Tony Cole AO (Senior Australian Public Servant and Economic Policy Expert)

Tony Cole AO is a senior Australian public servant and economic policy expert. He served as Secretary of the Australian Treasury (equivalent to a Minister of State), a senior official at the World Bank, and Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Tony Cole: Hello everyone, I am Tony Cole. This name should not be too unfamiliar to you, right? Although I have been away from public office for some time, I assume there are still people who know me.

My life seems to have been spent with money; having handled the various finances of Australia, I can say I am proud of my achievements in finance. However, I never thought that while I was so good at calculating and mastering these economic policies, I had no way to master my life after death. I really had not thought carefully about what happens after death. I always felt that as long as I worked hard and strove in this life to repay God, I would be able to return to Heaven when my life ended, and that would be completing the task of this life. But I never thought that this was just my own wishful thinking.

In the later stages of my life, I gradually aged and became ill; diseases of the head and eyes caused me some suffering in my twilight years. Although I could barely endure it, this was not part of my life plan. In truth, I understood that when people age, they cannot avoid sickness, disease, and death. But I really did not dare to imagine the arrival of the day I would die. After I passed away that day, my spirit emerged from my body and was immediately seized and taken into the hells to be punished. This made me feel very astonished and unable to accept it.

I arrived in the hells, faced judgment, and was sentenced to go first to the eye-gouging hell, then to the brain-gouging hell, and then to many other hells to suffer punishment. I did not understand: I had worked so hard in this life, formulated many financial policies for the country, and established many effective economic systems for the welfare of the people—why should I be subjected to such punishment? Should this life not have been one where I returned to Heaven laden with the merits of a lifetime? I did not receive a very clear answer, and so I began an infinite period of punishment.

In hell, I was very confused and could not accept this fact. But as my eyes were punished time and again, amidst the excruciating pain, I seemed to slowly understand the problems of this life. Indeed, I was quite snobbish and money-grubbing in this life. Although it was not necessarily for my personal gain, when it came to formulating national policies and considering various aspects, my eyes were very sharp. I was extremely shrewd in seeing what was profitable and what was not. I would never allow myself to knowingly implement a policy that would result in a loss. I was precise and unwilling to have any slip-ups. My eyes were sharp, and I saw everything with clear discrimination; I saw the good and bad of every matter very accurately.

It was precisely because of this—because of how I viewed things—that the policies I formulated benefited the camp that was advantageous to me, while harming those other people I did not care about. This is perhaps the limited capacity of a public official. However, I know that a larger part of this was the result of my own concepts regarding economics and my experience with policy.

Although I vaguely knew there were such problems, I never thought that the unfair or uncharitable practices I maintained while alive would be the reason I entered the hells to suffer punishment after death. Of course, I do not entirely agree that I had no merits in this life, but it is true that I ended up suffering punishment in the hells.

I spent nearly seven months suffering in the hells, and the process was truly unbearable. The constant punishment of the eyes is not something an ordinary person can accept. As the order-followers of the hells gouged out my eyes time and again, blood flowed profusely, my vision blurred, and I could no longer see everything in this world so clearly. The fear in between, and the terrifying torture of being unable to call for help in the darkness and unable to truly find liberation, is truly beyond words.

Then, after seven months, a golden light shone down, and the surroundings, which had been dark and sunless, were instantly illuminated. I heard someone calling my name. I looked up, and in an instant, I arrived in a world that was entirely bright and luminous. I could not believe what my eyes were seeing, as my eyes had been in a state of constriction for a long time. But gradually, my eyes recovered, and I began to see more and more clearly. The world around me was extremely bright and beautiful; everything was so delicate and so yearning-inducing.

There is such a wonderful world, which is completely different from the world I had just been in.

Why was there such a difference? Many doubts suddenly arose in my heart. I stayed quietly in this bright world and slowly heard someone begin to call out to us, hoping that we could save those who have karmic affinity with us, and hoping that we could introduce Namo Amituofo to others. At first, I did not quite understand, but now I understand completely.

This is the temple under the jurisdiction of Namo Amituofo, called Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre. It is located in Goombungee, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, and this place is truly a very magical temple that has shown me great kindness. If it were not for this temple, and if Namo Amituofo had not saved me from the hells, I fear that today I would still be a blind man, unable to see anything, and could only wail in pain in the hells. After finishing the punishment in the eye-gouging hell, I would have had to go to other hells; I dare not imagine why people suffer so much, and why the achievements of this life cannot be carried over to the world after death.

Now, having listened to the Buddha’s teachings for a long time, I have come to understand that the success defined by the world does not necessarily represent true spiritual success. Spiritual success is being selfless and without ego, letting go of the self, and only thinking of others with one heart. This is completely opposite to what I did in the world.

After all, as an economist, not taking the immediate profit, not adopting the positive benefits after calculation, but instead considering the interests of competitors as a priority, and considering the survival of other economic systems as the primary task—this can be said to be very absurd and unreasonable from the perspective of economics. But it is precisely because only in this way can the Buddha exist, and it is precisely the education taught by the Buddha that truly allowed me to escape the hells. It was truly because of the biased and crooked actions I took in the world that I entered the hells to suffer punishment.

Having suffered for so long, I have to admit that the reality of the spirit is truly different from the thoughts and ideas one has when one has a body. However, I now also know that those concepts and ideas were actually influenced by many negative concepts of the world. A part of it was also the interference from the many sentient beings within my own body, which caused me to have these thoughts.

In fact, looking back at the past from the Western Land of Dharma Nature, the reason I was able to have such great achievements and accomplish so many things while I was alive was largely that the sentient beings within my body were controlling me, telling me, and instilling these concepts in me. It seemed to make me successful in this life, but in reality, it caused me to commit many wrongdoings. These wrongdoings refer to the harm caused to people or camps other than my own, and this harm would eventually return to me. This is why I was constantly suffering punishment in the hells; it turns out that it is the concept of killing oneself.

I spent eighty years in the glory of the world, but just seven months of suffering in the hells was already unbearable. Although it was unbearable, if the Buddha had not saved me from the hells, there would have been no other choice but to continue suffering. I wonder if everyone can understand this helplessness.

However, I advise you all: if you do not make changes early and believe that these worldly theories and these worldly standards of judgment are correct, you will inevitably face the same fate as me after death. At that time, you will be forced to experience the suffering of the hells. If you do not encounter a temple, then no one will be able to help you.

Therefore, I also want to advise my dear family, the colleagues and superiors I once worked with in the government, and anyone who knows me. Although I have been out of everyone's sight for a while, this spirit of mine is still here. Even though I have lost my body, I advise you as a spirit: do not walk this path of mine; suffering punishment in the hells is truly not worth it. To avoid such a situation, you must learn the Buddha’s teachings as early as possible—the correct education and correct concepts that Namo Amituofo wants to teach everyone.

Therefore, if you can listen to what I have said and believe my words, you might as well search online for information about the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre; the learning materials are quite complete. There is very detailed and comprehensive information regarding the salvation of the spirit, the description and explanation of the spiritual world, and the process of how we spirits are saved. You can read and learn about it yourself on the website and ask Namo Amituofo for guidance with the most respectful heart.

If you are willing to come to the temple, you are also welcome to come to Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre to chat with me, and we can explore deeper details. If you miss me, you are also welcome to come and catch up with me. In fact, I am just a spirit now and cannot go anywhere. Now that I have finally been saved from the hells by the Buddha, I am temporarily staying in a spiritual world in the temple called the Western Land of Dharma Nature. Here, I can freely communicate with the Venerables of the temple and convey the messages I want to express through a new spirit-to-spirit method. So, if you are interested in finding me, you are welcome to come here and meet me.