Let me share with everyone a peculiar cause-and-effect story that highlights the consequences of karma. It happened in the late Qing Dynasty. At that time, there was a wealthy man named Zhao who lived a prosperous life. Zhao had three sons, and each of them had gotten married.
At the age of 60, Zhao gathered his three sons and confessed to them: “My sons, listen carefully. I built my business from scratch and became prosperous by doing a lot of unscrupulous things. I tampered with my scale, filling it with mercury. This served a dual purpose. Firstly, when I purchased goods from people, the scale would under-weigh everything by 25 percent. Secondly, when I sold things to people, it would overweigh the items by 12.5 percent.
Twenty years ago, I bought several thousand pounds of cotton using my scale and cheated the seller out of 4 taels of silver per pound. The man was angry because he suffered such a huge loss. He eventually went bankrupt and died of typhoid fever. I’ve been carrying the guilt of this ever since.
There was also a seller of medicinal herbs who I cheated in the same way, and he too died from the stress.
Now, with my family prospering and many descendants around me, I feel ashamed of what I have done in the past. So today, in front of all of you, I am going to smash this fraudulent scale and pledge to turn over a new leaf.”
All three sons agreed with their father’s decision.
Zhao proceeded to smash the scale, and he truly turned over a new leaf, becoming a kind person who did good deeds and gave to charity.
Soon after, his family experienced a string of tragedies. Within a month, the eldest son suddenly died and the eldest daughter-in-law remarried. Just after the funeral of the eldest son, the second son died unexpectedly and the second daughter-in-law remarried. Just after the funeral of his second son, his third son also died in succession. His third daughter-in-law could not remarry because she was pregnant.
Karma follows its own rules
The series of disasters left Zhao very distraught. He asked: “When I was deceiving people, I had a house full of descendants and wealth. Now that I am doing good and virtuous deeds, why has my family been visited by misfortune and death? Is there really such a thing as cause and effect? Is karma real or not?”
After hearing about the tragedies that befell Zhao’s family, the neighbors couldn’t help but shake their heads in disbelief. They all thought it was unfair and that Heaven must have been blind.
As the days passed, the third daughter-in-law’s delivery grew near. However, when she went into labor, she experienced a difficult childbirth and the baby didn’t come for three days and three nights. Despite the efforts of many midwives, they were unable to help her and informed Zhao that they could only save one life.
Zhao was devastated by the news and felt helpless. He thought to himself: “Since I gave up evil and became a good person, my family has been hit by a series of misfortunes, which is really strange! What can I do?”
As Zhao lamented his misfortune, his housekeeper came to report that a monk had arrived at the door seeking alms and claiming to have a medicine that could help a woman give birth. Desperate for a solution, he decided to try it out and instructed his servants to invite the monk inside and treat him as an honored guest.
Zhao asked the monk: “Where is the temple to which you belong?”
The monk smiled faintly and said: “I am a wandering monk with no fixed abode. I go wherever fate takes me.” After saying that, the monk took out the medicine and gave it to Zhao. In a short time, a family servant came to report that Zhao’s daughter-in-law had taken the medicine and given birth to a healthy baby boy.
Delighted with the outcome, Zhao thanked the monk profusely and invited him to a feast in his honor.
During the feast, Zhao sought the monk’s advice regarding the tragedies that had befallen his family. He explained how his three sons had all died one after the other soon after he had given up evil and started doing good. He said to the monk: “I don’t understand why my good deeds were rewarded with evil.”
After hearing this, the monk laughed and said: “There is a cause for everything. You should not doubt the divine. Let me tell you, your eldest son was the seller of medicinal herbs whom you cheated. He was reborn as your eldest son to collect his debt. Heaven sent your second son to squander your family’s fortune, and your third son was sent to bring great calamity to the family, leaving them destitute and dying of hunger.
However, due to your change of heart and virtuous behavior, Heaven took the three sons away, sparing the family from further misfortune. Now you have a newborn grandson. He will make your family prosperous and be a source of pride for future generations. Think about it, how many sins have you accrued with the weighted scales you made?”
Upon hearing this, Zhao thought about all his previous sins and felt a cold shiver go down his spine. He thanked the monk again for his guidance.
From then on Zhao firmly believed in karma and worked even harder to do good deeds. He realized that those who acquired wealth through improper means often ended up losing it through their descendants or disasters, and that people only saw the wealthy lifestyle of the greedy, but not the painful consequences that followed.
Translated by Audrey Wang
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