Stories from Ancient China: The Fate of Emperor Tai Zong Is Seen In a Dream

Fu Yi, a Tai Shi Ling (a high-level government official position) of the Tang dynasty, was from the Tai Yuan region of China. He then moved to Fu Feng during the end of the Sui Dynasty. He was an educated and intelligent man since youth and had even studied astronomy, history and mathematics in addition to regular subjects. From the Emperor Gao Zu’s Wude Era (618 – 626 A.D.) to Emperor Tai Zong’s Zhenguan Era (626 – 649 A.D.)[1], Fu Yi had been a Tai Shi Ling for more than twenty years. He did not believe in Buddhist doctrines. He looked down on Buddhist monks and had even used terracotta Buddha statues as bricks.

At that time, Fu Yi, Fu Renjun and Xue Ji all held the same position of Tai Shi Ling. Xue Ji owed Fu Renjun five thousand cents, but he failed to repay Renjun before he passed away. One night, Xue Ji had a dream involving Renjun. During this dream they chatted with each other just as they did when he was alive. Xue Ji then asked Renjun, “To whom should I pay back the money I owe you?” Renjun replied, “You can pay it to the man condemned to Ni Li.” (Note: Ni Li is an extremely appalling circle of Hell in Buddhism.) Xue Ji asked, “Who is the man condemned to Ni Li?” Renjun answered, “The Tai Shi Ling Fu Yi is the man condemned to Ni Li.” Then Xue Ji woke up.

That same night, another government official named Feng Changming had a dream. In the dream, he went to a place where the dead gathered. Feng Changming asked, “According to Buddha’s scriptures, the good and the bad will be rewarded accordingly. Is this true or not?” The dead answered, “Of course it’s true.” Then Changming asked, “What will happen to someone like Fu Yi who does not believe in Buddhist scriptures after he dies?” The dead answered, “The good and the bad will surely be rewarded accordingly. As for Fu Yi, he has already been condemned to the Ni Li circle of hell.”

The next morning, Feng Changming met Xue Ji in the royal court and told him about the dream he had. Xue Ji also told Changming his dream about the man condemned to Ni Li. They found to their surprise that their dreams had occurred on the same night and were very similar. Both of them came to believe that the good and the evil must be rewarded and that nobody can escape this principle. Xue Ji paid the money back to Fu Yi and told him about the dream. Several days later, Fu Yi suddenly died. On the day of his death, so many horrible things happened that they were hard to number.

Fu Yi, the Tai Shi Ling, had slandered Buddha all his life and was condemned to hell to pay back his karma for slandering Buddha. Similarly, many people in China are persecuting Falun Dafa, and Falun Dafa cultivators. If these people do not stop persecuting and slandering Falun Dafa and Dafa pracititoners, one can only imagine their retribution.

Source: Recording of the Underworld Retribution of the Tang Dynasty (or Ming Bao Ji in Chinese pinyin)

[1] The term "era" is used to describe an East Asian imperial practice of numbering years in an emperor’s reign. It originated as a motto or slogan chosen by the emperor. Emperor Gao Zu and Emperor Tai Zong of the Tang Dynasty each reigned for an era: Wude Era (618 – 626 A.D.) and Zhenguan Era (626 – 649 A.D.) respectively. But it is very common for a Chinese emperor to have multiple eras. A similar practice was followed in the United Kingdom until quite recently. Acts of Parliament used to be dated according to the years of the reign of the reigning Monarch, so that “61 & 62 Vict c. 37” refers to the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 passed in the session of Parliament in the 61st/62nd year of Queen Victoria.