PureInsight | April 15, 2007
[PureInsight.org] Many people
would think the causal relationship in "Good is rewarded with good and
evil is met with evil," comes from Buddhist theory. However, the old
saying that "a family that accumulates good deeds will have abundant
blessings; a family that accumulates misdeeds will be met with
calamity," does not come from Buddhism; instead, it comes from the
ancient Chinese book, Yijing.
What it means is, a family that does good deeds will pass its blessings
to its descendants and a family that does bad deeds will suffer and
even bring harm to its later generations. Therefore, it shows that the
Chinese people have accepted the theory of retribution from a long time
ago. In ancient China, most people believed that good is rewarded with
good and evil is met with evil. In today's society, natural disasters
and manmade destruction play an important role in warning about human
behavior. It not only has something to do with immediate retribution in
this lifetime, but also relates to a certain causal relationship with
the bad deeds done by ancestors.
Through the ages, there have been numerous examples of good being
rewarded with good and evil being met with evil. As a principle of
heaven, from Emperors and chancellors to common folks, no one has ever
escaped from it. For instance, the extremely treacherous Song Dynasty
(960-1279 A.D.) official Qin Hui used to be so powerful that he could
hoodwink the public. But because he did so much evil, including
fabricating false charges to murder good people, he suffered immediate
retribution. Ulcers grew in his back and he died in pain. After he
died, his image was forged into an iron statue kneeling before Yue
Fei's (a hero of the Southern Song dynasty, murdered by Qin Hui) tomb,
where he has been suffering people's revilement for nearly a thousand
years. Qin Hui's evil deeds have harmed his descendants so much that
people were ashamed to have Qin as their last name for hundreds of
years.
Another instance was a villainous man in the village where I spent my
childhood. He murdered his neighbor for some personal gain. The
victim's family members did not retaliate against him, but besides this
person's own imprisonment, one of his sons fell into a well for no
reason and was drowned. His other son suffered mental collapse after
growing up and committed suicide by jumping off a building.
A recent instance occurred in the Sujiatun Region of Shenyang City,
China. The art teacher in the 68 Middle School, Zhang Tongxing,
organized a student signature petition event to defame Falun Gong and
had drawn comics to attack and defame Falun Gong. On Aug. 11, 2003, a
sudden storm came up when Zhang was fishing and a lightning strike
killed him. Zhang's body showed the back of his head was bleeding, his
hair was burned, there were holes in his hat and the clothes in front
of his chest, respectively, and the fabric on the edges was burned.
This indicates that during a person's lifetime of several decades, one
harvests what one plants. No matter who has done bad deeds in the
world, not only must one pay for it but sometimes one's future
generations will be harmed, also.
There are also countless examples of good being rewarded with good.
According to historical books, in the Fujian area in ancient China, a
man named Yang Rong had been the Junior Preceptor of a young emperor.
His ancestors had made their living by operating a ferryboat for
generations. Whenever there was a flood that destroyed houses, there
were always people, farm animals and goods drifting down the river.
Other boats would fight to scoop the goods up, but Yang Rong's ancestor
would only save people and not touch the goods. Everybody laughed at
him and called him stupid. When Yang Rong's father was born, the Yang
family gradually started to become wealthy. One day, a God in the form
of a Taoist came to the Yang family and told Yang Rong's father, "Your
ancestors have accumulated a lot of virtue. The descendants are bound
to enjoy wealth and honor. You should build a tomb for your ancestors
in such and such place." Yang Rong's father then buried his father and
grandfather there. Later on, Yang Rong was born, he succeeded in the
imperial civil service exam system when he was only 20 years old, and
later became one of the highest officials that assist the emperor to
handle national affairs. Moreover, the Emperor conferred on his
great-grandfather, grandfather and father an official title equal to
Junior Preceptor of an emperor. His offspring were also prosperous and
many decent gentlepersons have been born into this family.
The Gods see all. The heavenly law controls everything and no one who
breaks it can escape. Goodness and compassion will eventually be
rewarded with blessings and the evil doers will not escape from the
heavenly punishment whatsoever.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2007/3/31/43059.html
