PureInsight | April 22, 2007
[PureInsight.org] Taoist priest
Mai Daolu was originally a eunuch in the Song dynasty. Once he went out
to buy some lumber for the palace. When he rode past Xishuimen at the
capital, he saw a dead beggar lying by the riverbank. There were a worn
out mat and a short cane beside the beggar. Daolu bought a shirt and a
pair of pants, hempen sandals, and a scarf and buried the beggar.
Later, Daolu received an order to go to Fuyan as an envoy. When he
arrived at Baoban, he got accommodations at a relay station. A person
came requesting to see him and said: "I came to thank you for the favor
you have done for me."
While Daolu was puzzling, the person said to him: "What I am wearing
from head to feet are gifts from you." Daolu thought for a long while
and then realized that this visitor was the beggar.
He quickly ordered the servants to leave and had a long talk with him.
When he returned to the capital, Daolu ordered the grave opened and
found it was empty except for a worn out mat and a short cane in it.
Daolu then gave up his official post and became a monk. He was past
ninety when he died.
From Kuoyizhi, a collection of anomalies written in Song dynasty
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2007/4/18/43356.html
