Yang Shuihua said with shame, I saw that as the abbot of the temple, you particularly trusted Monk Qian. I was worried that you would leave all the important affairs of the temple to him and make me and other senior monks and nuns obey his arrangements. So I was very jealous of him and felt unhappy if I didn't cheat him. At this point, tears flowed down, and the tears she shed were really tears of repentance.
Not long after, Yang Shuihua passed away in the hospital. Before her body was transported to a nearby funeral home for cremation, I organized a group to pray around her body in the crystal coffin, chanting Buddha's name in shifts, day and night, praying for her to repent. The awakened soul is reborn in the Pure Land.
Qian Jishi told what he had experienced personally, and Gu Weixing listened with interest. Then he said, Master, Yang Shuihua was so bad at first, but in the end she repented after she got sick, and she was saved by you. Are there any stories like this about converting people? I still want to hear it.
Qian Jishi said, let me tell you another story about how to convert a group of people, and then go to sleep! It's getting late.
Gu Weixing nodded. So Qian Jishi started talking.
That happened at Amituo Temple. The temple was breaking ground to build a Mahavira Hall according to Master Yaoguang's plan. Not long after the initiative was released, believers from all over the world, that is, all walks of life, donated money and materials, especially building materials such as cement, sand, bricks, and tiles. These are not very valuable. The most valuable ones are those who have faith. The big boss donated steel bars.
When the project started, most of the area in front of the temple was filled with spare steel bars. That night, around the second watch, most of the monks in the temple were asleep.
Generally, lay people go to bed very late, but monks go to bed very early because they have to get up from 4 to 5 a.m. to attend early classes, so they all abide by the established schedule.
Although Qian Jishi was not a monk in this temple, he still abided by the rules of the temple while living here as a guest. He also went to bed. Around Xu time, Qian Jishi had the urge to urinate. He guessed that he had eaten too many pickles that day and felt salty, so he drank too much tea. Therefore, when he slept at this time, his body functions would react instinctively. That is, there is a bit of swelling down there, which wakes him up and makes him wake up at night.
But as soon as he woke up, he heard the sound of someone working on steel bars outside. His first thought was that someone must be stealing steel bars. The common practice of monks is to immediately turn on the light, put on their clothes and get up, open the door and shout: Who stole the steel bars in the temple? Can't steal. The property in the temple is donated by believers from all over the world. If you steal it, you will be punished.
Qian Jishi didn't yell like that. He didn't even turn on the lights in the dormitory. Instead, he quietly got dressed and got up. He gently opened the door half way, just enough for people to come out. He didn't make any noise, and then started He went to the toilet behind the house to relieve himself, and then came back. He did not go back to the dormitory to sleep, but came to the field. In the hazy night, he saw someone pulling hard on the end of the steel bar where the steel bars were stacked. It seemed that it was difficult to twitch.
So Qian Jishi walked over, bent over or squatted down to help the person pumping the steel bar harder. At first they thought Qian Jishi was one of their group. After pulling out a lot of steel bars and hauling them away on a truck, they found that Qian Jishi didn't go with them, so they felt something was wrong.
Of course, they didn't know who Qian Jishi was, but they all wondered in their hearts: Is this person who helps them steal steel from the temple? He must not be from the temple! If they were people from the temple, would they help them do such bad things?
If they were lay people outside the temple, generally speaking, they wouldn't go to gangsters to do bad things at night, right? There may be some people who do good things for others; those who do bad things for others should be relatively rare, or none at all.
Whether you are doing good things for others or doing bad things for others, there should be a purpose, either for profit, a favor or a good reputation.
But what did the person who tried so hard to help them pull out the steel rod to steal it want? Moreover, it was dark at night and people's faces couldn't be seen clearly. We were all strangers to each other. What was he trying to do?
After the thieves returned home, the more they thought about it, the more they felt something was wrong. They are habitual thieves. It can be said that they have stolen for many years and made ill-gotten gains for many years. They have never encountered such a strange thing, which makes them feel particularly uneasy.
The next night, this group of thieves went to Amitabha Temple again. This time they didn't steal. They mainly wanted to find the person who helped them pull out the steel bars. They wanted to ask him what he was trying to do. Why didn't you scream or call the police? Instead, you helped them steal. Around the You hour, almost all the monks in the temple took a rest. They tiptoed to the steel pile and deliberately pulled the steel bars to make noise.
In the haze, a big thief noticed that the dark figure appeared again last night. Anyway, in the darkness, neither of us could see each other's faces clearly. The big man approached the black figure and asked, are you a monk in the temple?
yes. The black shadow is none other than Qian Jishi. He answered truthfully.
To tell you the truth, I said something ugly at the beginning. We stole steel bars here last night. Were you the one who helped us pull out the steel rods? The big man asked bluntly while stating the matter.
yes. Qian Jishi replied.
That's weird. Since you are a monk in the temple, if you find someone stealing, why don't you drive them away or call the police? Why are you so indifferent to what is going on in this temple? I wonder if you have a problem with the abbot or other people in the temple, or have they offended you? You have a grudge against them, so when someone comes to the temple to steal things, you just ignore them. Why do you want to help us steal?
Qian Jishi said, you are wrong, I don't think so. I think if I call the police and the police catch you and you are sentenced to jail, you will definitely resent the person who called the police, that is, you will resent me! He may even take revenge on me, which is very likely.
The big man said, that's true. Qian Jishi continued, "For you, I, a strange monk, helped you steal. You have never encountered such a thing, and you must be confused. What is going on?" The more you think about it, the more scared you become, and you don’t dare to steal anymore, right?
In the dark light, a medium-sized dark figure interrupted. Yes, this kind of thing has never happened before, and we were scared. Tonight, all the steel bars stolen last night were returned one by one. As the saying goes: If you are a thief with a guilty conscience, we are really worried about something happening.
Qian Jishi said, just send it back. Otherwise something will really happen, don’t you know? From ancient times to the present, people have never made money by stealing. If a thief is a thief, his family will always be poor and things will not go smoothly for him, right?
That's true. In the darkness, several thieves spoke in unison. Qian Jishi took the opportunity to tell them some knowledge about cause and effect, letting them understand that the retribution for doing bad things is very painful.
The big man, the little man and the other thieves were all scared, and they said, we have done a lot of bad things, is it too late to correct it now? Still getting retribution?
Qian Jishi said it was too late. You should recite the name of Amitabha sincerely like me and never do bad things from now on. Then even if you still receive retribution for the bad things you did in the past, it will be a serious crime and light retribution. It's equivalent to you owing me hundreds of thousands of dollars. I don't want you to pay it back. I'll forgive you more than half and ask you to pay back the other half. Then the pressure will be much less.
It is equivalent to giving a suspended death sentence to a person who should be sentenced to death, but he can still save his life. If he behaves well in prison, his sentence will be reduced. To put it more clearly, someone's sin should lead to one of his legs being cut off. Since you have corrected your sins and done some good deeds, the crime is reduced and you may only need to cut off one of your fingers. Isn't that much better?
When all the thieves heard this, they all expressed their opinions. I will no longer do bad things in the future, and I will also learn to be a good person.
Qian Jishi said that just being a good person is not enough. If you are a good person, a hundred years from now, when you are gone, your soul will be reincarnated and you will still be able to keep your body. But there is a problem. Before the human soul is reincarnated, in the underworld, all people must drink the soul-forgetting soup. After drinking it, the person will forget everything in the previous life. Then reincarnating and becoming a human again, because there is no good or bad Memories, greed, anger, stupidity, pride, suspicion and other bad habits will still appear in thoughts and behaviors. If you do too many evil things, the soul of the person will be reincarnated again after death, and the human body will not be preserved, and it is likely to become an animal. That would be sad. .
The big man asked again, what should we do?
