. We keep kneeling, we keep bowing, expressing our deepest gratitude to Namo Amituofo and to Practitioner Su.

A Life of Cruelty and Demonic Possession

I was once like an 'arrow'—a weapon that pierced countless bodies and stole countless lives. My sins were so heavy, yet I felt helpless, unable to master my own actions. This was my cycle of rebirth, my fate.

Once, I was a vicious person. To gain the benefits I desired, I frequently harmed others with extreme cruelty. From childhood, the concept I was instilled with was simple: whatever I wanted, no one was allowed to block me. I possessed a terrifying, overbearing aura; those around me were often wounded by my presence, and those who dared to stand in my way never survived.

I became an underground warlord, committing every imaginable evil. I left the people of many villages and towns living in constant anxiety and fear. Especially during that chaotic era, the government could barely reach our remote region—or rather, they were in such disarray themselves that they had no energy to manage us common folk. We ran wild, committing evil and creating chaos without the slightest fear or remorse. Seeing life extinguished before my eyes—a head, an arm, or a leg severed and held in my hand—I would wear a look of pure, sadistic pleasure. I can say that at that time, I had truly gone mad.

The Roots of a Cold Heart

Many people cursed me, wishing for my miserable death. I would always laugh wildly and say to them, 'Let’s see who dies a miserable death first!' My heart was truly ruthless; I did not value human life at all. These people became like puppets in my hands, their lives and deaths entirely under my control.

I truly could not distinguish right from wrong; no one had ever taught me that what I was doing was wrong. I became an orphan at the age of four. Even before that, I was a child pushed from place to place, discarded by everyone. Finally, my father abandoned me in a remote and strange town, leaving me to fend for myself.

My heart changed the moment my parents rejected me. I became cold-blooded and heartless, because that is how they treated me. I lived in a life filled with hatred, resentment, and insecurity, which eventually shaped my character into one that despised everyone.

The Spirit of the Poison Arrow

Some described me as a demon, and I admit that I truly was like one. Looking back now, I realise that I was once a great demon king. My Causal Conditions with the Demon Realm were very deep. After being reborn as a human, that demonic power continued to exert its influence deep within my heart, causing my actions to lose all humanity and become filled with demon nature.

I had no concept of repenting. Even before I died, I still did not know where I had gone wrong. Even though my death was miserable—pierced by ten thousand arrows—I still did not understand my faults.

I had created enmity with so many people in the past. After I died, before I could even enter the hells to repay my debts, my spirit was swiftly dragged away and pulled into the space of a 'poison arrow.'

It was a toxic arrow; any body struck by it could never survive. Even if it only struck a foot, the toxicity would rapidly flow through the blood to the entire body and the heart, leading to death. The resentful spirits who brought me into this space were waiting to watch the show. They hated me to the bone and used this method to force me to continue creating karma. One poison arrow kills one life, and I would quickly become the next arrow. Everyone who wielded me was as ruthless as I had been, which is why they could commit such acts of violence.

The tragic part is that when I first entered the space of the poison arrow, I still did not know I was wrong. So, when I pierced a heart, I felt a sense of perverse satisfaction. This feeling of pleasure, without a shred of repenting, makes one guilty even if one were innocent.

The Turning Point of Pure Kindness

I created karma in the space of the poison arrow for over one hundred and sixty years. I was involved in many wars, used as a poison arrow to pierce enemy soldiers. I killed countless people; the karma I created during those years was truly too heavy.

The very last life I pierced was the one that saved me from this cycle. When I pierced the heart of a young boy, the purity and kindness within his heart completely transformed my toxic heart.

The target of that arrow was not the boy, but a man beside him. Before the man even noticed the arrow, the boy had already seen it. As the arrow was about to be fired, the boy rushed toward the man, shielding him, and the arrow pierced the boy's body, killing him instantly.

I was shocked that I had killed this boy, but from his pure and kind heart, I could not feel a single trace of resentment. Instead, there was only his simple desire to save another. I was truly moved by his heart. It was so clean, so kind—willing to sacrifice his own life for a stranger. In that moment, I finally saw my own ignorance and realised how vicious my heart had been.

I reviewed all the wrongs I had committed. I felt deep remorse, truly and thoroughly repenting, and I vowed to use my many lives to repay my sins and the countless lives I had harmed.

Six Centuries of Penance

My spirit entered the hells to receive retribution. For six hundred years, I could not escape. I did not beg the King of Hell to let me go, because I knew clearly that this was what I had to repay and endure. Even when arrows pierced my body, my eyes, my brow, and my heart during my punishment, I did not cry out in protest. Instead, I wept and suffered. Because with every arrow that passed through my body, the intense pain allowed me to understand how I had harmed others in the past. It was not just when I was a poison arrow that I harmed people; before that, I had used the same methods to torture others and destroy their lives.

I was a person of grave sins, unworthy of salvation. So, while other criminals in hell were constantly begging for mercy, I made no such sounds, only constant repenting.

I spent those six hundred years in this way. I was originally destined to suffer for much longer, but because of my sincere repenting and my true desire to change, I was given the chance to have my sins re-evaluated by the King of Hell.

The sins I created did not disappear because of my repenting; they still existed, but I was repaying them one by one. Seeing my sincerity, the King of Hell temporarily set aside my charges and assigned me the role of a prison guard in hell, giving me the chance to serve. I felt immense gratitude; no matter what I was asked to do, I did it with all my might.

Awakening to the Dharma

During my time serving in hell, I saw all kinds of criminals, each having committed different crimes. When I saw many of them truly repenting, I felt deep lament. I lamented that although one obtains the precious human body, the Causal Conditions one encounters, the family one is born into, and the environment and education one grows up in, are not things one can decide. Of course, this involves the karma created over many lives; there are past causes, and only then do we receive the fruits after rebirth. But looking back at a lifetime, one truly cannot be the master; one is completely covered by karmic force, not knowing how to resolve it.

Human life is truly bitter, and every spirit is even more bitter, cycling endlessly since time immemorial, with no end in sight. Looking at these criminals in hell, I could empathise with their experiences. In the past, I created so much karma, driven by powerful demonic forces. Sometimes I did not intend to do those things, but I could not fully control my body, and in the end, I let it create sin.

Now, I see the laws of karma and cause and effect clearly, and I know that samsara is truly bitter. Later, in hell, I accidentally heard the sound of Practitioner Su giving Dharma talks, the Dharma sound flows throughout the hells. Being able to hear this great Dharma, I cherished and felt grateful for it beyond measure, listening daily with tears streaming down my face. I shared the Buddha’s teachings with the beings in hell, helping them to wake up through listening to the sutras, to truly repent, chant Namo Amituofo, and seek the opportunity for liberation.

I am grateful to Practitioner Su, and I wish to emulate her great vow to help all beings. No matter what my capacity is, I will do my utmost.

Later, I was unexpectedly placed on the list to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. My heart is filled with infinite gratitude.

Gratitude to the compassion of Namo Amituofo.

Gratitude to the compassion of Practitioner Su.

Namo Amituofo.

Shi Ganyuan"