PureInsight | August 12, 2007
[PureInsight.org] During the
latter part of the reign of Emperor Kang Xi, there was a man called Liu
Heng in Zhang Ge Bridge, He Jian County. Heng, meaning "harsh," was not
his original first name, but was given to him by others because he was
very harsh and overbearing.
One year the river was swollen and some of the small boats often
capsized due to big waves. One day, Liu Heng saw a woman in the river
crying for help with only a broken scull in her hands. However, nobody
dared to rescue her because of the violent waves. Lu Heng called to
others in anger: "Are you real men? How can you not help when you see a
dying person?" Then he rowed a small boat by himself, following the
woman for more than two miles. The boat was nearly turned over on a few
occasions but, eventually, he saved the woman's life. Two days later,
the woman gave birth to a boy.
After a month, Liu Heng suddenly fell seriously ill. He asked his wife
to prepare his funeral. Other people felt very strange because Heng was
still able to walk at the time, but he sighed and said: "I don't think
I will live much longer. On the night when I saved that woman, I had a
dream. In the dream, I felt like I was in the nether world. The
officer-in-charge held a Life and Death Register and said to me: 'You
have committed lots of wickedness so you are supposed to die on a
certain day this year, then you will be born as a pig in your next five
lives. You will suffer from being slaughtered. However, you saved
two lives today, so your life can be extended for another two years
according to the law in the nether world. Now, the bad deeds you did
can be offset against the two years of your life, but you have to die
on the original day. However, you will not become a pig in your future
lives. Your last moment is coming soon, but people might not understand
why you are dying early despite the good thing you did. You are invited
here today to be told the reason. The karma in this life of yours will
be finalized and you can start again from the good in your future
lives.' When I woke up, I disliked the dream so much that I didn't tell
anyone. Now it is the day for my death. I will not live any longer even
though I would like to."
Liu Heng did die on the day that he was told. It can be seen that
divine justice never fails. One's destiny was determined by his overall
performance in several lives. Don't think there is no existence of
divinity when retributive justice did not seem to appear on a few
occasions.
(From: Ji Yun's Story Sketches Written in Yuewei Humble Cottage, in Qing dynasty,
volume 15)
Translated from:
http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2007/08/02/45089.html
