What is a black command flag, and why discourage resentful demands for repayment?

A black command flag is a concept within religious belief concerning karmic creditors seeking repayment. Someone who has been wronged and carries strong resentment wishes to reclaim something from the other party and applies to a deity for a command flag. This explains unseen karmic relationships. It is not a tool or procedure for collecting debts in the human world.

However, I generally do not encourage this path. Continually thinking about finding the other party and making them repay you also binds you with resentment. Becoming someone else’s karmic creditor does more than make their life difficult. It may also prevent you from going on to live the life you could otherwise have had.

Some people ask why deities grant command flags instead of advising people to let go. My understanding is that they do offer that advice, but someone who is deeply attached at that moment may be unable to take it in. A long period of searching and experience may gradually allow that person to see another side, creating an opportunity for resentment to lessen.

When I use waiting two or three hundred years as an example, I mean that attachment can continue for a very long time. I am not setting a fixed duration for every karmic relationship. I hope people recognise that being caught by resentment makes them suffer too. Even while seeking justice, care for yourself. Do not let one injury take over the rest of your life.

For cases already involving this kind of demand for repayment, we proceed carefully. We first understand the grievances between both sides, then ask connected deities to help communicate. Inviting a deity does not mean that the other party must immediately agree. We have experienced cases in which several discussions over months, together with the person’s repentance, scripture recitation and dedication of merit, were needed before change gradually occurred.

I remember two difficult cases that were finally resolved on Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva’s birthday. But each had its own course of events. This cannot become a guarantee that waiting for a particular date or performing one ritual will resolve everything. We can retain hope while clearly explaining the time and cooperation that may be needed, and that agreement may not be reached in the first discussion.

Nor should you immediately believe someone out of fear just because they say there is a black command flag behind you. Among the cases I have actually encountered, this situation has not been so common. Poor fortune may also involve recent poor sleep or a need to adjust your health and everyday condition. It cannot all be attributed to karmic creditors, and certainly cannot justify accepting unreasonable demands.

Even if examination shows that a matter does need to be addressed through a religious understanding of karma, paying for a ritual is not the only option. With a client who was still considering whether to proceed, I first suggested sincere scripture recitation and dedication of merit to express willingness to resolve the grievances. Miao Yuan also shared a personal experience of reciting the Kṣitigarbha Sutra. But that was her arrangement on that occasion, not a fixed requirement that everyone recite it nine times or a guarantee of reconciliation afterwards.

We also need restraint when discussing these matters. Dao Shun and I discussed claims of spirit communication in the news and reminded each other that we still need to judge whether the perceived presence really is that person. I did not say that deities absolutely never take the initiative to help strangers. But dreams cannot be treated as established facts about a case. Nor can public interest in a news story justify installing the person’s spirit tablet in one’s own temple without the family’s wishes.

On one occasion, family members sought help for a relative who had suffered fractures in a road accident and remained in hospital awaiting surgery. After examining the matter from a religious perspective, we first asked Xuantian Shangdi for assistance and then asked Lord Bao to negotiate. On that occasion, only the Seventh Lord and Eighth Lord accompanied him. We did not begin by bringing forward the fierce images of Ox-Head and Horse-Face, because we wanted the other party to know that we sincerely sought coordination rather than intended to force them to let go through strength.

The discussion lasted about an hour and a half. According to the perceptions during the deity’s descent at the time, the other party’s resentment involved losing family members. Lord Bao approached it from their situation: even if revenge succeeded, their family would not return to life, so could they seek a better direction for their own future? After several arrangements were discussed, they finally agreed to learn under Guanyin Bodhisattva, while retaining the possibility of reaching a better spiritual state later if their practice went well. This describes an experience within that religious ritual. It cannot be presented as a verified past-life workplace accident, and this account did not state that the patient had been cured.