PureInsight | September 22, 2008
[PureInsight.org] During the Chinese New Year, several fellow practitioners and I drove out to the countryside near a temple. On this trip, I suddenly understood the karmic relationship among those three practitioners and myself.
During the Ming Dynasty, on a very, very high mountain, one day a scholar was grazing his lone sheep. This sheep was more beautiful than other sheep and very sagacious with some abilities. Later, there came a very strange cloud in the sky. The scholar was reading with intense concentration and didn’t notice the cloud. When he finished reading, he found that there was a long bag on the back of the sheep. He didn’t know who put the bag there and found there were several books about cultivation inside. It was getting late, and he went home without reading the books carefully.
This scholar used to be the son of a governmental official. But one day, some gangsters came and murdered his entire family; only he survived because he happened to be out at the time. He inherited some wealth and went to the mountain to study diligently. This sheep was given to him by his neighbor to keep him company.
He really thought of the sheep as a companion. This sheep was very amiable and could read his mind. When he got home, he read those cultivation books. His Buddha nature then came out, and he made up his mind to cultivate steadfastly.
About two months later, for an unknown reason, the sheep fell from the mountainside while grazing and died. The scholar was very upset. He buried the sheep and planted a fruit tree on its grave.
Everyday, he cultivated himself by following the books. When he had a tribulation, he would go in front of the sheep’s grave and talk a little bit.
Two years later, he went down the mountain to get water. On his way down, he found a very handsome and adorable boy of around two years old. Who lost this boy? He waited there for half a day and nobody came back to claim the child. He had no choice but to bring the child back with him. He named the child after the dead sheep, “Yang Er.”
When Yang Er was around 4 or 5 years old, one morning when the scholar opened the door, he found there was a young woman lying outside in the snow. He helped the woman into his home, but when Yang Er saw her, he said she was a demon. The scholar was very confused and thought, “Why would Yang Er say that such a beautiful woman was a demon? How could I do nothing to save her?” Then he looked at this woman carefully. She was extremely beautiful but she was indeed demonic looking. As soon as she recovered, he sent her away.
About one year later, again in the morning, the scholar found another woman lying outside and because he was afraid that she was also a demon, he didn’t want to take her in. However, Yang Er said that this woman could be his mother. The scholar took the woman into his home full of misgivings. When he looked at the woman carefully he found that she was extremely ugly, and he didn’t want to look at her again. He wanted to send her away within two days. Two days later, this woman had recovered, and he told her that she could leave now saying, “It is not convenient for us to be together since I am a cultivator.” The woman cried and said, “I am lonely. Where do you want me to go? If you really don’t want me to stay here, I will leave tomorrow if it is a clear day.” He found that the lady was very pitiable and agreed.
In the morning of the second day, he got up early, prepared food and asked her to get up and eat. At that time the sky was clear. However when they finished breakfast, it started to rain heavily. The woman laughed and said, “It seems that heaven doesn’t want me to go. Also, the rice you cooked was too soft, and I wanted to sleep longer, so don’t make so much noise when you are cooking next time.” The scholar mumbled, “You’re so picky.” He made up his mind to send her away the very next day.
During the night, he walked outside around the grave of the sheep. He saw some miraculous scenes that he had never seen before: a very beautiful heavenly maiden dancing, all kinds of exotic flowers, and the fruit on the tree swinging with rhythm. He went home quickly and woke up Yang Er. Yang Er asked, “Can you let that lady be my mother?” The scholar said that she was too ugly. Yang Er said, “I still want her to be my mother even if she is ugly.” The scholar thought that he would let her stay if it rained another day.
Coincidentally, it was still raining heavily the next morning. The scholar thought that it was the will of heaven. When the woman woke up, he said, “It is still raining heavily outside. If you really have no place to go, you can stay here. I am a cultivator; it would be good if you could also cultivate and take care of Yang Er with me.” The woman asked, “Didn’t you think I was ugly and say I was picky?” The scholar said, “Yes, I did, but Yang Er wants you to be his mother.” Then, Yang Er came in and called out “Mom” to the woman. The woman said, “You need to marry me.” Two days later, they got married, and at the wedding, when he removed the red veil covering her face, he found that the woman had become very beautiful. The scholar said, “You tricked me.” The lady smiled and said, “I used to be the lotus heavenly maiden in a heavenly paradise. Heaven found that you have very good in-born quality and sent me to test you. Last time, I transformed into a very beautiful woman and you weren’t moved. Then I became very ugly, yet you still let me stay. Yang Er is also a very good child with very good in-born quality. We can now cultivate together. Although we are now married, we need to stay celibate since we are all cultivators.”
Hence, the three of them stayed together to cultivate. After nearly forty years, there came a time when there were a lot of gangsters around those parts, and because they didn’t want to get involved in ordinary affairs, they all passed away when sitting in meditation and finished their cultivation in that life.
The karmic relationship between people is very interesting. In this life ‘Yang Er’ and the ‘lotus heavenly maiden’ differ in age by nearly ten years, but they cooperate very well. They always go to other cities together and go out early and come back at dusk. Another practitioner, although he is a little careless, doesn’t miss a single opportunity to validate Fa and clarify the truth. For example, when we went out to the countryside on that trip, he wrote, “Falun Dafa is good” on the wall to let every tourist have a chance to learn the truth.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2008/8/26/54543.html
