This starling has always been obsessed with the layman. It remembers his appearance - medium height, long face, and kind eyes. It has always wanted to repay him for saving his life, but it has not seen him for a long time.
That time, the starling suddenly remembered that the layman often went to the Guanyin Temple on the mountain to worship Buddha, so it flew over and hovered over the temple, but did not see the layman. Then it flew to the place where it had been injured by a boy with a slingshot. I looked around the locust tree, but the layman was still nowhere to be seen.
As I was flying back to my home in the jungle, I saw a man of average height carrying a small bucket to the lakeside. He swooped down from the sky to take a closer look. This man was the layman.
Of course, the starling couldn't talk to him in bird language, but its heart was full of gratitude to him, so it wandered over the lake, waiting for him. He saw him standing by the lake, chanting Buddha's name, and emptying the keg half full. All the live loaches swam into the lake.
The starlings knew that he was releasing the animals, and they chirped more and more gratefully. This chirping sound was the song of birds praising the layman for releasing the animals. Of course the layman didn't understand, and he didn't notice that the starling flying around him on the lake was actually the starling he had saved.
After the starling saw him released, he thought he would go home so that he could know where the layman's home was so that he could find the right place to repay his kindness.
However, the layman drew a bucket of water from the lake and did not go to the village along the lake. The starling had no way of knowing where he lived, so it continued to follow him, that is, flying above his head.
The starling thought: The layman will always go home, so I won’t give up observing him anyway.
The layman carried a bucket of water and walked straight to the Guanyin Temple on the mountain. He poured the water on the roots of a sandalwood tree in front of the temple. Perhaps because of the hot weather, the leaves of the sandalwood tree had turned yellow. Pouring the bucket of water was like giving food to the mouth. Dried sandalwood quenches thirst.
At this time, a fat monk in yellow robes came over and clasped his hands in praise, saying, Amitabha, the benefactor’s merits are immeasurable.
I watered the sandalwood tree because I was afraid it would die. What kind of merit is this? The layman held the empty barrel in his hand and was about to return. Suddenly he seemed to remember something, so he respectfully called the monk Master and asked him a question: At the end of last year, I was having a fortune-telling in West Street. The fortune-teller said that before the Spring Festival, I , there was a bloody disaster, but after a long time after the Spring Festival, I was still fine. Was the fortune teller wrong, or was there another reason?
The monk looked at the layman and said, the fortune teller was not wrong. You should have suffered a bloody disaster just because you often buy living animals and release them to save living beings. In addition, you have been practicing vegetarianism and chanting Buddha for a long time to dedicate your karma to your karmic creditors. The karmic creditors were saved. Therefore, if I don’t cause trouble for you, you will be safe and free from the bloody disaster that should have been inevitable in Dingye.
Thanks to the protection of Buddha, Bodhisattva and the benevolent gods of heaven and earth, I, Pei Minsheng, was able to avoid the bloody disaster by doing only a few insignificant good deeds. It is really touching. As he said this, Pei Minsheng put his palms together and bowed to the world and the earth, and then continued, I now swear to heaven and earth that I will be more diligent in doing good deeds and accumulating virtues in the future, practice diligently, and live up to the protection and high hopes of Buddha, Bodhisattva and the good gods of heaven and earth.
The starling rested on the top of the sandalwood tree in front of the temple. Listening to Pei Minsheng's words, it became more confident in repaying its kindness.
Pei Minsheng's practice seems to focus on content rather than form.
At this time, he recited the Buddha's name several times in front of the temple. He did not go into the temple to burn incense and worship Buddha. Instead, as usual, he performed many good deeds with the heart of a Buddha and a Bodhisattva, and used his cultivation to save people.
Starling followed him for several hours, and it was not until noon that he walked into the two-story brick and wood structure located south of the lake shore. As soon as the starling saw it, he knew that this was Pei Minsheng's home, so he planned to repay him by carrying something precious from a high mountain.
Soon, Pei Minsheng's wife Hua Yanfei discovered a sapling growing in the courtyard with very beautiful leaves. But she didn’t know what kind of tree it was, and she didn’t know even if she asked her husband. In the third year of growth, this kind of tree becomes a big tree, higher than the roof, and its lush branches and leaves serve as a shelter from the rain and shade of the house.
What's even more gratifying is that there is a kind of fruit growing on the branch, but I don't see it blooming. The fruit just grows. After a while, it grows into a full and huge size. When you look at the fruit, you know it is a fig.
An expert who was passing by discovered this and told Pei Minsheng and his wife that the figs had anti-cancer effects and that they could not afford to eat them themselves, so they might as well sell them for money.
Pei Minsheng thought so, so he posted an advertisement on a prominent wall of the market. Within a few days, people came to buy the figs one after another. Soon all the figs on the tree were picked and sold, and Pei Minsheng's family made a lot of money.
Because those who buy figs have cancer patients in their families and hope that eating these figs can control cancer, they are willing to spend money and sell hundreds of figs per kilogram with almost no counter-offering.
Pei Minsheng was a layman. Seeing that figs were a good thing, he picked three or five figs and took them to Guanyin Temple to offer them in front of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. He knelt down for a long time and silently thanked him. He said that there was a fig tree growing in my family and it was not planted by me. , I don’t know how it grew. It must be the blessing of Buddha and Bodhisattvas that led to this precious tree.
Just as he was about to leave the monastery, he met the fat monk in yellow robes from last time. He told him about a fig tree that grew out of nowhere in his yard. The fat monk said, there must be a reason for this. What is the reason? Let me meditate for a moment, open my heavenly eyes and observe, and I will be able to discern cause and effect.
OK! Pei Minsheng had just finished burning a stick of incense in front of the giant statue of Buddha and Bodhisattva in the temple. The fat monk came over and said to him, have you ever rescued an injured starling?
yes! Pei Minsheng recounted the entire process of stopping a boy playing with a slingshot gun from killing a starling and rescuing it.
The fat monk smiled slightly and said that I had just meditated for a moment and understood the whole story. That fig tree in your yard didn’t grow for no reason; it grew for a reason.
what reason? Pei Minsheng asked curiously.
The fat monk continued, after the wound on the right leg of the starling you rescued healed, he always wanted to repay you for saving his life. He waited and followed you for a long time, found your home address, and flew to a high mountain to carry it to him. Take a few fig tree seeds and sow them in your yard. If you are still worried that they will not survive, the starling digs a small hole with its sharp beak, takes the seeds in, covers it with soil, and then flies away with peace of mind. Later, only the seeds of one fig tree took root, sprouted and survived. If they all survive, you, Pei Minsheng, will make a fortune.
Pei Minsheng said, if a fig tree survives and I make a little fortune, I am satisfied. The fat monk said, Amitabha, people must be content and be happy forever!
Pei Minsheng thought to himself: I was so happy that I didn't ask why the buried fig tree seeds didn't survive. If I had asked, it would have revealed the weakness of human nature - that is, my latent greed. Pei Minsheng stretched out his hand and patted his thigh, muttering, "Quickly stop this greed, lest the monks laugh."
