As the ancient saying goes: “To err is human, to forgive is divine.” It means that recognizing one’s mistakes and offering sincere repentance is one of the most valuable things a person can do. Let’s look at an ancient story about someone who sincerely offered repentance and stood firm even when he was tested by Heaven.
During the Song Dynasty, a merchant named Xu Danian was very good at planning business deals to generate profit. As a result, he quickly accumulated a lot of wealth, owning a large amount of fertile land, a beautiful mansion, and assets worth nearly 100,000 taels of silver. However, his only regret was that he had no children, so he was worried that no one would inherit his wealth after he died, causing him much anxiety.
At 43, Xu’s wife finally gave birth to a son. Feeling content with his life, he began to reflect on his past actions in business and regretted some of the things he had done. Therefore, he decided to become a Buddhist, do good deeds, and make amends for his past mistakes. He paid back double to those he had borrowed from, and allowed those he had tricked to buy back their property. He also became actively involved in helping others and donated a significant portion of his wealth to charitable causes.
However, when Xu Danian turned 50, he experienced a series of unfortunate events, including the sudden death of his 7-year-old son and a decline in his family’s fortunes. Feeling bitter and resentful toward Heaven, Xu Danian began to complain and ask why life was so unfair.
One day, while complaining about his misfortunes, Xu suddenly had a thought: “How can a benevolent Heaven be unjust? Since the nature of Heaven is kind and compassionate, my troubles must be due to my own lack of sincerity in performing good deeds in the past.” From that moment on, he promised to do good deeds from the heart without any hint of superficiality or insincerity.
After a few years passed, Xu Danian was still having a hard time with everything at the age of 54, and his family’s situation was even poorer. It was an extremely cold day, and it was snowing heavily outside. Xu Danian and his wife were eating simple food in their house while reminiscing about the past when they wore fur coats, ate delicious food, drank fine wine, and gathered guests to drink and be merry, as if it were just yesterday. How prosperous those days were! The two of them sighed, regretting their past misdeeds and the fact that they were now being punished by Heaven, feeling that everything they did was in vain.
Xu offers repentance
As they spoke, Xu suddenly had another thought: “Buddha Shakyamuni endured much suffering during his retreat in the snow-capped mountains before becoming enlightened. Even though I have suffered, I still have warm clothes and food. I should be grateful for Heaven’s grace and avoid complaining, or I risk falling deeper into misery.” He quickly burned incense and worshiped the Buddha, shedding tears of repentance, and never again thought of giving up doing good or believing in the Buddha.
On that night, Xu and his wife both had the same dream. They dreamed that a deity dressed in red with a gauze hat came to the central hall of their house and pointed at many strange and grotesque figures, telling Xu that they were evil spirits with names such as the Door of Death, the Ice Melter, and the Disintegrator. Furthermore, the deity said that Heaven had sent the Star of Ruin to be Xu’s son in order to ruin his family’s fortune and that the evil spirits were also tasked with consuming his wealth because of his past misdeeds.
However, after Xu’s son was born, he turned to Buddhism and did various good deeds, and offered repentance to make up for his past sins. Therefore, the Star of Ruin was recalled, which was why his son died prematurely. As for the other evil spirits, they were left behind to test Xu’s sincerity. Yet, after testing him for so long, he did not give up his thoughts of doing good and turning to Buddhism. Thus, Heaven decided to reward him and sent the deity to bestow blessings and fortune in the form of the two Stellar Officials who would be born as his children. The deity said: “You lost one but gained two; you lost something bad and gained something good. You can truly say that you have gained a lot.”
As expected, not long after, Xu Danian’s 50-year-old wife became pregnant and gave birth to twins named Zengfu and Zenglu. After they grew up, both sons entered officialdom and became prominent officials. Xu Danian and his wife also benefited from their sons’ success and received rewards from the emperor.
This story illustrates the law of karma and its consequences for good and evil deeds. As revealed by the deity in the dream, Xu’s past misdeeds led to his misfortune, but his sincere repentance and good deeds resulted in blessings and rewards.
Translated by Joseph Wu
