The Grievance Petition Officer of the Palace of Yama (Part 1)
The Grievance Petition Office
Yu (Yu Menglong) told Yu En that the underworld is much like the government institutions of the human world, with many layers of departments and administrative offices.
One of his secondary souls once served as a petition officer in the Grievance Petition Office.
The Grievance Petition Office belongs to the Department of Spirit Counseling within the First Hall of the Underworld (the Hall of King Qin Guang). Its purpose is to counsel the wronged dead and mediate their grievances, helping them let go of resentment so they can reincarnate smoothly.
A person's thoughts at the moment of death are of utmost importance.
If someone dies peacefully at the end of a natural lifespan, free of resentment, they do not enter the Grievance Petition Office.
Instead, the Hall of King Qin Guang, the first of the Ten Courts of the Underworld, reviews the virtue and karma accumulated throughout that soul's many lifetimes and arranges the next stage of its journey accordingly.
When spirit guides—commonly known as the Black and White Impermanence or grim reapers—encounter a deceased person who harbors resentment, whether great or small, and clings to thoughts of vengeance, the case is recorded by the Spirit Escort Bureau of the underworld. Scrolls documenting the matter are prepared, and consultations are held with the aggrieved spirit and the relevant departments.
One may ask: if resentful spirits are escorted into the underworld, why do wandering ghosts still exist in the human world?
There are two main categories.
The first consists of souls who do not realize that they have died.
This often occurs during major disasters in which no survivors remain to tell them that they are dead.
These souls are concealed by the higher realms and remain invisible to the Black and White Impermanence.
Why are they hidden?
Because over many lifetimes they accumulated substantial karma through harmful deeds. What people refer to as collective karma is often the result of such accumulated wrongdoing.
The Redemption of Souls
These hidden souls must remain where they are until enough of their karmic debt has been repaid. Only then can they become visible and be seen by spirit guides, who can bring them back to the underworld.
Such unfortunate souls are often called earthbound spirits.
However, not all earthbound spirits fall into this category.
There is only one way to help them leave the site of a major disaster sooner.
An enlightened cultivator who has developed celestial vision can perceive beings across different dimensions. Seeing the suffering of these souls, such a person may act out of compassion and guide them to the underworld.
The second category consists of those who died from unnatural causes, especially those who were murdered.
This is because karmic ties were formed in previous lives.
For example, Person A killed Person B.
After death, Person B becomes an earthbound spirit, trapped at the scene of the crime and unable to leave. Great suffering follows.
Yet the higher realms allowed Person B to die in this way because Person B had also committed serious wrongdoings in previous lifetimes, accumulating karma that eventually led to this outcome.
After enduring a long period of suffering and gradually repaying those karmic debts, Person B finally becomes visible to the Black and White Impermanence and is escorted to the underworld.
There, Person B enters the Grievance Petition Office.
Through counseling and mediation, the petition officer explains the true cause behind the murder:
In several previous incarnations, Person B had committed grave wrongs against Person A. Over many lifetimes, those grievances accumulated until they eventually resulted in a cycle of vengeance and killing.
The Choice of a Resentful Spirit
Now that Person B understands the chain of causes and effects, the petition officer presents two choices.
The first option is to resolve the karmic debt, forgive Person A, and receive priority for reincarnation. Person B may then return to the human world in a future life and continue the relationships and experiences that remain unfinished.
The second option arises if Person B's suffering is so great that forgiveness is impossible.
In that case, the petition officer may assess the situation and issue an authorization permit, allowing Person B to become a resentful spirit and seek revenge against Person A.
As a result, Person A may suffer illness, misfortune, or calamity. Sometimes the consequences may even fall upon the child whom Person A loves most, causing tremendous emotional and financial hardship.
Yet Person B does not escape suffering either.
The resentful spirit must remain near Person A—or attached to Person A's body—waiting for an opportunity to act.
Revenge cannot be carried out immediately.
The spirit must wait until Person A's fortune and protective energies weaken before it can cause illness or disaster. This often requires a very long period of waiting.
During both the waiting period and the pursuit of revenge, Person B cannot leave and is bound to remain there until vengeance has been fulfilled.
The waiting itself is painful.
Unable to depart and forced to watch endlessly, the spirit's hatred and anger continue to grow. The flames of resentment consume the spirit's heart, bringing immense suffering.
The petition officers of the underworld carefully explain all of these options and their consequences to the aggrieved souls, ensuring they fully understand the path before them and can make an informed choice.
Yu Menglong's Reincarnation Stories: The Grievance Petition Officer of the Palace of Yama (Part 2)