The Transformation of Mo Sha: From Plague Demon to Dharma Practitioner

This interview was recorded on July 12, 2021, at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre. It features the spirit of Mo Sha, formerly a high-ranking demon within the Demon Realm who was responsible for the spread of viral pathogens during the global pandemic. After a dramatic confrontation with Practitioner Su, Mo Sha was subdued and brought to the Western Land of Dharma Nature, where he now resides and practices the Dharma under the guidance of the Buddha. Through this testimony, he recounts his journey from a life of malevolence to his current path of repentance and spiritual awakening.

Mo Sha (Shi Yuanxin) speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. I am Mo Sha. That was the name you knew me by during the pandemic. I have now resided in the Western Land of Dharma Nature for three months. How time flies! Just three months ago, I was still deeply entrenched in the global pandemic, holding a significant position within the Demon Realm. I led my demon children and grandchildren, carrying viral pathogens, charging into human respiratory tracts to spread the virus before rapidly retreating to cause further havoc.

The Failed Ambush

At that time, because the salvation team led by Practitioner Su was chanting Namo Amituofo while circling the globe, the positive energy released by the Buddha-name neutralised much of the demonic power fueling the pandemic. I led a group of my followers to investigate. We had never been to the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre before, but from a distance, we saw a brilliant light emanating from the ground. We knew immediately that this was our primary target. Within that radiance, we saw a concentrated focal point of light—it was the target of all targets: Practitioner Su. We wanted to see what this was all about, so we charged straight toward Practitioner Su’s chest. Charging forward is our specialty. As we accelerate, the air vibrates, and we use that momentum to strike our target. In the Demon Realm, we are known as the 'Acceleration Team.' We often use this technique across the vast earth, kicking up dust and sand, which is how I earned the name Mo Sha—'Demon Sand.'

We used this signature move to charge directly at the temple and Practitioner Su. To our shock, just before we reached his chest, we were repelled by an invisible force. It sent me and my followers spinning in total disarray. When I finally shook my head and regained my senses, I realised that Practitioner Su was protected by a shield of light. It was a protective barrier within his Buddha-light. We could not enter; instead, we were bounced back. Practitioner Su, being highly sensitive, immediately sensed the intrusion and asked, 'Who is trying to enter my chest?' We were still on the scene, trying to process what had just happened, when we were suddenly confronted with this question. If I had shrunk back, it wouldn't have been the style of Mo Sha. I have always been bold, so I spoke plainly: 'We came here to ask Practitioner Su and the salvation team to stop chanting, as it is weakening the power of the pandemic.' To my surprise, Practitioner Su replied, 'Are you not afraid of being crushed under the ice mountains or the great mountains?' He then manifested a vision of demonic beings trapped and deformed under these mountains. I was terrified by the sudden sight.

A Sudden Transformation

Before I could recover, Practitioner Su shouted, 'Shave your head! Change your clothes!' Before I could even react, I saw my long, multi-coloured hair—which I had painstakingly dyed red, yellow, blue, black, and purple, and then white, red, green, yellow, and orange—vanish. It was my pride and joy, yet in an instant, it became a shaved head. My cool, custom-tailored outfit was stripped away and replaced with monastic robes. What was happening? Before I could grasp the situation, my followers were also transformed, their heads shaved and dressed in robes. Then, a powerful force of attraction pulled us all here—to the legendary Western Land of Dharma Nature.

In the Demon Realm, everyone knows that once you enter the Western Land of Dharma Nature at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, there is no going back; you are severed from the Demon Realm. I was initially filled with resentment, but this place is so bright, and the lotus seat I was placed upon held me fast. I could not move, so I had no choice but to accept my fate. I never expected to stay for three months. This period has truly been the turning point of my demonic existence. Here, I have been compelled to listen to Practitioner Su’s Dharma talks. From initially refusing to listen, to begrudgingly hearing a few words, listening to the Dharma has now become my primary activity. With three classes a day, or the Thrice Yearning Ceremonies, this has been an incredibly effective short-term training course. It has helped me understand what the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre is doing and how Practitioner Su subdues so many demonic beings.

The Resilience of the Buddha-Body

The pandemic demons recently managed to invade Practitioner Su’s body. Although he showed some symptoms, he is now gradually recovering. I was breakin' a sweat for him! I never imagined these demonic beings would be more capable than I was, managing to enter his body through the air. However, a Buddha-body is fundamentally different from a demonic body. Within the Buddha-body, the demonic power dissipates. Thus, Practitioner Su only manifested minor symptoms and safely passed the test of this pandemic.

The Demon Realm has not encountered such a figure in a very long time. To call Practitioner Su a legendary figure in both the Buddha and Demon Realms is no exaggeration. Namo Amituofo has now bestowed upon me the Dharma name 'Shi Yuanxin.' From my initial reluctance, I am now happy to tell everyone my Dharma name. This change surprises even me. Although I am still on the lotus seat, my state of mind has completely shifted. Watching the changes in the fourfold assembly at the temple and listening to Practitioner Su’s teachings every day has transformed our previous obsession with the pandemic into a high interest in the Buddha’s teachings. We have shifted from being annoyed by the salvation team’s chanting to being eager to become members of that team. My followers have undergone the same transformation. Just this group of Mo Sha and his followers accounts for tens of thousands of beings. When you consider how many batches of demons Practitioner Su subdues every day, the total number is staggering, and it has significantly weakened the power of the pandemic.

A Hidden Salvation

The positive energy of the Buddha-name released by the chanting team is constantly neutralising the toxic power released by the pandemic demons. However, as far as I know, every time some demonic power is neutralised, another wave of demons comes to replace them. Thus, Practitioner Su’s work at the temple acts as a counterbalance to the pandemic’s progression; otherwise, the virus would have spread much faster. This is the silent work Practitioner Su is doing—an effective method to prevent the rapid advancement of the pandemic. It is a pity that the human world is unaware of this, but that does not diminish Practitioner Su’s heart or his pace in saving the world from this pandemic.

Practitioner Su is currently waiting for a national leader or an influential person to come to the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre and invite Namo Amituofo to step forward to resolve this pandemic. The first country to do so will be the one to receive the blessings.

A Past of Suffering

During these days, I have had ample time to reflect on my past, present, and future. There was an invisible force that pulled my suffering spirit into the Demon Realm, and now, without any preparation, I have entered the Buddha Realm. It feels like a dream, and the shifts in the dreamscape have been so rapid. None of this was under my control. Reflecting on this, I cannot help but return to who I was two thousand years ago, before I entered the Demon Realm.

I was once a simple child, born into a large family of over a hundred people—grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, servants, and labourers. It was a lively, cohesive family. My childhood was happy and fun; playing was my most important task. When I started school, it was even more chaotic with twenty or thirty children in the house. We would sometimes drive our tutor to distraction with our mischief. Recalling these childhood memories now, I smile even in my dreams.

But the good times did not last. When I was fifteen, the river that our village relied on for survival was poisoned. The villagers who drank the water developed skin ulcers, especially on their faces, which festered and oozed. It was horrific; people could barely recognise one another, and there was no cure. Our once-happy village lost its laughter, replaced by sorrow. Later, we heard that the elderly and children, whose brains and chests were affected by the poison, became demented, went blind, and died within a short time. It was a bolt from the blue. Our large family, from my grandparents down to the newborns, fell ill and died one by one. I watched my parents mournfully handle the funerals. We were furious and helpless that we could not find the culprit who poisoned our water source.

I survived that poisoning, but my face was left scarred, and my body was deformed. My limbs twisted, and I could no longer walk properly. Eventually, I had to crawl on my knees, but my knees couldn't support me for long, so I had to use my hands to prop myself up. I couldn't go far before I had to stop because my hands were also deformed and painful. Many in the village were like me. I heard the parents crying, saying, 'It would have been better not to have given birth to such children.' From then on, young parents in the village were afraid to have children. Those who were born were all deformed and rarely lived past two or three years old. In those few years, nearly half the village died. The survivors were mostly the older generation, who hoped at least someone would live on. Because the river could no longer provide water, we had to fetch it from the next village. Water became so scarce that we drank and ate less, and reduced cooking time, which eventually led to health problems even among the older generation.

Five years after I fell ill, on a night when I had a cold and a cough, my chest and throat tightened, and I died from lack of breath. Life is so fragile; one breath stops, and you are gone. My spirit was very weak, still appearing in the same deformed state I had in life. After I died, my spirit remained in the air above the village as a wandering ghost. I discovered that all those who died this way remained in the air above the village. The villagers could not see us; we were a group of sorrowful, unhappy spirits carrying the aura of our illness.

One day, a dark force told us they could help us be reborn and restore our bodies, but we had to go with them. In our desperation, we followed them into a dark world, and our bodies were indeed restored to their former state. In that dark environment, we once tried to find our way back to the village, but we were sealed in a space and subjected to demonic education, taught how to become demons and given demonic powers. With these powers, we could do whatever we wanted. It was a completely different life, as if we had gained freedom and liberation. I was willing to stay, and the more I used my powers, the smoother things became, compensating for those years of helplessness. From then on, I rose from a teenage demon-grandchild to a demon-child, and eventually, through my own strength, became a Demon King ruling a territory. I used my drive to stir up dust and sand, attacking targets with my followers. Mo Sha became my name in the Demon Realm. I forgot my secular name and refused to recall those past events.

In this current pandemic, we naturally became participants. Using demonic power to carry pathogens into the human body is an easy task for us. It requires almost no effort, and certainly no 'drive,' because human thoughts are always tainted with demonic nature. As long as their thoughts align with demonic nature, we can enter their bodies. If we did this to everyone, almost no one would escape this pandemic, except for true practitioners whose thoughts are only of Goodness and contain no evil, leaving no gaps for us to enter. Therefore, most of those who fall ill are those who have been 'marked.' When their thoughts carry demonic nature, they become our targets. This is why this pandemic has caused such massive casualties.

Reflections on the Dharma Assembly

Now, I am here in the Western Land of Dharma Nature at the temple, participating in the Thrice Yearning Ceremonies every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If not for the causal conditions that brought me to the temple and my current stay in the Dharma-Nature Land, we would never have been able to witness Namo Amituofo, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, the ancestral masters, the holy realm of the Western Pure Land, and the grand scale of the deliverance ceremonies. With countless participants and countless beings being saved, one must believe that Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su have the ability to resolve this pandemic.

In the Demon Realm, there is a belief that the Buddha’s teachings possess a powerful force that is not easily manifested, but once it is, it can subdue demonic beings and cause them to cease the harm they inflict upon humanity. In my two thousand years of demonic life, I had heard of this, but I had never seen it. Now, I believe this power exists right before my eyes. We have seen countless external demonic beings from the cosmos come to the temple to seek refuge. I used to only hear about it; now I see it with my own eyes. I also see the golden light shining at the site of the ceremony; such golden light is sufficient to neutralise the dark energy brought by the pandemic.

So many beings, including those who died from the pandemic on Earth, come to the ceremony seeking deliverance. This is a good thing, as it dissipates the resentment of the spirits who died from the pandemic, which permeates the air on Earth. This resentment is a form of assistance to demonic beings, helping the pandemic spread. Now, this demonic assistance is being resolved through the deliverance ceremonies at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre. Looking at the effectiveness of the temple’s ceremonies from the perspective of the Demon Realm, this is not a result that can be bought with money; it is only possible through the compassion of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for the suffering of all beings.

I am here, experiencing this firsthand, and have been transformed by Practitioner Su’s teachings, which is why I speak these truthful words. I believe that one day I will participate in the salvation team’s global chanting, which is my repentance for the demonic deeds I have done in the past and for the lives I harmed during the pandemic. I believe that only by having Namo Amituofo step forward and reveal himself will there be an opportunity to resolve this pandemic.

Namo Amituofo."