Jinling Academy, at the foot of the mountain gate, Shenjiu Night, Chen Yu, Purple Clothed Youth, Tsing Yi Youth, and four Jinling students made porridge and administered medicine to the people. Every day, I would go to a Bodhi tree to tell stories to the children on the night of the moxibustion. The story is bizarre and anecdotal, and the children listen to it with great interest, often relaying the stories they hear to their parents.

Some adults listened to these stories and thought they were good and shared them with their neighbors, while some people who had read books or had good understanding of these stories were suddenly enlightened by the fact that they had never understood them all along, and they also understood many ways of life. Over time, more and more people went to listen to the stories under the Bodhi tree, including the rich squires and eunuchs, and the old people who were about to die. The people also found many strange things in Jinling, and many of them are related to the stories under the Bodhi tree. It turned out that for a few days, the sky was pouring rain, but when it arrived, it immediately cleared, and when the story was told on the night of Shenmoxibustion, and when I returned to the Jinling Academy, the sky immediately poured down; for a few days, it was still a harsh environment with a howling wind, but when I arrived at the time, it immediately returned to calm, and when I finished telling the story on the night of Shenjiu, I returned to the Jinling Academy, and the wind struck again.

Among these anecdotes, the changes of the Bodhi tree have always been talked about by the people. This linden tree is a hundred years old, and it grows luxuriantly, tall and straight, and there are many trunks, but they are all gathered together, and even the branches and leaves are closely connected, like an unopened umbrella. Today, the branches of the tree have their own home. A branch was five inches above the ground, three feet horizontally, and became a stump. The branches and leaves of the tree were no longer closely connected, but stretched desperately in all directions, looking from afar, like a giant umbrella.

The time is approaching, and the night of the moxibustion comes to the Bodhi tree as promised, and there is already a sea of people under the tree. Shen Ji Ye thanked the Bodhi tree and then sat down on the stump. A child asked puzzledly, "Brother Night, why do you sit on this stump every time you say thank you to the Bodhi tree?"

Shen Moxibustion Night said: "The Buddha said that loss is gain, and gain is loss." I have received two gifts from this Bodhi tree, one for sheltering from the wind and the sun, and the other for sitting. If you don't know how to be grateful, this kindness is bound to be returned, and it won't be cut off. Don't forget to benefit, don't think about kindness, not only refers to people, but also refers to all living beings. ”

The child nodded as if he didn't understand. A young man looked thoughtfully at the Bodhi branch on his head, which sheltered him from the wind and the sun, and asked Shen Moxibustion Yedao: "Night Master, we have also received the gift of this Bodhi tree to shelter from the wind and the sun, dare to ask how to pay it back?"

Shen Moxibustion Night said: "If you have this heart, you will sincerely thank it in your heart, and its gift can be accepted." If you still don't want to go in your heart, you will return it with irrigation. When Shen Moxibustion Ye said this, he paused, and said with a straight face: "You called me the night master just now, and his etiquette is not in line, don't call me like this, I can't afford it." ”

When the young man heard this, he hurriedly got up and wanted to give a disciple salute to the night of the moxibustion, but the night of the moxibustion was afraid that he could not avoid it, so he hurriedly dodged. The young man said, "Night Master, what does this mean?" Shen Jiu Ye replied: "I am just a storyteller, and I can't be a master." The young man said again: "The ancients, the teacher, preach and teach to solve doubts." What the Night Master has done recently has made us understand a lot of things about being human beings and the principles of the world, so how can we not be our teachers?"

Shen Jiu Ye shook his head and said, "You are full of sages, but you misinterpret the holy will, it is better not to learn." If I insist on saying, it is also the gods and Buddhas and those sages and saints and people of great virtue who have preached the way of you, because I am telling their stories, and the karma they teach is also the reason they preach, so that you can understand the principles of doing human beings and the world. You don't want to thank them, but you thank me, putting the cart before the horse, not only to the detriment of your own merits, but also to me. ”

The young man looked frightened, bowed to the sky, and bowed to the night of the gods, and said, "I know that I am wrong, Mr. Xie mentions." ”

Shen Jiu Ye nodded, and then began to tell today's story, he looked around the crowd, and suddenly asked everyone: "'The whispers of the world, the sky is like thunder, and the dark room is sad, and the eyes of the gods are like electricity'." Do you have anyone who knows what it means?"

Everyone looked at each other, and the night of the moxibustion sighed helplessly, and was about to be relieved, when suddenly a child (seven or eight years old) stood up and said in a childish voice: "Three years ago, a beggar came to my house begging for food, and my mother saw that he was pitiful, so she gave him two freshly steamed buns and a bowl of water. The beggar thanked my mother and gave my mother a sentence, which was the one my eldest brother had just asked. My mother asked him what he meant, and he said that mortals can't do bad things because the Heavenly Power God is observing everything in the world. Every thought of a person can be seen clearly by the gods in heaven. Even if you have a bad thought, it is the cause of future retribution. ”

Shen Moxie nodded and the child sat down. Shen Jiu Ye said: "All the words and deeds of people, the gods or the heavens are well aware and know everything, but if people want to know what the heavens say to people, then they have to be familiar with and learn, and the nine heavenly laws that God gave to Dayu to govern the country and the country." One is the five elements, the second is the five things, the third is the eight politics, the fourth is the five disciplines, the fifth is the emperor, the sixth is the three virtues, the seventh is the suspicion, the eighth is the signs, and the ninth is the five blessings and the six poles.

Because he advised the king to be a benevolent king, not to be indulgent in pleasure and immorality, he did not hesitate to pretend to be crazy and self-mutilated to reform the king, hoping that he would wake up, and not to be the tyrant and faint king, but he was imprisoned in prison by the king of Zhou. King Ji Fa of Zhou Wu led his troops into Chaoge City, and forced King Yin to burn himself to death, and Jizi saw the light of day again. King Wu knew that Jizi had the talent to go through the heavens and latitudes, so he asked Jizi for advice: "Yu Hu! Wei Tianyin has set the people and live in harmony with them, and I don't know the order of his Changlun." The meaning of this sentence is, how to protect the peoples and make them live in peace according to the will of heaven, I do not know which laws should be formulated, please sir.

Jizi used the story of Kun and Yu to control the water, and explained the nine heavenly methods, and focused on Shu Zheng. He said, 'Shu Zheng, which is the various celestial symbols shown by the heavens, and these celestial symbols are the language spoken by the Emperor of Heaven to our sovereign, the Son of Heaven and the Emperor. These days symbolize signs and include: rain, sunshine, warmth, cold, and wind. When the rain, sunshine, heat, cold, and wind are all in place, and they all follow the laws of nature, it must be the wind and rain, and all things are prosperous. If there are too many of them, it is a bad phenomenon, and if there are too few of them, it is also a bad phenomenon.

The celestial phenomena show that if the Son of Heaven can respectfully and solemnly worship heaven and earth, there will be timely rain; if the Son of Heaven can stabilize the order of the country's governance, then there will be a timely sunny day; if the Son of Heaven has the knowledge to handle affairs wisely and fairly, then the timely hot day will come; if the Son of Heaven can be kind and far-sighted, then the cold will come as scheduled; if the Son of Heaven can transform the people with virtue and the people's customs are pure and kind, then there will be a fresh breeze blowing in his face and coming slowly.

The celestial phenomena show that if the Son of Heaven is arrogant and uninhibited, reverses black and white, oppresses the good, and the people are sad, there will be heavy rains and floods; if the Son of Heaven violates the rules and disciplines, does not obey his orders, the people's hearts are weak and in an uproar, the punishment is arbitrary, the teachers are deceived and the ancestors are destroyed, and the innocent are killed indiscriminately, then the sun is shining brightly and there will be a great drought for many years; if the officials are not diligent in their administration, if they have no righteousness for the people, and if they are poor and extravagant, the heat will not subside; if there is no long-term plan for governing the country, if the order of the dynasty is changed at a moment's notice, and the people are not able to make a living, the cold will be raging; and if the monarch and the ministers do not distinguish between good and evil, and they will be deaf and promiscious~ chaos, there will be no more winds, sandstorms are still frequent'. ”

After the story of the night of moxibustion was told, the people nodded frequently, unwilling to leave for a long time. Seeing that it was still early at night, he wanted to go to Jinling to take a look at the current situation of Jinling. Due to the epidemic, the streets and alleys of Jinling were full of corpses, but Shen Moxibustion walked all the way up and did not see half of the corpses. When I asked an old woman, I learned that the corpse had been buried, and the person who buried the corpse was not his own family, but an urn made by a wealthy squire. In order to place the dead people, some longevity shops didn't have time to make urns, so they took out their own treasures of the town store, and some shopkeepers did not hesitate to put on their own coffins. The people who buried the corpse dispatched the strong men of the entire Jinling, and the women couldn't help, so they each cooked food at home and gave it to the person who buried the corpse for free, which can be said to be the concerted action of all the people.

Shen Moxibustion was quite moved by the night, said goodbye to the old woman, and went forward again, and found that many wealthy squires were influenced by the Jinling Academy, and they had made porridge and applied medicine at the door of their homes. This move seems to awaken the conscience of the people of the entire Jinling City, and many restaurants and inns have also opened their doors to let the homeless eat and live for free.

Shen Xi traveled to a temple at night and saw that the temple here was also making porridge. Xindao, the monks in this temple still need others to give, but now they are giving to others, which shows that the morality of the Jinling folk has been sublimated a lot. When I turned around and left, I suddenly saw a woman carrying a burden walking to the porridge, putting down the burden and saying, "Master, this is the sweet potato I dug and the wild vegetables I picked today. Now it's up to you, and you can take it for disaster relief!"

A little monk accepted the woman's sweet potatoes and wild vegetables, scooped a bowl of porridge for the woman, and said, "Thank you, auntie." You must be hungry after a busy day, will you have a bowl of porridge?" the woman shook her head and refused, "I don't need to." I have hands and feet, and I can't starve myself to death, not to mention that I have sweet potatoes to eat and wild vegetables to eat, so you should give them this bowl of porridge. With that, he pointed to the refugees on the side, and turned to leave with his burden.

When I heard the conversation between this woman and the little monk, I knew that this woman's family was poor, and I couldn't help but be surprised when I saw that she was dressed plainly and had a Buddha light shining on her body. The heart said, this woman couldn't be disguised by gods and Buddhas, so she followed the woman to find out.

The woman carried her burden to a mud house in the suburbs, and when she looked at it at night, she saw that there was a stone pit on the four walls of the house, and there was a hard wooden plank, which was the woman's bed, and there were two things on the bed, one was a pillow made of wood, and the other was a robe that had been used for some time and looked a little torn. Asked a neighbor's aunt, learned that the woman's surname was Zhang, no children and no daughters, her husband unfortunately died in the plague, saw the temple porridge, so he went to the mountains every day to pick melons, fruits, wild vegetables to the temple to send, and he only had two sweet potatoes and fruits a day.

"It turned out to be a great good man. ”

When he heard this, he knew that the Buddha's light on the woman's body was caused by great goodness, so he took advantage of the woman's inattention and threw ten taels of silver in front of her door to help her get out of poverty. Unfortunately, before the night of the moxibustion could leave, the woman found the silver on the ground, and although she picked it up, she went to the door one by one to ask who had lost it. Shen Mo felt a headache in the middle of the night, so he sent a message to the woman and said: "Zhang, you and other poor people, but you don't forget to give to the temple and help the people. This is a gift for you, and do not refuse. ”

When the woman heard this, she bowed three times to heaven and gathered up the silver. Seeing this at night, Fang was relieved and was about to leave. Suddenly, the woman put the silver taels into her sleeve and hurried out of the door. When he went to see the goddess in the night, he saw that the woman had gone to the temple of almsgiving, and gave the silver taels out of the almsgiving. The woman said, "Little Master, I have received the gift of heaven today, and I have received these ten taels of silver. I don't need it, I hope you can take it and save more people. ”

Shen Mo couldn't help but sigh at night, "Sure enough, he is a great good person." So he had no intention of lifting the woman out of poverty. The heart said, this woman will ascend to the heavenly realm in a hundred years, and the current poverty will make her body lighter, and it will be much easier to go to heaven in the future.

Shen Jiu Ye looked up and saw that it was dark, so he walked towards Jinling Academy. On the way, I met a fisherman talking to his wife, who said, "You went out for a day today, why did you only catch this one fish?" The fisherman said, "Those fish are too small, I will release them all." It is a gift from God to have this fish to eat. ”

Through the window, I saw from afar that the fisherman's family had a son and a daughter. At this time, the family of four was sitting around a wooden table eating fish. The fisherman and his wife were reluctant to eat it, so they frequently sandwiched the fish into the bowls of their two children. Although the two children salivated over the fish in the bowl, they gave the fish in the bowl to the fisherman and his wife, and said, "Mother, father, we are not hungry, you can eat." The fisherman and his wife were so moved that they said, "Good, good, good, let's eat, let's eat." You eat also, and you eat also. After that, they ate a piece of fish and meat respectively, and the children moved their chopsticks.

Shen Mo looked at this happy family at night and felt quite warm. Unconsciously at the foot of the mountain gate of Jinling Academy, I suddenly heard the roar of the beast "oh oh", looking for prestige, but found nothing. Turning around, he wanted to go up the mountain, but the "oh oh" beast roar sounded again. Shen Jiu Ye fixed his eyes and saw a stone lion among the weeds under an old locust tree at the foot of the mountain, so he walked to the stone lion and asked, "Are you calling me?" The stone lion did not speak, but first shed tears. The bean-sized teardrops fell to the ground with a metallic crunch.

Shen Jiu Ye was shocked, and hurriedly said: "Shi Shi, why are you crying? Could it be that you have a deep hatred in the sea of blood?" Shi Shi was silent and shed another tear. Shen Jiu Ye said: "Could it be that you have a grudge through the ages?" Shi Shi was still silent. Shen Moxibustion touched the head of the stone lion and said: "Stone lion, stone lion, for thousands of years, you have endured severe cold and heat, suffered violent storms, suffered many hardships, and never shed tears. How can you be so sad today?"

Shi Shi said: "Shangxian, you don't know, Jinling, a catastrophe is coming." Shen Jiu Ye said: "Are you referring to this plague?" After that, he looked around with his eyes and said: "Shishi rest assured, folk morality has risen, and the five divine envoys are no longer in Jinling." Shi Shi said: "Shangxian, you only know one thing, you don't know the other." When Shen Moxibustion heard this, he hurriedly said: "Dare to ask what the second is this?" Shi Shi said: "This is the human heart, and there is karma." Shen Mo was busy at night and said: "What karmic retribution?" Shi Shi "dangdang" shed a few more tears, Fang said: "Shangxian, how can you forget the catastrophe of Jinling Academy? This karma rushes up to the ninefold clouds, and it is eighteen layers of hell, even ten generations of Jinling people are not enough to pay it back." ”