【Description】
How many people would help a drunken man lying in the snow? Would you help? Would you face an internal conflict before deciding to help him? Would you make predictions about all possible consequences, or calculate the other party’s ability to return your favor? After you’ve weighed all the pros and cons, would your original desire to help others remain steadfast?
The blessings received by a person match his virtue. When your kind words and deeds flow out of instinct, everything will become simple and beautiful. Please listen to this true story told by Grandmaster JinBodhi. Hold on to kindness, practice good deeds, and don’t ask about the future.
【You will learn】
- A story about getting good karma for being kind.
【Featured aphorisms】
- True kindness means helping others unconditionally.
【Content】
I am going to share a story with you about a luminous pearl. It is about how doing good deeds yields good rewards. Well, how big will the reward for a good deed be? Or, how serious will the result of a bad deed be? Effects of deeds remain a mystery till events unfold. Nobody knows exactly about cause and effect.
There is a city in Inner Mongolia, China, called Chifeng. In Chifeng City there lived a Mr. Wang. This happened in the 1970s. One night near his house, he saw a passed out drunk old Mongolian man, freezing in the snow. Wang was a very kind man. He brought the old man to his house as it was nearby. He put a blanket over him and made some hot soup and tea.
Anyway, he saved the old man. Otherwise, drunk and frozen in the snow all night, the man would have been in danger if no one had helped him. He was lucky to be saved by Wang. He left Wang’s house the next day with deep gratitude. Mongolians rarely express their gratitude in words, such as “Thank you for saving me”, something like that. So the old man just left.
A couple days later, he came back to Wang’s house to thank Wang for saving his life. He brought Wang a gift. It was a small exquisite Mongolian classical box. It was about the size of 2 cigarette cases. “Thank you for saving my life! Here is a gift for you. It is an heirloom piece from my family. Hope you like it.”
After the old man left, Wang opened the box. It was empty, but the bottom was quite solid. Since Mongolians like to eat meat, the box was quite greasy. From the old man’s appearance, Wang judged that the old man couldn’t afford valuable gifts. But he was interested in why the man had given him the little box. Anyway, he accepted it without paying much attention, and simply put it in a corner then totally forgot about it.
More than 20 years later, he went through his things and found the little box. Seeing the box, he recalled the scene of 20 years ago. He remembered the old man he had saved. As Wang grew older, he had gained some knowledge of antiques. He cleaned the box with a piece of cloth and realized that it was quite delicately made.
He also remembered it was empty. He opened it again and it was still empty. But its bottom was thick; he pressed it with his finger, and it didn’t seem empty. There was something like grease or wax inside. He used something to cut and remove the waxy layer. He found an ordinary little stone inside. He thought, in such an antique, there should be something more precious than a little stone. He thought the old man was making fun of him.
He was about to throw it away after washing it, but since it was a gift from the old man, he decided to keep it. He dropped it in his fish tank and left it there. He thought, “It is a nice box. I will polish it well and show this antique off to my friends.” That night, Wang got up to go to the bathroom. He thought there was a ghost in the fish tank. He saw a bluish green light coming from the tank. “Ghost!” he screamed, and was too scared to use the toilet.
He took a peek but didn’t see a ghost, just the light. He was trembling but moved closer to the tank. He saw that the little stone in the tank was emitting soft green light. “What monster is this?” he wondered. Then he took it out of the tank. It was still emitting soft green light. There weren’t any batteries in it. How could it glow? He checked it carefully under the light and during daytime. It was just an ordinary natural stone. There was no electricity or bulb connected to it.
He took it to the gem experts. Most of them hadn’t seen it before and said it was just a stone. The more knowledgeable ones said, “I can’t figure out exactly what it is.” This stone had the same hardness as a diamond. That is a key point. But still no one knew what it was or where it was from. Not even one gemstone appraiser in Inner Mongolia knew exactly what it was.
That bothered Wang a lot, so he started researching online. Finally, he found a professor in the city of Tianjin, who studied and knew a lot about minerals and stones. Wang then brought the stone with him and went to Tianjin. He wanted the professor to test and find out what it was.
After appraising it, the professor told Wang, “Congratulations, Wang! You are so lucky! This is the third stone of this kind found so far in the world. The other two are kept in top museums in the United States, with no set prices on them either. They weren’t sold, despite a billion dollars being offered. The Americans didn’t care to sell because the stones are priceless. Unlike ruby, sapphire, jadeite and even Hetian jade, which are easy to appraise and price. This stone had no sales record, so no price could be set.”
Wang was anxious to know and asked, “Professor, you are the expert. Please tell me what it is.” The professor said it was a diamond from Heaven. It was a luminous pearl, also called a diamond luminous pearl. Luminous pearls are rare in Nature, let alone a diamond grade.
So after hearing this story, you will start looking for drunk men tonight. You may not gain a pearl but surely a friend.
To help unconditionally, without any expectations, is true kindness. This is very important. This is a true story. I don’t know if Wang sold the pearl finally. Anyway, Wang is a blessed kind man. He just thought that offering help was something he should do. Doing good deeds will always be rewarded.