Although the old mother is old, her health is okay and she can still move, whenever Dong Pai comes home from chopping firewood from the mountains or returning from selling firewood from the city, he can eat the hot dishes and hot meals made by his mother.

But not long ago, my mother was fine during the day, and I didn't see her get up in the morning. Dong Pai came back early in the morning from chopping a load of firewood, thinking that his mother had cooked breakfast as usual, just waiting for him to come back to eat.

This time it doesn't feel right, when I come back at this time on weekdays, I don't enter the house, I just walk to the front of the house and I can smell the smell of food in the air. Not at the moment, and there was no movement in the house, as is customary, my mother would have gotten up and been busy with her work.

Dong Pai shouted Mom a few times, but no one responded. He went through the door to the hall, the stove house, and the backyard to look everywhere, and there was no trace of his mother.

So he went back to his mother's bedroom, and found her still lying on the bed, her eyes closed, half of a twisted flower in her mouth, and the other half in her hand.

Dong Pai shouted a few more times, but there was no response, he reached out and tried under the old mother's nostrils, and his body was cold. Dong Pai began to cry by the bedside, his tears dripping down and wetting the upper of a new pair of cloth shoes that his mother had recently made for him.

After burying his mother, Dong Pai was particularly disappointed. He kept thinking: I don't know how many twist flowers I bought for my mother to eat, they were all good, why was he choked to death after eating only half of the twist flowers this time? Is it just that he is old and useless? Poor health? Onset? He couldn't figure it out.

One afternoon, he took the new pair of cloth shoes that his mother had made for him, ran over a few mountains, came to a temple, and gave them to an old monk. The old monk folded his palms and recited Amitabha, and then asked, donor, give me a new pair of shoes, the old monk accepted it, may I ask, is there anything wrong?

Dong Pai said that his mother was choked to death by eating twist flowers, which made him quite puzzled, and emphasized that I don't believe that eating less than half a twist can choke people to death, and besides, my mother is slow no matter what she eats, and it is impossible to choke to death.

After the old monk closed his eyes slightly and meditated for a while, he opened his eyes and said, your mother was not choked to death by eating twist flowers, but was strangled to death by your brother.

How? Dong Pai asked.

Do you have an older brother? The old monk asked with questions and answers.

Dong Pai bowed his head and said that when he was 14 years old, he had an old brother called the director, but the name was not good, and the director, that is, the homonym of waiting for death, he had to wait for death; When he was only 10 years old, he suffered from a strange disease with a big belly, and he was swollen, and he was not cured by Langzhong, and then he died.

Speaking of this, Dong Pai asked again, Master, I still don't understand, my brother's big belly disease was caused by himself, and it wasn't my mother who let him suffer from it, why did he strangle my mother?

The old monk shrugged his robe and said that you asked well. There is one thing you don't know, your brother wanted to drink broth a few days before he died, and he told your mother that your mother didn't simmer the broth for him to drink, and your mother thought that his big belly would not be eliminated, let alone drink broth, and he couldn't drink any soup.

In fact, your brother suffers from liver ascites, he wants to drink broth, he may not drink a lot, he just wants to drink, your mother should give him a drink, but she didn't give him a drink, he got angry, he had hatred, and as soon as he died, he entered the path of hungry ghosts and became hungry ghosts.

So when your mother's deadline was approaching, he rushed to take revenge and strangled her. In fact, this is also a violation of the law of the underworld, and when the envoy rushed to get your mother's soul, he found that he didn't do anything, why did this old man die?

When I looked again, I found a little ghost snatching the twist flower from your mother's hand. The ghost of your mother, who had already left the body, said to the envoy that it was my unfilial son who choked me by the neck and choked me to death. Naturally, your elder brother was punished by the Underworld, and now he doesn't even have the qualifications to be a hungry ghost.

Because of his unfilial piety to kill his mother, the heavenly court was furious, and the thunder god was ordered to blow up the hungry ghost and kill him, a hungry ghost.

Hearing this, Dong Pai bypassed the topic and asked, Master, my situation is so bad and so poor, can I change it? The old monk said that people's poverty and wealth are made by themselves, and if they give more in the previous life, they will be rich in this life, and they will be stingy in the previous life, like a porcelain rooster, and they will be so stingy that they will die, and they will not be rich in this life, and they will only have the life of poverty.

No matter how clever you are, you can't get rich, and if you are still industrious, you can only mix your mouth, barely get by, and don't want to get rich.

Dong Pai lowered his head and asked, can my poor life be changed to a rich life? The old monk replied, it was difficult. Of course, it can still be changed, that is, you need to give more charity and dedication, not to ask you to come to the monastery to give alms and dedications, but to people in distress or other sentient beings, you should be willing to give alms, dedication, and compassion to help them solve their difficulties, so that they can not only change your poor life, but also dredge your stagnant future, and everything will change for the better.

Master, I believe what you say, and I will do what you say in the future. Dong Pai bowed his hand and walked out of the temple gate.

Amitabha, thank you for giving the old man a new pair of cloth shoes. The old monk gave a ride and said.

Master, don't thank me, thank my mother, this new pair of cloth shoes was made by my mother. Dong Pai turned around and said.

Thank you, thank you! Buddha blessed. The old monk who spoke auspicious words watched Dong Pai walk into the forest before returning to the temple.

On this day, Dong Pai pushed a chicken cart stacked with three loads of firewood to Jinsecheng South Street for sale. On weekdays, he only picks one load of firewood to sell, but now he sells two more loads on the original basis, and the copper money he gets is twice as much.

He remembered the general meaning of what the old monk had said, and planned to use part of the copper coins he received to give alms and make some merits, in order to change his fate and repair the next life.

As soon as this thought flickered through my head, I smelled a fishy smell in the air, and then I heard the shouting - the fish seller, the fresh carp like the dragon, had just been caught from the river around the city......

Dong Pai followed the prestige and found that a strong man at the entrance of the street in front of him was carrying a large carp still covered in a fishing net on his shoulder, and the tail of the fish was still swinging from time to time. The strong man had a pair of big calloused feet, his trouser legs were pulled high, and the thick and black leg hair was particularly eye-catching.

Dong Pai walked over, just wanting to feast his eyes up close, but he didn't mean to buy it. As he approached the street, the strong man had already dismantled the net covering the big carp, and suddenly he heard a group of onlookers shouting in an irregular voice, "Alas, look! How can this carp shed tears!

Dong Pai observes, it is indeed good. He thought to himself: It is usually people who shed tears, why do fish also shed tears? He immediately felt compassion, this carp is so pitiful, can you help it? He asked himself in his heart. The strong man saw that he was standing too close and asked him if he would buy it, and Dong Pai hesitated.

The strong man said, if you don't buy it, you will go away. Dong Pai walked away, and the words of the old monk sounded in his ears again...... You have to be compassionate...... to solve the difficulties and get out of trouble...... He suddenly stopped, turned his head and said, "How much will I buy?"

The strong man blurted out, 30 yuan, can be sold to you. Dong Pai squatted down and poured out all the strings of copper coins hidden in the waist jacket, held them in his hands, stood up and said a little depressed, only 29 yuan, there is still one dollar missing, do you sell it? The strong man gave the big carp that was still moving in his cheeks and said, "Forget it, forget it, you can give me 29 yuan, you can take it."

Dong Pai carefully placed the big carp on his chicken cart and pushed it to the lower reaches of the Huancheng River, near the mouth of the Yellow River, to release it. When the big carp entered the water, it did not swim away immediately, but turned around and jumped up to look at Dong Pai, and wagged its tail, as if to thank him and say goodbye, and then dived into the deep water, a wave slowly dissipated, and returned to calm.