Liu Mei did a few more things to release animals one after another, and then used decoction of Chinese herbal medicine to wash away the poisonous gas on her body. The itching gradually eased, and there was no longer the painful itching. In this way, she became more convinced of the benefits of releasing animals, and developed a disease. A feeling of caring for living beings.
That time, she was a guest at a banquet. While they were drinking, she drank too much, got up and walked out of the restaurant, passed through the cooking kitchen and went to the bathroom in the backyard to relieve herself. Suddenly she heard a rustling sound. She came out of the bathroom and followed the sound. Observing, a water tank containing food and drinks came into view.
Looking up close, a mouse is half drowned in it. It can't crawl out, let alone jump. To jump, it needs a springboard, even a small springboard, but the tank is full of hot and sour soup and floating or falling water. It's so heavy that there is no hard object for it to jump on. The more the rat jumps in panic, the easier it is to consume its energy. If it consumes too much energy, it will be on the verge of death.
How easy is it to climb out or jump out? Simply impossible. Because the edge of the tank was too slippery, the mouse would not give up its desire to survive even if it was dying. It was soaked all over, and the gray-black mouse fur that should have been raised fell down and clung to its body, looking very embarrassed. It may regret that it was too greedy and jumped into this deep trap that it could jump in but cannot escape.
At this moment, it was jumping up and down in the water tank. It could be said that it was struggling to its death. Everyone who came to the bathroom noticed it when they passed by. Some glanced at it and said playfully: This mouse will drown in the tank; some were eager to use a wooden stick to press it into the slop water and drown; some took one look at it and left without comment.
Now, Liu Mei discovered it. Thinking of the monk's admonishment to release life and cherish life, a question arose in her heart: should she save this dying mouse or not? While she was hesitating, the tragic scene in which she poured oil and burned the gray rat to death came to her mind. This gave her the retribution of suffering from itching disease. Did she save the drowned rat so that she could attenuate her own evil and make it better? Are you cured of your itching? If that were the case, she would be willing to save this damn little beast.
Suddenly another thought interfered with her intention: rats are one of the four pests and are the targets of national statutory elimination. It doesn't matter whether it is dead or alive, but if you let it go, according to the national law, not only will it be useless, but it will also be a bit of a crime. With this in mind, she decided to walk, but after taking a few steps, a strange itch attacked her skin again.
She stopped again and looked at the rat that was about to drown in the water tank. The beating amplitude became smaller and it had no more momentum. A reason to release it sprouted in her heart: Yes! According to the national law, this rat should be executed, but from the perspective of the great Buddha’s compassion for all living beings, which is “great compassion for the same body and great compassion for those without predestined conditions”, it is absolutely right to save this animal.
So she looked around, and finally picked up a piece of wood that was used as firewood on the dirty ground. She put the piece of wood into the water tank. At first, the dripping and dying mouse thought that this person was going to kill it. In the place of death, its bulging eyes revealed two helpless rays of death intertwined.
At this time, a friend came out of the bathroom and found that Liu Mei was about to save it, so he said: What is a mouse doing to save it? It is the natural enemy of human beings and deserves to die. Liu Mei faltered with words to save her face: I poked this damn mouse with a wooden stick for fun. My friend felt it was dirty here, so he glanced at the mouse in the water tank, then at Liu Mei, and then left quietly, because his friend had to attend the endless dinner party.
The dying mouse saw that the person holding the wooden stick had no intention of killing it, so it seized this opportunity with fear, climbed up the wooden stick in the water tank like a ladder, and slowly sprang out. It fell to the ground, and Liu Mei only In the blink of an eye, this pitiful and hateful little beast quickly got into the gap in the wall.
I don't know if it was a psychological effect or other reasons, but after releasing the mice this time, Liu Mei's body became less itchy. After that, she developed the habit of releasing wild animals. When she walked on the road on a rainy day, she found an earthworm, so she picked it up, walked for a while, and placed it in the soil where few people stepped on it.
In this way, she felt comfortable and happy in her heart. She relaxed wherever she went, as if everywhere was her home. Every plant and tree became the object of her pity. A flower becomes very regular, which is called spiritual practice according to Buddhist theory. But she did not escape into Buddhism, but abided by the precepts like a Buddhist disciple. She only had one thought in her mind: do more good deeds to eliminate disasters and increase blessings. She often told people: I was suffering from itching, and after a few treatments, I slowly recovered.
That time, she went to the town early in the morning for the market, and sat for a while in front of a breakfast shop. As she was getting up to leave, she noticed a mullet waving around her feet, and its tail slapped on the ground with a "ta-da" sound.
She thought to herself: Could this mullet beg for my life? If so, definitely buy it and put it into the river. But how to determine that this creature is here to survive? Without letting her think too much, the shop owner, a middle-aged woman wearing a blue bellyband, came over, picked up the mullet and put it into the deep-mouthed wooden bucket that was half filled with water in the shop.
Liu Mei deliberately refused to leave to see if the mullet would jump out of the bucket. Sure enough, within less than a cup of tea, another mullet slipped by Liu Mei's feet, and at some point it jumped out of the barrel again.
Liu Mei was horrified and asked the woman to sell the mullet to her, saying that it jumped out of the barrel twice and crawled to her feet. This was obviously asking for her survival. It would be a sin if she did not buy it and release it. .
The woman didn't believe it at all and thought she was talking nonsense. She didn't argue with Liu Mei, so she picked up the slippery and dusty mullet again and put it into the bucket. She even thought Liu Mei was a witch and said, don't talk nonsense. , this mullet jumps out naturally, and it is also accidental that it crawls to your feet twice, so don’t make a fuss. You want me to sell you the mullet, but I'm not willing yet. This is a mullet I bought from the fish stall in the market early in the morning. I am going to take it home and make soup for my children to eat after school at noon.
Liu Mei felt uneasy, so she glanced at the woman again. The woman gave instructions to the clerk in the store, and simply picked up the bucket and walked out of the store. Liu Mei told her to stop and said that if you walk 7 steps, if the bucket If the mullet inside stops jumping out, just hold it and walk away! The woman walked away disdainfully, but after only five steps, she heard a ding-dong sound and a splash of water. The mullet in the bucket turned over and jumped out again. The woman was so frightened that she threw the bucket away and the wooden bucket fell. It fell to the ground, and half a bucket of water soaked a large area of the ground.
As if she had a clue, Liu Mei picked up the bucket calmly, went to the store to fill half the bucket of water, came back, picked up the mullet and put it into the bucket, then looked at the woman with a pale face and said: This mullet The fish is indeed begging me for rescue and release. How much did you pay for it, and how much did I pay you?
The woman was in shock. Seeing Liu Mei speaking so calmly, she gradually calmed down and said, "Forgive me for telling the truth. I bought this mullet for fourteen and eighty cents, which is a pound and a half. You can take it if you want." Liu Mei dug into her wallet, found a few banknotes and handed them to the woman, saying that I had exactly fourteen and fifty cents, so I would give you three cents next time. The woman said forget it.
Liu Mei held the buckle of the bucket, looked at the mullet swimming in the bucket of water and never jumped out, and said to the woman in a monk's tone: "Okay!" Consider that you have accumulated three cents of merit.
To the east of this store is a large river that surrounds the city. If Liu Mei says to put the mullet in, she will return the bucket to you. The woman hesitated, so she filled a soft plastic bag with water and asked Liu Mei to put the mullet in and carry it to the river to release.
