Chapter 148 The beggar and the crown prince
But Li Chao couldn't escape from the grief. One day when he went home, he asked his father in confusion: "Dad, a hero like my master, a man who stands tall and strong, why is he so short-lived? And my sister, his father, godmother's husband, I heard from them that he is also a very smart, brave and tenacious real man, or he died at a young age. Why don't a good person have a long life? Is it really like the saying that a good person doesn't live long, and it will last for thousands of years. So who would like to be a good person like this?"
The son's problem made a wise man like Zhongxuan ponder for a while. He thought that Master Yan's death would have a great blow to his son. If he didn't find a way to untie Maomao's heart, it would be very unfavorable to his future growth. Such shadows may accompany him throughout his life and have many negative impacts on him. But his son is still young, and he is not good at using the three-life Buddhist retribution, the cycle of cause and effect, and other profound and difficult-to-understand Buddhist wisdom to understand him. His son does not have such wisdom yet. He does not want to use good people to assume more responsibilities, think more for others, and consider few of them for himself to educate his son. He remembered a story and told him to his son, wanting his son to understand it from it and experience the various tastes of life in this world.
So, Zhongxuan said to his son: "Maomao, sometimes on the surface, things in this world seem to be good people but good rewards, and people who do bad things have many benefits. But it is just that people in the world are short-sighted, only seeing or believing in these things happening in front of them, and not seeing the cause and effect behind these times. Dad tells you a small story. After listening to it, you think carefully and slowly understand it to see if it will be of any help to you. This story tells an anecdote that happened among the people during the Northern Song Dynasty when Bao Zheng was the prime minister. There is a village living in a teenage child who was disabled in his legs and both parents died. His life was very difficult, and he could even survive by charity or begging by his neighbors.
There is a river in front of this village, and villagers and passers-by have to wade by, especially the elderly and those underage children, which are very inconvenient in the past. Whenever the river rises, it is even more inaccessible. But day after day, year after year, no one thought that they would change it. What people could see was the child picking up stones every day and piled up by the river. People were very puzzled and asked him the reason, and the child said: It was necessary to build a stone bridge to facilitate the villagers to walk. Everyone disagreed, thinking that the child was talking stupid and crazy, and most of them laughed out loud. But over time, year after year, the stones accumulated more and more, and they all piled up into a hill. At this time, the neighbors began to change their original understanding and were moved by the spirit of the child. They all joined in and devoted themselves to the actions of picking stones, quarrying, and building bridges.
The neighbors invited craftsmen to start building the stone bridge. The disabled child was also devoted to it. However, the bridge had not been built yet, and the child blinded his eyes in a rock drill. People regretted, resented, and blamed God for being unfair. A child who was originally so pitiful, only thinking about everyone, but received such retribution. But the child seemed to have no complaints and groped to do some work within his ability on the bridge construction site every day. With everyone's joint efforts, the stone bridge was finally completed. While everyone cheered and celebrated, they all looked at the lonely, lonely, disabled, and now blinded. Although the child could not see anything, his face showed the happiest and happiest smile in his life.
At this time, an unexpected thunderstorm seemed to wash away the dust and make the stone bridge look strong. However, after a deafening thunder, everyone was shocked to find that the child had been hit by the huge thunder and fell to the ground and died. Everyone was stunned, and then they couldn't help but burst out their emotions, lamenting the child's life and accusing the heaven of unfairness...
Bao Zheng, who happened to be called the Master of Qingtian, was in this way by the people. The people stopped the official sedan chair and asked the children for justice. They asked the Prime Minister in a confused manner: Why can good people not be rewarded? How can good people do good people in the future? Bao Zheng, who was so popular among the people, was inspired by the emotions of the local people. He wrote a quick letter, wrote six big words "I would rather do evil than do good" and then left.
Back in the capital, Bao Zheng reported to the Emperor Ming to the public affairs together with his experiences on the road, but he hid his inscription. Because although he was confused about the evil retribution for doing good for the child, he still felt deeply uneasy after thinking about it. Unexpectedly, the emperor had to pull him to the harem to say something after retreating from the court. It turned out that a few days ago, the emperor added a new dragon son, which was very popular, but the child cried all day long, which made the emperor and the imperial concubine very uneasy. He specifically asked Lao Bao to take a look. Seeing that the child's skin was better than snow, Bao Zheng clenched his fists, so he ordered the palace maid to carefully open the prince's fists and saw the emperor.
There was a line of words on Zi's tender and white little hand, which was exactly the six words he wrote, "Why wake up evil rather than do good." Lao Bao's face suddenly turned red to his ears, and he quickly reached out to wipe the six words. It was strange that the handwriting disappeared in an instant, and the prince no longer cried. Seeing that the birthmark on the prince's hand was wiped off by Lao Bao (the other people saw that the line was just a birthmark), he was afraid that Lao Bao would erase the blessing root and rebuked Bao Zheng. Bao Zheng hurriedly knelt down and said that the guilty minister should die. Then he reported the inscription to the emperor. The emperor also felt strange and ordered Bao Zheng to use the Yin-Yang Cauldron, the country's important weapon, to go to the underworld to find out.
Bao Zheng went to the underworld with the Yin-Yang Cauldron, and he knew the truth. It turned out that the child had many sins in his previous life and needed to repay his evil retribution for three lives. Indra's original arrangement, he made him lonely in his first life as a disabled person, and in his second life he was blinded but was struck by lightning in his third life. Indra's life, the child was reborn in poverty and disabled, but he could change his past mistakes. He only wanted to do something beneficial for others, so Indra asked him to return his karma for two lives in one life, causing him to blind his eyes. But the child did not blame the world and thought about building a stone bridge to seek welfare for everyone. Indra's life also took his karma for the third life for one life, so he killed him by thunder. The King of Hell asked Bao Zheng, he would return his evil karma for three lives, or do you think of a good thing or a bad thing. Indra's life, he returned his karma for three lives, because he did good deeds, and only thought about others in his heart
, without any care, has reached the state of "not practicing Taoism is already in the Tao" in some aspects, and has accumulated a lot of virtue, so after death, he immediately reincarnated as the current prince and enjoyed the blessing of the heavens. Therefore, this story tells us that the Tao and reason in the universe may be different from the Tao and the Tao in our world. People in the world are greedy for pleasure, and do not hesitate to harm others and make intrigues, and even commit heinous sins. For those who are wise to practice, endure hardships, hardships, and return to karma are great things. Only by giving up can they get it. They can fully and comprehensively understand and observe the fundamentals of everything, and grasp the absolute truth that exists in our universe. It is Tao! Super Super, you are still young now, and when you have rich experience and knowledge, you will slowly realize the truth and the Tao!"
(End of this chapter)
Chapter completed!