CHINESE BUDDHIST
CHILDREN STORIES
(Accounts of
refraining from killing
and releasing
animals to make merit)
The
Old Hen Who Set The Alarm
Once
upon a time, in Jiashan of China there lived a person whose surname was
Kong. Once Mr. Kong paid a visit to a relative whom he had not seen for
a long time. They talked and talked until nightfall. Warm-heartedly the
relative invited him to stay for dinner. Since they rarely saw each other,
the relative attentively prepared thedinner. He wanted to slaughter the
old hen whom he had been keeping for years and cook it for Mr. Kong.
Off
he went to the hen-coop and seized the old hen. The old hen drew out her
throat and cried like anything when she knew that she was faced with imminent
disaster. Upon seeing the pitiful scene, Mr. Kong’s sympathy was arouse
and so he quickly told his relative,
“Please
don’t kill the hen!”
“But
this will make up a dish for you!”
“Don’t
worry, I’ll eat anything you give me.”
“I
should try my best to serve you since we rarely have a chance to get together.”
“Really,
you don’t have to… I, I…”
“C’on,
don’t say ‘I… I…’. Please make yourself at home.”
Mr.
Kong gave a gaze at the hen. He saw that her eyes was sad and tears were
on the verge of falling off. Suddenly Mr. Kong determined to make a lie
of “good-will”.
“The
case is,… I have been on vegetarian diet recently.”
“Oh!
Really? Why haven’t I heard you say that before?”
“You’ve
forgotten. We haven’t seen each other for a long time.
Really,
please don’t kill the hen.”
“Alright!
Since you are on vegetarian diet, we might as well join you for a vegetarian
dinner!”
It
was late after dinner. The relative asked Mr. Kong to stay overnight.Because
Mr. Kong was tired, he was soon in his “dream world” as soon as his head
hit the pillow. He was sleeping soundly, when suddenly, he felt a peckon
the face which woke him up. He opened his eyes and had a look. There he
saw the old hen whom he had saved that evening. Mr. Kong could not help
be annoyed. “My old hen, don’t disturb me, I want to sleep.” Then he went
to sleep immediately after he said that. However, the old hen did not listen
to him. She again pecked him and woke him up.
Mr.
Kong was becoming very annoyed. So he raised himself and sat on the bed
and said to her, “My old hen, you are so ungrateful.I’ve saved you from
being killed today. Yet tonight you aren’t even kind enough to allow me
a good nights sleep.” After rebuking the old hen and as he was just about
to lie down on the bed he unexpectedly heard a tremendous noise. He was
so shocked that he brokeinto a cold-sweat when he was able to look at what
had happened. A heavy block of stone had fallen off from the rotten roof
beam onto his pillow! Had he been lying down on the bed he would have been
killed. Gratefully, he saw the old hen leave and he understood the reason
for the old hen’s behaviour.
After
this event Mr. Kong really became a vegetarian. He also constantlytold
people about this story to persuade his relative and friends to avoid killing.
Extract
of The Buddhist Children’s Stories, page 1-4, published by TheWhite Cloud
Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, M¡ng Gu (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated
and proof-read by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2536 1st Lunar Monththe 3th(1993/01/25)01:00
Sydney.
The
Young Monk Who Saved The Ants
Once
upon a time in the deep mountains forest there lived an old monk and a
young monk. The old monk was a great practitioner of Buddha-dharma and
was frequently in deep meditation. Normally when he started meditation,it
could last for half a day or one full day. In addition, during his meditation
he would know what was going to happen in the future.
One
day, the old monk meditated again. Suddenly he found out that his little
disciple was going to pass away in eight days. Therefore the old monk called
the young monk and said,
“My
child, I am going to give you an eight-day holiday so that you can go home
to see your mother and father.”
“Really?
That’s very good, thank you Shifu.
In
fact, lately I have been feeling quite homesick too.”
“However,
you must remember to come back here by the eighth day.”
“Okay,
Shifu, please take care of yourself. I am leaving now.”
“Go
home now!”
Delightedly
the young monk went down the mountains, without realising that in the eyes
of the old monk, there was sadness and a sense of reluctance to see him
leave. After a long walk, the young monk stopped at the bank of the stream
to drink some water as he was getting thirsty. Then he saw there was an
ant cave in which countless ants were going into and out of it. He stayed
to observe for a while with interest. When he was just about to leave,
“Oh!
Why is the water level of the stream is rising? Oh no!! The ants will be
drowned!!”
The
reason was it had been raining upstream for a few days continuously. Therefore
the water level downstream was starting to rise.
He
quickly took off his cloth and he put some hard soil in it to made up a
protection wall along the cave. Not only did he managed to stop water from
covering the cave, but also skilfully diverted the flow of the waterto
somewhere else.
Hence
he saved the lives of countless ants. Eight days passed quickly. The old
monk was strolling in the mountains forest sadly. Suddenly from a distance,
he saw the little monk coming back upto the mountains cheerfully. Happily
he asked the young monk to recount what he has done in the pass eight days
while he had been away. When he pondered on this story he finally understood
that because the young monk had saved the lives of countless ants this
has caused his fated eight-day life expectancyto lenghten into a long and
happy life.This is the merit of cultivating good deeds, however seemingly
insignificant they be.
Extract
of The Buddhist Children’s Stories, page 5-7, published by TheWhite Cloud
Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, M¡ng Gu¢ (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated
and proofread by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2536 12th Lunar Monththe 28th(1993/01/20)
23:45, Sydney.
The
Eleven Pigs
Once
upon a time in Yongzhou (China) there lived a butcher whose surnamewas
Zhang. Everyday he would kill a pig to supply the demand for the people
who lived around him. However, slaughtering pigs was an act of killing
sentient beings Therefore he often thought of making a living out of other
profession,
“Em,
I should change my profession! There are many jobs I can do out of’360
professions’. Why should I be a butcher? My knife has to kill a pigand
“dye red” each day. If I kill 30 pigs each month then I will have killed
360 pigs every year. It’s terrible whenever time I think about it.”
However,
‘Butcher Zhang’ had a family to feed. Slaughtering pigs was a profession
that he could made money with ease. Therefore his thought of changing profession
became replaced by another thought. He would reassured himself,
“Oh
well, well! Changing profession is not that easy, is it? Furthermore it
isn’t me who like killing pigs. It’s other people who liketo eat pork.
Otherwise who’ll I sell to when I kill them? Even though Iincur bad retribution,
those who eat pork should also share theresponsibilities with me as well.
Also we keep pigs because we want to eat them, don’t we?!!”
Since
he had to arrive at the morning market early, and also pigs made tremendous
noise when he killed them, therefore he chose to slaughter the min the
dawn. Butcher Zhang also had a habit which he had been keeping upfor years.
That was: Every morning as soon as he heard the bell rang from the nearby
Buddhist temple, he would get up and slaughtered a pig. This habitual action
had never changed. However, one day he got up late. Later he found out
that the temple did not ring the bell at all in that morning. When the
butcher went to the pig-shed he discovered the mother pig he was going
to kill gave birth to 11 sucking-pigs in the morning. Everyone of them
was so fat and already they were leaning so close to the mother and suckling
for milk. How lovely they were! He felt the event was extraordinary.
Therefore
he went to the temple. The abbot of the temple told him,
“I
had a dream last night. I dreamed of 11 children who knelt down to beg
me to save the life of their mother.
I
asked them how I could save her. They replied it was very simple. All I
needed to do was not to ring the bell.”
Eleven
children? Eleven pigs? Suddenly the butcher understood the relationship
between them. He threw the knife he killed the pigs into the river. Eventually
he determined to change his profession.
Extract
of The Buddhist Children’s Stories, page 8-10, published by TheWhite Cloud
Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mang Gua (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated
and proof-read by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2536 12th Month the28th(1993/1/20)
23:45, Sydney.
The
Big Tortoise Who Seized The Bandit
This
story happened in the Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1644 – 1911, the dynasty established
by the Manchu people, Ed.). The time was the 7th Year of Kang Xi reign
(The first Emperor of The Qing Dynasty).
There
was a merchant who came from Anhui. When he was by passing the place where
Songhua Jiang (river) and the Huapu Jiang met, he saw a fisherman caught
a huge tortoise. His sympathy for the tortoise arouse so he talked to the
fisherman,
“I
gave you three taels (unit of weight for silver in old China) of silver.
Pleasedon’t sell it for food to people. Let it go back to the river.”
However,
unexpectedly there was another fisherman peeping that and thought the merchant
possessed many taels of silver. Therefore he had athought of seizing the
money. Then he took the advantage when everyone was asleep, he held his
knife and jumped onto the merchant’s boat. One strike he killed the boat-person
and the merchant’s servant who were sleeping soundly. Then he woke up the
merchant,
“Ooi!
Get up! Get up! Give meall of your silver, otherwise I’ll kill you.”
“Okay!
Okay! All of my silver is here, take it, if only you don’t kill me.”
“Wah!
All of my life I have never seen so much silver. You ask me not to kill
you? No way! I’ve got the silver, why should I let you live?”
The
merchant kneeled down and begged with all his might,
“I
beg you to be kind, don’t kill me. In my family there are my wife and young
children to take care of. Furthermore I’ve already given you all of the
silver.”
Okay!
For the sake of your silver, I don’t kill you now. However, if I let you
go, it’s not of my benefits. Make it this way, I tie you up and throw you
into the river. Whether you’ll be alive or not that depend onyour luck.”
So
the fisherman tied the hands and legs of the merchant and threw him into
the river. The situation was critical. Since the hands and legs of the
merchant were tied up, he could not swim at all and it was up to the heaven
to decide his destiny. Upon this very critical moment, suddenly the “relief
troops” arrived. It was not anyone else but the tortoise whom the merchant
saved. It placed the merchant on its back and swam against upstream for
about 20 li (Chinesemile). Continuously it swam until dawn only then they
found the water police on petrol. The water police saved the merchant.
And under thedirection of the tortoise they caught the bandit fisherman
and resumed the lost 400 taels of silver. From then onwards, the people
living around and afar passed down with general approval the story of “the
huge tortoise seizing the bandit”.
Extract
of The Buddhist Children’s Stories, page 11-13, published by TheWhite Cloud
Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mang Gua (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated
and proof-read by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2536 12th Month the28th(1993/01/20),
23:45, Sydney.
The
Flies Who Paid A Debt Of Gratitude
During
China’s Sai Dynasty (A.D.581-618) in the busy capital city there lived
a ordinary person whose name was Mr. Wang Wu. He made wine and he made
a living out of it. Although Wang Wuwas an ordinary person, he was very
compassionate. For instance, when he made wine there were many flies who
were greedy of the fragrance of the wine. Thus they often fell down into
the wine cask and nearly got drowned. Then Wang Wu would carefully drained
the flies and dried them up with ash. When the flies woke up and were able
to fly, he released all of them as a work of merit.
One
thing that’s worth praising was that this virtues did not end in five minutes.
Instead it continued day after day, month after month and year after year.
He persisted in his virtues without stopping.
One
year misfortune came as someone lodged a false accusation against him.
Wang Wu was very worried as he saw the day of execution was nearing. “Honestly
I am innocent, but what can I do?”
However,
a miracle happened. When the executioner was just about to write the execution
statement, suddenly there came millions of flies who risked their lives
to seize the head of the brush pen. Therefore the executioner could not
write anything. It would not have been extraordinary when it happened once.
Whenever the executioner started to write, the samething happened again
and again. The officer then could not refrain from asking himself,
“What’shappening?
I have been an executioner for years and I have never encountered anything
like this. Perhaps someone has laid an unjust charge against him? I’d better
ask my superior to investigate the case.”
Because
of the flies’ rescue, Wang Wu finally regained his life from ‘the gate
of the hell’.
After
careful investigation of Wang’s case by the superior,Wang Wu was proved
innocent and eventually he was released. From then on Wang Wu went back
to his normal and happy life.
Extract
of The Buddhist Children’s Stories, page 14-16, published by TheWhite Cloud
Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mang Gua (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated
and proof-read by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2537 1st Month the4th(1993/01/26),
19:02, Sydney.
The
Story of A Stupid Boy
“Alas!
What a stupid son I have! I am worried that he will not be ableto preserve
all of the property if I hand down to him. There was a wealthy man who
was very astute and capable. However, he had a son who was very stupid
and good-at-nothing. Hence the wealthy man had been very distressful.
One
day he was again sat down in the living room and sighed. His son was sitting
opposite to him and was just mindlessly giggling, “Hihi, hehe!!” “Ai”,
the wealthy man could not help making a sigh. Then the family old maid
came in and said,
“Master,
there’s a monk looking for you for donation.”
The
wealthy man had been a person who knew how to respect the Buddhists. Therefore
upon hearing that, he said,
“Please
invite him in immediately.”
Soon
an old monk who looked very compassionate came in. The wealthy man very
politely requested him to sit down. The old monk did not sit down. Instead
he directly walked towards the stupid son and looked at him. Then the old
monk slowly touched his head for a few times and said,
“In
fact,this child is very clever and is good at studying. It’s a pity that
there’s too much killing in your home. And this prevent him from being
clever.”
He
left without looking back when he finished the remarks. There left the
wealthy man to think of the remarks of the old monk,
“The
old monk was right. Truly our family have been consuming big fishes and
much meat without stopping. Also we always throw dishes away when we cannot
finish them. And every festivals we will have delicacies from land and
sea. Perhaps it has been because we have been slaughtering many animals
at home that resulted in having an idiotic son.”
From
then onwards, the wealthy man changed himself completely – The wholefamily
started to become vegetarian. He banned anyone to take all liveanimals
into the kitchen. In addition, he spent much money to buy animalsto release
them in the wild as a work of merit. Thus he had been doing for many years.
Suddenly
one day the stupid son of the wealthy man ran to the father held his stomach
and shouted,
“Papa,
my stomach’s aching and I want to vomit.”
The
wealthy man was very worried. He was just about to invite a doctor to treat
his son when the son started to vomit some “black liquid”. Everyone was
astonished upon seeing it. However, the stupid son became very intelligent
since then. No longer anidiot any more, he mastered anything he learnt
in no time. The wealthy man was very happy so he let his son studied. Finally
the son attained the best results in the government examination. This confirmed
what the oldmonk had said before.
Extract
of The Buddhist Children’s Stories, page 17-19, published by TheWhite Cloud
Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mang Gua (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated
and proof-read by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2537 1th Lunar Monththe 8th(1993/1/30),
Sydney.
The
Snake Who Did Fortunate-telling
Once
upon a time there was a well-known family whose surname was Fang. Everyone
of the family was very kind, especially the old Madam Fang, who was a very
compassionate and affable old lady. We can tell from her everyday life’s
behaviour. She often reminded her maids,
“At
home do not pour any boiling or hotwater on the floor casually. This is
because it may kill many ants or little insects on the floor. And if it
flows through the drain it ispossible that it indirectly kill other small
animals.”
As
for the normal activities in the house or courtyard, the old madamalso
raminded family membrers to pay attetion when they walked. Otherwise they
could step on and kill little animals. In addition, she also told thegrandchildren
not to wilfully squeeze inserts that lived on the trees to death.
Hence
every member of the Fang family, young and old, always radiate an atmosphere
of auspicious sign. Anyone who saw would naturally feel comfortable right
from the heart. One day the old madam Fang’s son went to the capital city
for business. When he came back he brought back an man-servant, hoping
that the servant would help the old maiden to do some work. The old madam
happily accepted him.
However
that night she had a dream. In the dream a red snake told her,
“How’re
you old madam? Actually I am your neighbour, that is because I live in
the cave of the back of your courtyard. I have been moving in the past.
Since everyone casually pour the hot water and step on the ground without
payying attention, so I cannot be at rest. However since I moved here,
I have been very satisfied. This is due to your compassionate heart. Now
to repay your kindess, I would like to tell your fortune within these few
days .”
The
red snake pasued for a while, behaving like any other fortune-teller, it
shaked its head and continued,
“The
man-servant your son brought back is in fact a bandit. However, he will
do no harm. Five days latter his father will come to see him. You can give
them some tales of silver(money) and ask them to leave. Then everything
will be fine.”
Five
days later, the man-servant’s father came as expected. The oldmadam acted
very carefully. She did what the red snake had told her. After half a year,
there was a case of robbery took place in the neingboruing county. Later
it was found out that the robbers wer the father and son. Upon hearing
this, from then on the Fang family took even greater care of all the little
animals.
Extract
of The Buddhist Children’s Stories, page 20-22, published by TheWhite Cloud
Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mang Gua(R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated
and proof-read by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2537 1st Lunar Monththe 17th(1993/02/08),
Sydney.
The
Astute Dog
This
is an extraordinary story that happened in the reign of the QingDynasty
(the last dynasty of China, 1644-1911). In Wu Town of T¢ng Countythere
was a family who raised a dog named Lai Fu
.
Lai Fu was a lovely dog. His hair was curly and he had a pair of bigblack
sparkling eyes. Everyone who saw him adored him. Not only did the family
love him, but also the children living around cherished him as well. Lai
Fu not only looked lovely, was also very clever. He knew manytricks, which
included looking after the house for the master, holding the vegetable
basket in his mouth when the family members went to the market,and accompanying
the little master Ah Hui to play with a ball.
“Lai
Fu roll the ball here quickly.”
“Hm,
Lai Fu is very well-behaved”
Truly Lai Fu had been bringing happiness to the whole family. However,there was
something very unusual; every midnight he mysteriouslydisappeared, when
he returned home the next morning his whole body was soaking wet. One day
the master finally discovered this phenomenon, so he secretly followed
Lai Fu to find out what on earth Lai Fu had been doing. He was very
angry when he discovered the truth.
So
the story was: Every midnight Lai Fu secretly ran out of the house,swam
across the river to a family living on the other shore. At night he kept
watch over that family and went home at dawn. When the master knew the
truth, he scolded Lai Fu angrily,
“What
a little dog without any conscience! We give you food to eat, how can you
at night keep watch over someone else? If you do this again, I am not going
to keep you any more.”
Upon
hearing this, Ah Hui quickly came and said some fine words to defend Lai
Fu,
“Papa,
please do not scold him any more, he will not do it again”,
Ah
Hui continued,
“Right,
Lai Fu?”
Lai
Fu behaved as a little child who had made a mistake, bowing his headall
the time and murmuring under his breath. It seemed that he admitted he
was wrong. That night the master had a dream. He saw Lai Fu turned into
a beautiful little boy.
“Please
forgive me, I did not do it on purpose. Because I owe money to the family,
I have to go there to keep watch over then at night for them. I still owe
them 13 wasn qaan (cash, unit of money to measure copper coins in old China,
Ed.) When I finish paying my debt, I will not go there anymore, okay? I
will certainly repay you for your kindness.”
The
next day the master placed 13 wan qaan around Lai Fu’s neck. Lai Fu quickly
went to the family on the other shore, threw the money into their window,
and sped off home. From then on, Lai Fu always was well-behaved and looked
after the house. He never went anywhere.
One
summer’s day Ah Hui took Lai Fu to go swimming in the river. Ah Hui was
enjoying himself in the water while Lai Fu was watching with interest.
As Ah Hui played his legs suddenly became numb, “Oh no, my legs…” As
soon as he had said that he swallowed couple mouthfuls of water. He would
have drowned soon. Lai Fu who was on the bank jumped into the river with
a splash, swam with all his might towards his little master. Holdingthe
boy’s pants in his mouth, he swam towards the bank. Then he quicklyran
back to the house to inform the family. He saved Ah Hui’s life. After this
event, the good reputation of “,Lai Fu the astute dog” spread all overthe
village.
Extract
of The Buddhist Children’s Stories, page 23-26, published by TheWhite Cloud
Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mang Gua (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated
and proof-read by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2536 1st Lunar Monththe 21th(1993/02/12)16:00
Sydney.
The
Legend Of The Sparrow
“You
don’t need to be worried about my illness. I believe I will recovergradually.”
Laying
in bed, Mrs. Fan, who had been very sick for months, was saying in a weak
voice to her husband. Mr. Fan patted her with his hand and comforted her,
“You’re
my wife, I must think of a way to help you recover from the illness. And
I still hope that you will give birth to a son for me.”
“Ge!
Ge! Ge!”
Mrs.
Fan kept coughing for a few times.
“See!
Your illness is getting worse, how can I not be worried about you? Right,
yesterday I requested a prescription from Daoist Fang (people who practise
Daoism). Let us try it.”
Mr.
Fan stood up and went to get the prescription as soon as he had said that.
“What
prescription?”
“Em!
The prescription says that we need to keep 100 sparrows. Everydaywe have
to feed them infused-herb rice. After 21 days of feeding them we kill them
and eat their brains.”
“What?
Eat the brains of 100 sparrows? No! No way! This is too savage, I cannot
eat them.”
Mrs.
Fan shook her head to imply her disapproval.
“What
is savage or not savage? You have to eat anything to recover. Furthermore
Daoist Fang told me this prescription is very effective.”
Mr.
Fan did not agree with Mrs. Fan’s opinion. He went downtown alon eand brought
back 100 fat sparrows. He kept them in a cage. Then Mr. Fan he quickly
went to the Chinese herb chemist to buy the infused-herd rice. Laying in
bed, Mrs. Fan heard the twittering of the sparrows. She knew of her husband’s
determination. She could not help sighing, “Alas!” Mrs. Fan continued to
think,
“No!
Normally I couldn’t be hard-hearted enough to carelessly step on an ant.
Now we’re going to kill 100 livesparrows just to save my life, how could
I have the heart to do it? 100lives!!”
As
Mrs. Fan was thinking, she made an effort to walk and crawled to the courtyard.
She opened the sparrows’ cage, and set the 100 sparrows free. When Mr.
Fan took the herbs back home and saw the empty cage, he kne wthat his wife
did not want to eat. So he could not help but let it go.
Strangely
enough, however, since Mrs. Fan set free all of the 100 sparrows,her mind
was unusually calm and comfortable. So she started to recover slowly. Even
more extraordinary, one year later Mrs. Fan gave birth to afair and fat
baby boy. Mr. Fan could not help but keep laughing and holding the baby
and showing it to his wife,
“See,
our son is so lovely!”
To
their astonishment, at the same time both of them discovered – that there
were many black spots on their baby’s both arms. And the shapes of the
spots resembled to the shapes of the sparrows exactly. My dear reader,
what do you think of this phenomenon?
Extract
of The Buddhist Children’s Stories, page 27-30, published by TheWhite Cloud
Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mang Gua(R.O.C Year)76 Oct.Translated and
proof-read by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2537 1st Lunar Monththe 27th (1993/02/18)
11:45, Sydney.
The
Soft-shell Turtle Who Cures Ailments
Once
upon a time there was a couple whose surname was Zhang. They liked eating
soft-shell turtle very much. One day they bought a huge soft-shell turtle
and gave it to the young maid called Ape,
“Ape!
Kill this soft-shell turtle. This time we want to eat a barbecued one,
pay attention todo your best!”
Ape
had never been fond of killing. However, it was hard for her not to obey
the command of the master. Therefore having no way out, she started to
sharpen the knife in the kitchen. The knife became sharper and sharper.
Ape gazed at the soft-shell turtle. She saw it looking at her with its
eyes begging her not to kill.
Suddenly
Ape felt that she did not have the heart to kill it. Therefore she secretly
took the soft-shell turtle and set it free in the river. Then she told
the master a lie of good-will,
“I’m
sorry, it was me who didn’t look well after the soft-shell turtle and now
it is missing. Please forgive me.”
Hearing
that the master was outraged,
“How
could you be so careless! Where were your eyes? How could you lose such
a big soft-shell turtle? Iam really disappointed! Without any cause you
let us lose a beautifulmeal! Alas!”
Not
long after suddenly Ape suddenly fell severely ill and it seemed that she
was dying. Mr. and Mrs Zhang saw no sign of her recovery, so they called
people to take her home. However, those people threw her on the river bank
near her home and went off.
At
midnight, a big soft-shell turtle suddenly emerged from the water, carrying
wet mud, the sort-shell covered Apes body with the mud. Originally Ape
had a temperature all over her body. But then she felt her body become
so much cooler and she recovered in no time. When Ape went back to her
master’s place, everyone was so surprised that no one could say a word.
“What
was the matter?”
Apê
told the story of how the soft-shell turtle helped her to cure thedisease.
The master only half-believed her so they went to look for the sort-shell
turtle. Consequently they discovered that it was the one they had lost.
The whole family was deeply moved by this incident. The couple hugged Ape
and said, “Fortunately you set free the soft-shell turtle so that we will
not continue to make mistakes. Ape, from now on we swear we will not eat
soft-shell turtles any more.”
Extract
of The Buddhist Children’s Stories, page 31-33, published by TheWhite Cloud
Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mang Gua (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated
and proof-read by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2537 1st Lunar Monththe 27th
(1993/02/18), 16:00, Sydney.
The
Spiral Shells Who Mend The Ship
Hang
Zhou is a scenic place in China. During Qing Dynasty (the lastdynasty of
China, 1644-1911) there was a kind-hearted person named Run Qepang. Ever
since Run Qepang was young he was very kind and he treasured little
animals immensely. He also had an ambition of setting captured animals
free. Regularly, he did the hard work of going to the banks of the streams
or deep in the mountains to release captured animals. The animals he set
free were mostly spiral shells and little fishes. He always advised people
to set these two types of animals free. Once there was a little kid who
asked him,
“Uncle
Ru n, why do you advise people to set free spiral shells and fishes free?”
He replied with a smile,
“Oh!
It is because spiral shells and fishes are cheap to buy, but when you set
them free you will have saved countlesslives.”
Therefore
as long as Run Qepang saw people selling spiral shells and
little fishes in the market, he always bought them and set them free. Not
only did he continue his blessed actions, but also he urged people tofollow
him.
In
the year of Kong Xi (name of first of emperor of Qing Dynasty) Geng Sheng
(the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Braches, a way of calculating years in
old China, ed.), because Run Qepang was out on business, he was on board
a ship by passing Fu Chun. Unfortunately the bottom of the ship wass truck
by a submerged rock. The ship was in the middle of the river and the water
was rising through the hole struck by the rocks. Soon the ship would be
sink. Run Qepang was panicked and, he thought, “Alas! This time perhaps
I will die.”
At
the critical moment, suddenly there was a disturbance from the bottom of
the ship. Carefully they looked at it, the water had stopped pouring in.
Run Qepang felt that it was unusual. When the ship was onshore, only then
did they find out that there were countless spiral shells, layer upon layer,
they had used their bodies to fill out the hole. In addition, there were
thousands of little fishes helping the shells by the sides of the ship.
This extraordinary situation made all eyewitnesses admit that it was the
first time in their lives that they had ever seen such a marvellous spectacle.
Extract
of The Buddhist Children’s Stories, page 35-36, published by TheWhite Cloud
Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mang Gua (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated
and proofread by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2537 1st Lunar Monththe 1st
(1993/1/23), Sydney.
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