I observed that a large netherworld city was entirely inhabited by one family after another. Even I was amused by this statement myself. Is it possible for a city to be inhabited by one family after another?

Below is my explanation for what I saw.

Under normal circumstances, the members of the grandparent's generation in a family pass away first. This is followed by the passing of the members of the parent's generation, and then the passing of the members in the grandchildren's generation. Then, the members of the great-grand children's generation start to die.

This can be summed up as: grandparents die; then parents die; then grandchildren die; then great-grandchildren die.

Thus, not everyone in the family, from the old to the newborn, would be in the netherworld at one time. Some members of the family would still be alive, living in the human world, while some would have passed away and be residing in the netherworld. Therefore, normally families would only be partially in the netherworld.

Yet, I observed in a netherworld city that one entire family after another was residing in this city. The members of each family, from the elderly to the new born, were all in the netherworld.

This is none other than the death of entire families.

I followed up by investigating their causes of death. How did they die in the human world? I discovered:

1. Entire families had committed suicide by burning coal [causing carbon monoxide poisoning].

(Cultural Note: This is a common way for people to commit suicide in Taiwan.)

2. Entire families had taken their own lives by ingesting poison.

3. Entire families had been buried alive by landslides.

4. Entire families had been crushed to death in earthquakes.

5. Entire families had perished in fires.

6. Entire families had drowned in tsunamis.

7. Entire families had died in vehicular accidents, ship wrecks, or plane crashes.

8. Entire families had succumbed to epidemics.

etc.

*　*　*

I genuinely cannot fathom the karma that causes the death of entire families. Is it possible for the karmic affinities and fruitions of everyone in the family to be the same? Why did everyone, from the newborn child to the elderly of these families, all die together at the same spot?

(to be continued)

(From Book #187 "Manifestations of the Netherworld")

(本文選自蓮生活佛第187冊著作「地獄變現記」文章「全家死光光」)