The Treasure of a Contented Heart: The Story of Gu Zhiyuan

This is a record of an interview with Gu Zhiyuan, who sought 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 life during the Ming Dynasty, where he served as a prison guard in the underworld before his liberation. Recorded by the chief writer, Venerable HaiZe, on November 3, 2019.

Gu Zhiyuan speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. I am Gu Zhiyuan. On behalf of the sixty prison guards, I wish to express our most sincere and heartfelt respect to Namo Amituofo, Practitioner Su, and all the virtuous practitioners at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre." (Gu Zhiyuan stands at the front, with the other guards behind him, as they perform three bows of reverence to the Buddha and all present.)

A Life of Poverty, A Heart of Gold

"I was a simple man during the Ming Dynasty. My family were farmers, and I was the only son, with one sister. We were poor—so poor that my parents could not afford to send me to school to learn to read or write. Yet, my sister and I were optimistic souls. She stayed home to help our mother with chores and gardening, while I followed my father into the fields. But those were years of relentless famine. The vegetable patches yielded almost nothing, and the rice stalks in the fields were pitifully sparse.

"My father would often tell us, 'Even if our home is poor, our hearts must never be poor.' We survived on the rations provided by the local officials. Whenever we saw the neighbor’s children—there were so many of them—crying from hunger because their own rations were insufficient, my sister and I would make a choice. Our own portion of rice porridge was barely a bowl to begin with, yet we would divide it in half to share with those children. Even though my sister and I were left with only two mouthfuls of thin broth, we would finish it and smile at each other. Our stomachs might have been growling, but our hearts were filled with such joy. From a very young age, I learned that helping others is the greatest source of happiness. My parents would do the same; they would take their own daily bowl of porridge and share the remainder with an elderly woman living down the street who was ill, knowing she needed the strength to recover."

The Treasure of a Contented Heart

"We lived like this for many years. Strangely enough, while other families in the village were often struck by illness, our family of four rarely fell sick. We were almost entirely healthy. 'It must be that Heaven has a kind heart and is looking after us, so we must also know how to look after others.' This became our family’s most precious heirloom. We did not possess the gold or silver jewelry of the wealthy, but we held the treasure of a happy and contented heart. In that sense, we were the wealthiest people of all.

"After my parents passed away one after the other, my sister and I relied on each other. She never married, and I never took a wife; instead, we adopted an abandoned infant and raised the child to adulthood. My sister dedicated her life to caring for the elderly in our village who had no one else to look after them, while I relied on my own labour to farm the land. Our income was meagre, but we lived our lives with peace of mind. When I reached the age of fifty-eight, I caught a chill and developed a slight cough. One night, I saw my parents coming to collect me, and I followed them. Because my parents had entered the ghost realm, they had been watching over us at home all along. The three of us lived together in that space for a time. Later, I was summoned by the King of the Fifth Hall of the underworld, and I took up the post of a prison guard. I eventually joined the group awaiting deliverance by Practitioner Su. After five long years, I have finally reached this day."

"I am deeply grateful to Namo Amituofo. I am deeply grateful to Practitioner Su."

"Respectfully, Gu Zhiyuan."

Note: Practitioner Su, out of compassion for the karmic suffering of the prison guard Gu Zhiyuan’s father, mother, and sister, has already guided the spirits of his father, Gu Chao, his mother, Gu-Lin Hao, and his sister, Gu Youniang, from the ghost realm to the Western Dharma-Nature Land to listen to the sutras and hear the Dharma.