Documentation of Cause and Effect: Do Good Deeds and Receive Blessings

[PureInsight.org]

Yu Liangchen was from Jiangxi Province during the Ming Dynasty. He was
knowledgeable and talented, and passed the exam to be a scholar at age
18.  He made his living as a teacher and taught people how to do
good deeds. However, he failed to pass an advancement exam seven times
and four of his five sons died early. The fifth son disappeared and his
whereabouts were unknown. He had four daughters and three of them died
young. His wife was heart broken and she cried so much that she became
blind. Slowly, they were living in poverty.  



Yu Liangchen just could not figure out what had gone wrong. He thought
that he had not done anything major wrong.  In addition, he did
good deeds all those years. "Why is Heaven punishing me?" He
accumulated a lot of resentment in his heart. Finally, when he was 40
years old, he completed a document and asked the Kitchen God to relay
his grievance to Heaven on his behalf.



 When he was 47 years old, one night he and his wife were sitting
at home and feeling lonely and sad. Suddenly an old man came to visit.
Amidst their conversation, the old man said, "You always feel that you
have done a lot of good deeds in your lifetime, but you have not
received any blessings. Therefore, you have a lot of resentment in your
heart. In reality, you have had a lot of bad thoughts. When you were
doing good deeds, you did not do them sincerely but did them for fame
and gain. In your document to Heaven, you were moaning and groaning and
that was insulting to Heaven. Instead of receiving blessings, I 
am afraid that you will get punishment!"



Yu retorted, "I am sure that there is a record of all I have done. I don't believe that all my good deeds will be in vain."



The old man said, "When you let an animal go that had been caught, you
just chimed in with others and it did not come out of the compassion in
your heart. If no one had suggested it, you definitely would not have
done it. Look at your own house, there are fish, shrimp, and crabs.
Everyone think that you are eloquent, skillful, and humorous with
words, but your talks are full of immoral and lustful words. When your
sharp tongue caused damage to others, you thought that you were honest
and generous. Even though you have not committed adultery, your eyes
are rolling when you see an attractive woman and your heart is filled
with lust. How can you say that you are pure and have never indulged
your sexual desires?  How can you say that you are not ashamed to
face the gods in Heaven?"

 

The old man also said that, actually, Yu had never done anything that
was good. In his heart, there were greed, lust, jealousy, self-pride
and other evil thoughts. If he continued to behave like that, he would
encounter many tribulations and hardships instead of blessings.



Yu was very frightened and knelt down to cry his heart out. He was
determined to change himself from then on and do good deeds from his
heart. He would truly practice what was in his heart and, thus, called
himself a "pure-hearted Taoist!"



When Yu Laingchen was 50 years old, he passed the official exam and
went to the capital to serve. He also found his long lost son, so they
had a reunion.  Afterwards, Yu did good deeds every day and was
very strict with himself.  He wrote everything down and set an
example for his offspring. Yu Liangchen died peacefully when he was 88
years old.



As the saying goes, "The private talks in the human world are like
thunder in Heaven. The eyes of Heaven are sharp and bright." When a
good deed is performed out of a sincere heart, then that is a really
good deed. If one's heart is filled with evil thoughts and bad notions,
no matter how good it may look from outside, it carries ulterior
motives. A gentleman's way to cultivate is to be open and honest. In
addition, he needs to have his inside match his outside.



( From Yu Jingyi Gong Met Kitchen God )



Translated from:

http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2007/8/28/47997.html