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Praises of Lord Yama and his Followers
Chapter 8
Lord Yama and his followers, just the sound of this seems scary. Yama is a Sanskrit word that means ghost king. The Chinese or the Indians consider Southern Jambudvipa to consist of ten Yama lords in Asia. But this sutra is actually referring to more than the Yama lords in China, India, or Asia in general; it is referring to all the Yama lords throughout the universe. There is a lord Yama in each world, so there are infinitely many Yama lords. Some Yama lords come from other worlds; some come from certain planets; some come from the moon, and some come from other Iron Ring mountains.
In short, where there are human beings, there are Yama lords; where there are no human beings, there are no Yama lords. How come? Without humans, there are no ghosts; without ghosts, there are no Buddhas. That would be a world without Buddhas. Since that world has no Buddhas, it has no Yama lords.
The key lies with humans; without human beings, there is nothing. Human beings control the world, create everything, are in need of everything, and use everything. Without people, essentially there would be no Buddhas, no Bodhisattvas, no hungry ghosts, no animals, and not anything in this world. Everything is made by people. What made people? People are made from the mind! Not only does the mind create people, but the mind can also create heaven and earth, hungry ghosts and animals, and everything else.
The ten Dharma Realms are made from the mind alone. The mind creates the ten Dharma Realms and destroys the ten Dharma Realms too. The Avatamsaka Sutra says, “Anyone who wishes to know, all Buddhas throughout the three periods of time, should contemplate the nature of the Dharma Realm– everything is made from the mind alone.”
Our mind consists of as many miscellaneous thoughts as waves on water. These miscellaneous thoughts express all the mountains, rivers, and great earth in the world. Everything is created by people’s false thoughts. People’s false thoughts are as numerous as dust motes. There are dust motes outside because we have false thoughts inside. Without false thoughts inside, the dust motes outside are empty, even the atoms that compose the dust motes are empty. Wherever there are human beings, there are ghosts, there are Buddhas, and hence there are Yama lords. Not only are there Yama lords, but his followers too.
Praises. What does this chapter praise? It praises the great awesome might of Earth Store Bodhisattva’s inconceivable wisdom and states. This is the eighth chapter in this sutra.
Sutra:
At that time, from within the Iron Ring Mountain, Lord Yama and his following of infinite ghost kings came before the Buddha in the Trayastrimsha Heaven.
They were: the Ghost King Evil Poison, the Ghost King Many Evils, the Ghost King Great Argument, the Ghost King White Tiger, the Ghost King Blood Tiger, the Ghost King Crimson Tiger, the Ghost King Spreading Disaster, the Ghost King Flying Body, the Ghost King Lightning Flash, the Ghost King Wolf Tooth, the Ghost King Thousand Eyes, the Ghost King Animal Eater, the Ghost King Rock Bearer, the Ghost King Lord of Bad News, the Ghost King Lord of Calamities, the Ghost King Lord of Food, the Ghost King Lord of Wealth, the Ghost King Lord of Domestic Animals, the Ghost King Lord of Birds, the Ghost King Lord of Beasts, the Ghost King Lord of Mountain Sprites, the Ghost King Lord of Birth, the Ghost King Lord of Life, the Ghost King Lord of Sickness, the Ghost King Lord of Danger, the Ghost King Three Eyes, the Ghost King Four Eyes, the Ghost King Five Eyes, the Ghost King Ch’i Li Shih, the Great Ghost King Ch’i Li Shih, the Ghost King Ch’i Li Ch’a, the Great Ghost King Ch’i Li Ch’a, the Ghost King No Ch’a, the Great Ghost King No Ch’a, and other such great ghost kings. With them were hundreds of thousands of minor ghost kings who dwelt throughout Jambudvipa, each presiding over certain jurisdictions.
Commentary:
At that time, from within the Iron Ring Mountain...In the Sea of Flower Treasury Worlds, human beings live in the Lotus Banner World on the 33rd layer. There are seven gold mountains outside the Lotus Banner World; outside of the seven gold mountains there are seven fragrant seas. This Iron Ring Mountain composed of metallic matter sits outside of the seven fragrant seas. In this Iron Ring Mountain, there are Lord Yama and his following of infinite ghost kings.
Lord Yama is like Jesus in saying that he is the son of god; he also calls himself the son of god. An emperor in the human realm also refers to himself as the son of god. But which son of god is greater or lesser? There is not anyone that is great or less. Who named them sons of gods?
The Buddha acknowledged that a Yama lord would be a son of god; the Buddha also acknowledged that an emperor can call himself a son of god. Jesus is the only one who bestowed a title on himself, indulging in his fancies he named himself son of god. No one will object if I say am the son of god; but I do not enjoy being son of god; it is not worth it.
Why does Lord Yama like this unworthy title? It is because that is his business. After Buddhist monks are ordained as Bhikshus and receive their precepts, they are teachers for gods and humans. They are the master in the heavens and human realm. Not only can they be sons of gods, they can be the grandmaster of sons of gods, which is why I say that title is not worth much. They came before the Buddha in the Trayastrimsha Heaven. Since the Buddha was speaking the Dharma for his mother in the Trayastrimsha Heaven, Lord Yama and ghost kings came here to listen to the sutra.
They were: the Ghost King Evil Poison . Among the ghost kings, there is one called Ghost King Evil Poison. This ghost king is the worst. How? He is extremely vicious, evil and venomous. He wants swallow any being he sees in one gulp. Is he not harsh? He is mean in thought and vicious in speech, which means that he deals with bad people rather than good people. Bad people are mean psychologically and mean verbally, so they can only be dealt with through viciousness and meanness. You are evil, but he is even more evil than you; you are venomous, but he is even more venomous than you.
Do not think this Ghost King Evil Poison is someone we need to fear. Do not be afraid, as long as you recite the Buddha’s name, he will be respectful. If you do not recite the Buddha’s name, his hatred will rise. Once you recite the Buddha’s name, he will not be evil anymore; once you recite the sutras, he becomes good too. So, no need to be afraid of him. As long as you recite the Buddha’s name, recite the sutra, develop the resolve for Bodhi, then however evil he may be, he no longer will be, and however venous he may be, he no longer will be. He turns into a Dharma protector.
Why? The Ghost King Evil Poison “appears to look like an evil and poisonous ghost king, but has the heart of a Bodhisattva’s compassion.” He uses corrupt and vicious methods to save living beings; otherwise why would he be with Son of God Yama? Son of God Yama does the same.
Although this ghost king is named Evil Poison, he is not really evil and poisonous. He is respectful to Buddhists, so do not be afraid of him. If you mention my name in particular, saying, “My master is so and so, he will definitely give you face.” Why? I signed a contract with him. I said, “As long as any of my disciples come to you and mention my name, you must hand all their offenses to me.” As long as you mention me, I guarantee he will not poison you.
The Ghost King Many Evils. Although Ghost King Evil Poison is evil and poisonous, he is not evil enough and not poisonous enough. There is also the Ghost King Many Evils who incurs countless evils to counteract living beings who do countless evils. I believe all of you have now changed your faults for the better so that you will not be so evil. How is this Ghost King Many Evils evil? He does things such as murdering his father, murdering his mother, murdering arhats, wrecking the harmony of the Sangha, and shedding the blood of a Buddha.
The Ghost King Great Argument enjoys debates in particular. He can provide an argument where there is no argument to speak of. He counteracts unreasonable debaters who insist that they have a good reason. They obviously broke the precepts, but they say they did not. They lie and cheat others. This Ghost King Great Argument deals with this type of people, so be careful! Remember not to see the Ghost King Great Argument because when you do, you will lose any basis for your argument because he is great at arguing.
The Ghost King White Tiger . This ghost king has the body of ghost but a head of a white tiger.
The Ghost King Blood Tiger has a tiger head that is bleeding.
The Ghost King Crimson Tiger is red all over and has the head of a tiger.
Why do these ghost kings have tiger heads? They want to look beastly and horrifying so that anyone who has committed the Ten Evils and the Five Rebellious Acts will tremble in fear.
The Ghost King Spreading Disaster. Disasters are inauspicious events. He makes these things happen to you. Accidents, thefts, fires and others result as a part of cause and effect. Everything has its cause and effect; results occur due to some cause.
The Ghost King Flying Body. This ghost king can fly anywhere without having to buy an air ticket or a ride on a rocket. He can fly faster than a rocket. Anyone who wants to learn to fly should go and find the Ghost King Flying Body. This ghost king has such great skills.
The Ghost King Lightning Flash. His eyes are as bright as lightning flash.
The Ghost King Wolf Tooth. This ghost king has vicious wolf-like teeth grown outside of his mouth
The Ghost King Thousand Eyes does not have the same eyes as the Thousand Handed and Thousand Eyed Guanyin Bodhisattva. This type of ghost has lots of horns on them. These horns are similar to ox horns but on each tip of the horn is an eye. How is the eye grown? It is concave and grows out of the bone. There is no flesh around the eye, only an eye inset in his body, so when you look over, it is like a really bright flash of light.
The Ghost King Animal Eater . What does this ghost king eat in particular? It eats animals. What kind of animals? It may eat tigers or any animal that is vicious.
The Ghost King Rock Bearer . To show how strong he is, this type of ghost king carries a rock as heavy as several ten’s of thousands of pounds. When he sees someone who has committed offenses, he smashes the person with this large piece of rock so that this person is flattened into a real thin pancake.
The Ghost King Lord of Bad News always delivers bad news. When you are sleeping, he tells in your dream: did you know you are going to die tomorrow? You only have today left to live. He delivers a letter of bad news to you in the form of a nightmare.
The Ghost King Lord of Calamities not only delivers bad news in a letter, but actually makes some calamity happen to you: accidents such as car accidents, sunken ships, air crashes and the like.
The Ghost King Lord of Food . What you eat each day is fixed. The story I told about the supervisor over food is a true one. What dishes we eat and what they are made of are all fixed. What we eat tomorrow is fixed too. Imperceptibly, someone is assigning these portions to you.
The Ghost King Lord of Wealth . Someone made an offering to me today and it has to do with the Ghost King Lord of Wealth; he told people to donate some money to the master. Really! This is not off by a hair. There are no wrong things in the world; nothing that occurs without cause and effect. You had created the causes to become my disciples; no one can force cause and effect. It is something major to deny the law of cause and effect; we must not discredit it.
The Ghost King Lord of Domestic Animals governs all kinds of animals.
The Ghost King Lord of Birds governs over fowls.
The Ghost King Lord of Beasts. Earlier it was the Ghost King Lord of Domestic Animals, now it the Lord of wild beasts; there are no domesticated beasts really. There is a Ghost King Lord of Beasts in the Eastern Lapis Lazuli Mountain. He governs over beasts such as tigers, hares, and dragons. In the Southern Glass Mountain, there is a ghost king who governs over beasts such as snakes, horses, and goats. There is a Silver Mountain with a ghost king that governs over monkeys, chickens and dogs. In the North there is a Gold Mountain that is formed with gold. But do not try to excavate gold there like the way people did with the old Gold Mountain or new Gold Mountain. That Gold Mountain cannot be touched or reached. There is a ghost king in this Gold Mountain who governs over swine, rats, and ox. The Ghost King Lord of Beasts and the Ghost King Lord of Domestic Animals govern over different things and have their own area and turf.
The Ghost King Lord of Mountain Sprites. When there are problems with soil, woods, metal, rocks, or large trees, it is because of mountain sprites and their like. The supervisor for these ghosts is the Ghost King Lord of Mountain Sprites. In the third assembly of the Shurangama Mantra is a series of ghost kings in charge of such things: la she po ye, zhu la po ye, e qi nip o ye, wu tuo jia po ye, pi sha po ye, she sa duo la po ye, po la zhe jie la po ye, tu she cha po ye.
The Ghost King Lord of Birth governs human births. He will make sure that good people enjoy safe labors while bad people suffer more during labor or cannot complete their labor at all. They are punished so that they may become enlightened, reform and renew themselves.
The Ghost King Lord of Life governs all life with breath and blood.
The Ghost King Lord of Sickness. Any sickness is governed by a ghost.
The Ghost King Lord of Danger is in charge of dangerous acts of harm.
The Ghost King Three Eyes has three eyes. How do his three eyes look? They do not look like the heavenly eye in the Five Eyes and Six Penetrations. He has one horizontal one in the middle and two on the sides. The three eyes form a triangle. Have you seen such thing?
The Ghost King Four Eyes . His four eyes form a square; they are not arranged like the Five Eyes of the Bodhisattvas. He looks especially strange so that people are afraid when he sees him.
The Ghost King Five Eyes.
The Ghost King Ch’i Li Shih is in charge of fire in the south.
The Great Ghost King Ch’i Li Shih is in charge of large fires. The Ghost King Ch’I Li Shih is in the south; while farther south, there is a mountain where the Great Ghost King Ch’I Li Shih is the ghost king.
The Ghost King No Ch’a is one of the kings of the Four Great Heavenly Kings. He is a Dharma protector, so although he belongs to the category of ghosts, he is not a ghost. That is why he is named the King No Ch’a.
The Great Ghost King No Ch’a, and other such great ghost kings as mentioned above. When we talked about small ghosts, we said that where there is a large ghost, there is a small ghost. With them were hundreds of thousands of minor ghost kings. A ghost king has these ghost offspring, including children, grandchildren, and other relatives who dwelt throughout southern Jambudvipa, each presiding over certain jurisdictions. Each ghost has a domain where they may exercise their power.
Sutra:
Aided by the Buddha’s awesome spiritual strength and the power of Earth Store Bodhisattva Mahasattva, all these ghost kings joined Lord Yama in the Trayastrimsha Heaven and together they stood to one side. Then Lord Yama knelt, placed his palms together, and said to the Buddha, “World Honored One, aided by the Buddha’s awesome spiritual strength and the power of Earth Store Bodhisattva, I have been able to come here with all these ghost kings to join this great assembly in the Trayastrimsha Heaven, which will be very much to our benefit. There is now a small doubt that I should like to express, and we hope the World Honored One will be compassionate and resolve explain it.”
Commentary:
Each person has his/her individual authority. These ghosts have their authority as ghosts. Aided by the Buddha’s awesome spiritual strength and the psychic power of Earth Store Bodhisattva Mahasattva, all these ghost kings joined Lord Yama in the Trayastrimsha Heaven, the Heaven of the 33 and together they stood to one side. Then Lord Yama knelt, placed his palms together, and said to the Buddha, “World Honored One, aided by the Buddha’s awesome spiritual strength and the power of Earth Store Bodhisattva, I, Son of god Yama, have been able to come here with all these ghost kings and members of our retinue to join this great assembly in the Trayastrimsha Heaven, which will be very much to our benefit. There is now a small doubt that I should like to express. May I have the privilege to ask the World Honored One? Am I qualified to ask the World Honored One? And we only hope the World Honored One will be compassionate and resolve explain it, thus resolving my problem.”
Sutra:
The Buddha told Lord Yama, “I will answer any question you would like to ask.”
At that time Lord Yama looked respectfully at the World Honored One, made obeisance, turned his head to acknowledge Earth Store Bodhisattva, and then said to the Buddha, “World Honored One, I observe that Earth Store Bodhisattva uses hundreds of thousands of expedient devices to rescue beings who are suffering for their offenses within the Six Paths of rebirth. I see that he does so unstintingly, without the least fatigue. Although this great Bodhisattva uses his inconceivable spiritual penetrations to do such deeds, it doesn’t take long for the beings whom he has helped in gaining release from retribution to fall into the evil paths again.
“World Honored One, since Earth Store Bodhisattva has such great inconceivable spiritual powers, why are beings not able to rely on him, to stay on the good paths, and to be freed once and for all? Please, World Honored One, explain that for us.”
Commentary:
The Buddha told Lord Yama, “I will answer any question you would like to ask. Ask whatever you would like to ask. I will definitely give you a good answer.” At that time Lord Yama looked respectfully at the World Honored One, made obeisance, turned his head to acknowledge Earth Store Bodhisattva. Since the Buddha is in front of him, he looked at the Buddha then turned his head to look a look at Earth Store Bodhisattva, a show of respect for Earth Store Bodhisattva.
And then he said to the Buddha, “World Honored One, I observe that Earth Store Bodhisattva uses hundreds of thousands of expedient devices, using different methods, to rescue beings who are suffering for their offenses within the Six Paths of rebirth: the realm of gods, the realm of humans, the realm of asuras, the hells, the realm of hungry ghosts, and the realm of animals. I see that he does so unstintingly, without the least fatigue. He is not afraid of any hardship or weariness.
Although this great Bodhisattva uses his inconceivable spiritual penetrations to do such deeds, it doesn’t take long for the beings whom he has helped in gaining release from retribution to fall into the evil paths again.
“World Honored One, since Earth Store Bodhisattva has such great inconceivable spiritual powers, why are beings not able to rely on him? Why do they not listen to his teachings? Why do they defy the rules? Why are they unable to cultivate by staying on the good paths? Why do they create offenses? And why are they not to be freed once and for all, instead they are entangled by karmic obstructions? Please, World Honored One, explain that for us.”
Sutra:
The Buddha told Lord Yama, “The beings of Jambudvipa have stubborn and obstinate natures, difficult to tame, difficult to subdue. This great Bodhisattva continually rescues such beings throughout hundreds of thousands of eons, causing them to obtain liberation quickly. For those beings undergoing retributions even in the worst destinies, the Bodhisattva applies the strength of expedients to extricate them from their own basic karmic conditions and lead them to understand the events of their past lives.
“But because beings of Jambudvipa are so bound up by their own heavy bad habits, they keep revolving in and out of the various paths over and over, as this Bodhisattva labors throughout many long eons to entirely effect their rescue and release.
“They are like people who, in confusion, lose their way home, and take a dangerous road by mistake. On that dangerous road are many yakshas, tigers, wolves, lions, serpents, and vipers. Those confused people are sure to be harmed very quickly on that dangerous path.
Commentary:
The Buddha Shakyamuni told Lord Yama, “The beings of southern Jambudvipa have stubborn and obstinate natures, difficult to tame, difficult to subdue. It is very difficult to make gentle these beings and subdue them so that they will observe the rules. This is not very easy. For instance, everyone nowadays says that observing rules is bad, why? It is because they do not wish to observe the rules so they say it is bad to observe the rules. Actually, “Without a ruler and t-square [(which together means rules in Chinese)], one cannot draw a square or a circle.”
This great Bodhisattva continually rescues such beings throughout hundreds of thousands of eons, causing them to obtain liberation quickly. Ghost kings and Lord Yama asked as to why living beings do not listen to Earth Store Bodhisattva and follow his teachings though he has such great spiritual powers? Why do they leave the evil paths and then come back down to the evil paths again? For as long as billions of eons, this great Bodhisattva repeatedly saves living beings of this sort so that they may become liberated soon!
Due to their confusion and action, for those types of beings undergoing retributionseven in the worst destinies, the three evil realms for hell-beings, hungry ghosts and animals, the Bodhisattva applies the strength of expedients to extricate them from their own basic karmic conditions and lead them to understand the events of their past lives.
“But because beings of Jambudvipa are so bound up by their own heavy bad habits...The karma of their past lives is connected to this life, while the karma of this life is connected to future lives. This kind of karmic retribution is continuous throughout lifetimes like a rope in a knot. This is what it means by beings bound up by their own heavy bad habits. What kind of bad habits are these? The foremost bad habit is sexual desire. All beings are the same. Every being has a problem that is foremost, something they have the worst time eliminating, and that is lust.
Eliminating lust is even more difficult then climbing up to the sky. If you can subdue your lust so that women have no lust when they see men and men have no lust when they see women, then they have tamed their tiger. Free of afflictions, you have subdued your dragon. Afflictions and ignorance are just like a dragon that transforms endlessly. It develops without you realizing it. So first of all, end lust. This is where you can tell whether you have any cultivation, moral virtue, or skill. You can test yourself and know for yourself. You have some skill if you have eliminated desire; if you have not ended your desire, then you are someone with outflow. So cultivating non-outflow refers to no lust. With lust, there is outflow; without lust, there is no outflow.
The second [leading bad habit] is greed. Why is there lust? It is because of greed, such as greed for a good feeling and greed for satisfying one’s desire. The third [leading bad habit] is arrogance. What is arrogance? Some people are not necessarily smarter than others, but they always feel that they are smarter than everyone else. They look down at everyone. They have to be number one wherever they are.
The fourth [leading bad habit] is hatred towards everyone. If you are not good to me, then I will think of a way and kill you or think of other ways to seek revenge. The fifth [leading bad habit] is deceptiveness, cheating and pretending. The sixth [leading bad habit] is lying. Deception involves pretending to be a good person when one is a mean person; that way people cannot tell. Lying is false speech.
The seventh [leading bad habit] is blame, blaming others for every one of their obvious wrong-doings. They say, “I would not have done that if he had not told me. I cannot be faulted for this; it is his problem, his fault.” They shove the blame on others. The eighth [leading bad habit] is about deviant views. Instead of walking down proper paths, people with this habit always walk down improper paths. The ninth is crookedness. Instead of being straightforward, people with this habit do things that accuse others wrongly and in a twisted manner.
The tenth [leading bad habit] is suing. People who enjoy filing baseless suits tell the judge that certain people are wrong. I am going to sue him. They think of ways to accuse others wrongly. This is suing. These ten are in the Shurangama Sutra as the Ten Habits, which will lead to the consequence of the Six Retributions. Due to these ten kinds of habits, living beings are said to be bounded by intense bad habits.
They keep revolving in and out of the various paths over and over. They created all kinds of offenses and evil because of these ten kinds of evil karma; hence they got to transcend the Three Evil Paths then return. They revolve in and out of the Three Evil Paths because they transcended them in the present life but then enter them again in the next life. As this Bodhisattva Earth Store labors and works so hard throughout many long eons to entirely effect their rescue and release, saving all beings.
For instance, “They are like people who, in confusion, lose their way home, and take a dangerous road by mistake. On that dangerous road are many yakshas, tigers, wolves, lions, serpents, and vipers. Yakshas represent skepticism in the Five Dull Servants. Skepticism means doubting everything because there is a lack of confidence. Tigers represent greed. Were we to tame our lust, then we would have tamed our tiger. Without having subdued lust, we have not subdued the tiger. What do wolves symbolize? Hatred. Wolves are mean, which applies to both wolves and hatred.
Lions represent delusion and foolishness. Serpents and vipers represent arrogance. Greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, and doubt are the Five Dull Servants. Those confused people are sure to be harmed very quickly on that dangerous path full of the Five Dull Servants of greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, and doubt. They will be hurt by the Five Dull Servants in an instant in time; thereby they commit offenses that push them into the Three Evil Paths.
Sutra:
But then they meet a knowledgeable guide, skilled in avoiding all the potential harm, including the toxins of the yakshas and others. This mentor begins to lead the travelers off that dangerous path, saying, ‘Beware, everyone! What business has brought you onto this road? What kinds of special skills do you have to avoid all those dangers?’
“Hearing that, the confused travelers realize that they are on a dangerous path and turn back, attempting to escape. The kind guide then tells them to join hands takes them by the hand, leads them off the dangerous path, and helps them avoid the deadly peril. When they reach a safe road, the travelers are relieved and calm down. Their guide then says to them, ‘Take care, confused ones, never to get back on that path again. Once on it, it is hard to get off; it can destroy a person’s very nature and life.’
“The travelers who had been lost confused express their deep gratitude, and as they are about to part, the mentor says to them, ‘If you see those dear to you and any other travelers, whether you know them personally or not, be they men or women, tell them that the dangers and evils on that path could destroy their very natures and lives. Do not allow them to unwittingly bring about their own deaths.’
Commentary:
But then they meet a knowledgeable guide, a good teacher. Who is he? He is Earth Store Bodhisattva. He is skilled in lots of magic because of his finely wondrous and inconceivable wisdom through spiritual powers. He is good at avoiding all the potential harm. What kind of harm? All the harms that tigers, wolves, lions, yakshas, and the like can do, including the toxins of the yakshas and others. Yakshas are speedy ghosts who are very evil. This mentor begins to lead the lost travelers off that dangerous path, saying, ‘Beware, everyone! Hey guys! What business has brought you onto this road? Why are you on this dangerous road? What kinds of special skills do you have to avoid all those dangers? Do you have any spiritual powers that can subdue all the tigers, wolves, and lions on this road?’
“Hearing that, the confused travelers are extremely shocked and realize that they are on a dangerous path and turn back, attempting to escape. Only then did they realize that they made a mistake and walked down the wrong road. They want to back up immediately and leave this path of danger. The kind guide, Earth Store Bodhisattva, then tells them to join hands takes them by the hand, leads them off or pulls them off the dangerous path, and helps them avoid the deadly peril. They get to avoid all the dangerous creatures such as tigers, wolves, and lions, yakshas, serpents, and vipers.
When they leave the Three Evil Paths and reach a safe road, the travelers are relieved and calm down. Their guide then says to them, the previously lost travelers, ‘Take care, confused ones, lost individuals, never to get back on that path again, the Three Evil Paths. Once on it, it is hard to get off. People who enter the Three Evil Paths do not leave easily. It can destroy a person’s very life. Someone walking on this path of danger will lose his life.’
“The travelers who had been confused lost express their deep gratitude . Having heard such instructions from such a good teacher, Earth Store Bodhisattva, they are very grateful and think, ‘This person is really very good to me.’ And as they are about to part, the mentor says to them, ‘If you see those dear to you and any other travelers , whether you know them personally or not, be they men or women, tell them that the dangers and evils on that path that is the Three Evil Paths could destroy their very natures and lives. Do not allow them to unwittingly bring about their own deaths by walking onto the Three Evil Paths and suffer endlessly.’
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