The famous Qing Dynasty scholar, Ji Xialoan (1724 – 1805 AD), documented a couple of incidents that created great harm to people in chapter 14 of his book Caotang Review Notes. The stories still have meaning in today’s society. They are translated below.
 
In Northern China, the bridges all have railings on the sides to prevent pedestrians from accidentally falling off. In Fujian, a southeastern province, downpours are frequent and thus shelters with roofs were built on the sides of bridges to shelter pedestrians from rain. A person named Qiu Ertian mentioned a shocking incident:
 
A person was walking on a bridge at midnight when rain began to fall. He sought refuge in one of the available shelters. After a while, an officer carrying an official booklet appeared with several guards and  prisoners in the same shelter. There were sounds of shackles and handcuffs, and the person deduced that they must be guards escorting prisoners who happened to pass by the bridge during the rain. He kept quiet and withdrew to the corner of the room to observe their actions.
 
One prisoner began to wail. A guard snapped, “Now you learn to be afraid. What’s the point of crying! Why did you do evil deeds when you were alive?” The prisoner said, “I listened to my teacher by mistake. He often ridiculed those who believed in gods. He said that good and evil retribution was absurd and preposterous. After hearing this for a while, I began to believe him. After that I began to be opportunistic for self-gain, indulge in my selfish desires, thinking that there is no judgment, no retribution and no punishment after I die. I can do whatever I want when I’m alive to harm others for my own benefit since there’s nothing to be afraid of. I had no idea that once I died, I went to hell. The king of hell is real. Only then I realized that I was deceived by that teacher. That’s why I’m so sad and remorseful!”
 
After hearing this prisoner’s account, another prisoner cried, “You were misled by that teacher. I was tricked by a shaman. This shaman told me that when a person does bad deeds, all he needs to do is burn incense (pray) and donate to accumulate virtue and that will eliminate karma. Even if a person goes to hell after death, he only needs to hire a shaman to chant scriptures for salvation. Hearing this, I was no longer afraid. I thought that I just need to accumulate as much wealth as possible. While I am still alive, I pray and donate. After I die, I will tell my family to hire a shaman to chant for me. This will give me the freedom to do whatever I want and there’ll be no retribution in the future. I had no idea that once I went to hell, the king of hell specifically inspected a person’s number of good and evil deeds performed, as well as the level of selfishness, to assign punishment and blessing. The amount of donation was not considered important. When I was alive, I donated a lot of money but they were all for selfish reasons. I was punished severely in hell. If I hadn’t been deceived by that shaman, how would I dare to overindulge in my selfish attachments to end up like this?” The rest of the prisoners wept upon hearing this.
 
The person hiding in the corner then realized that these were all spirits of deceased people. The lessons they learned were truly life-and-death changing, yet it was too late to regret.
 
Nowadays, some people commit crimes without any remorse on one hand, yet they enter monasteries and temples to pray to gods and ask Buddhas for forgiveness. Their intent is to eliminate disaster and punishment. Their actions are truly daydreams. For those who maintain atheism, they should awaken from the sound of warning bells and deeply reflect on their beliefs.
 
两种误人的邪说
 
清代著名学术家纪晓岚，在他的《阅微草堂笔记(卷十四)》中，写了两种邪说害人至深的事件，至今仍有现实意义。笔者特译述如下：
 
北方的桥上，设有栏杆，那是防止过桥的人不慎失足用的。福建一带多雨，桥的旁边还盖了屋顶，那是为了行人避雨用的。有一个名字叫邱二田的人，他讲了一件令人吃惊、十分震撼的事：
 
有人半夜遇雨，走到桥上，进入旁边的屋中避雨。过了一会儿，看到有个官吏，手持公文簿，指使几个差役押著一些犯人，也先后走进桥旁的屋里避雨。那人听见脚镣手铐的响声，知道是官府押送囚犯，路过此桥，暂时也来避雨。他便不敢作声，自己缩坐在屋角里，观察他们的动静。
 
听到一个囚犯号嚎大哭起来。那个官吏呵斥道：“此刻知道害怕了，哭还有甚么用！为甚么活著的时候要做恶呀？”那个囚犯说：“我是误听了我的老师的话，他平时总是斥责敬信神佛的人：甚么善恶报应之说，都是荒谬妄谈。我听的时间长了，信以为真。后来便用尽心计，投机取巧，放纵私欲，为所欲为，觉得死了以后，既然没有遭报应受惩罚的痛苦，那么我活著的时候，就毫无顾虑的巧取豪夺，损人利己，并毁誉不闻，何惮而不恣吾意乎？(这两句原话的意思是：并且，人一死啥都完结，没有荣誉和耻辱的分别，那就不必担心害怕，为何不任意胡为呢？)没想到：我一死就下了地狱，这里也真有阎王。这时才知道我被那个老师欺骗了，所以我才悲伤而又悔恨呀！”
 
听完这个囚犯的哭诉，另外一个囚犯也哭著说：“唉呀，你是被那个教师所骗，我是被一个巫师所骗。我遇到一个巫师，讲：人造了恶业，焚香布施，就能积功德，就能化解消除恶业。即使死后下地狱，也可以请巫师，来念经超度。我想：这样我就不必忌怕，先多捞些钱。生前拿一点钱出来焚香、布施；死后叫家人请巫师给我念经，那么我活著就可以为所欲为，死后地府也不会治我。没想到我下了地狱，阎王是专看本人行善做恶的多少，和私心的大小，来定罪与福；并不看重舍财的数目多少。我在世上，虽花了许多钱布施，都是为私为己；下到地狱，被打压、被煮熬，件件难逃。我若不是受那巫师的欺骗，又怎么敢放纵私欲，以至于此呢？”说罢，呜咽不止。别的囚犯们也都齐声痛哭。
 
那位缩坐在屋角里的人，这才明白了他们是死去了的人。他们的教训极深，真是生死剧痛，悔之晚矣！
 
现在，有些恶徒，一边还在行恶、拒不改悔，一边又去拜神乞佛，企图消灾免祸，妄想逃脱地狱的严惩，真是白日做梦。那些现在还抱著无神论不放，真应该闻钟猛醒，听鼓深思了。