As the ancient saying goes: “Heaven has no preferences, but always treats good people with kindness.” Heaven treats all beings equally, but always rewards good people and blesses compassionate ones.
The ancients believed in karma, valued righteousness over profit, and helped others in their time of need, which brought them blessings later. Here are a few stories from the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) in China that demonstrate how Heaven rewards kind and compassionate people.
A man who always provided was rewarded
Zhu Ran, a native of Sha County in Yanping, was a thrifty and charitable man. In times of famine, he cooked porridge and rice to help the poor people in the neighborhood, saving tens of thousands of people from starvation. Later, his wife gave birth to a son who was intelligent and studious. As a young man, he traveled to the capital for the imperial examination.
Before the results were released in the spring, many villagers dreamed that a messenger in yellow was holding a list of winners and erecting it outside the Zhu family’s door with four big words “Reward for providing porridge.” When the ranking was released, his son did win the first prize.
Huang Jianji dreams of the King of Eastern Deities
Huang Jianji was a native of Chengdu, Sichuan Province. He was a man of virtue and integrity and always tried to do whatever was good for others. One night, Zhang Yong, the governor of Chengdu, dreamed that the King of Eastern Deities was talking to him.
Suddenly, someone reported: “Huang Jianji from the west gate has arrived!” The King came down the steps to meet him and arranged for Huang Jianji to sit on Zhang Yong’s seat. The next day, Zhang Yong visited Huang Jianji personally and saw that he was precisely the man he had seen in his dream. Zhang Yong asked: “What good deeds have you done in your life that made the King of Eastern Deities treat you so politely?”
Huang Jianji’s compassionate deed
Huang Jianji replied: “I did not do any good deeds. I only bought 300 bunches of corn and wheat (1,000 yuan per bunch) when they were ripe and abundant and sold them at the same price the next year when the corn had not been ripe and people were living in hardship. I suffered no loss, but the people’s crisis was overcome because of this, that’s all!”
Zhang Yong sighed and said: “This is above my level!” He ordered his officials to help Huang Jianji to sit on his seat and bowed to him personally to thank him for his care of the people. Huang Jianji lived a long and prosperous life; his children and grandchildren were all virtuous and prosperous.
Lin Jie returned the pearls
When Lin Jie was a teenager, one day, on his way to attend the imperial examination held in the capital, he passed Caizhou and stayed at an inn. He found a cloth bag with hundreds of precious pearls in the room. He asked the innkeeper who had stayed in this room yesterday, and the innkeeper said it was a wealthy merchant.
Lin Jie then told the shopkeeper: “This is my friend. If he returns for me, ask him to look for Lin Jie in the capital. Don’t make any mistakes! Don’t make any mistakes!” Lin Jie was afraid that the shopkeeper would forget and even left a note on the room wall to remind the keeper of this matter.
The wealthy merchant’s gratitude
Later, when the wealthy merchant wanted to sell his pearls, he realized that he had lost them and thought: “I have been running around for years only to get this pack of pearls. Now that they are lost, how can the family make a living?” He hurriedly traced along the original road until he reached the inn.
After hearing the message left by Lin Jie from the innkeeper, he immediately rushed to the capital to find Lin Jie. After verifying the situation, Lin Jie returned the pearls in full. The wealthy merchant was so grateful that he offered half of the pearls as a reward, but Lin Jie insisted on not accepting them. The wealthy merchant was so thankful that he sold half of the pearls and used the money to build a shrine for Lin Jie to express his gratitude.
Lin Jie’s impartiality
Later Lin Jie passed the imperial examinations and was awarded the position of magistrate of Zhuanzhou. Once, Lin Jie was the judge of a piracy case, and his superior asked him to punish the suspects severely to get credit from the court, promising to promote him after the case was completed. Lin Jie was not affected by this promise of personal interests and insisted on investigating this case impartially.
After multiple investigations, he found insufficient evidence in the case and acquitted the 58 people who had been wronged. His superior was soon removed from office by the court. Later, Lin Jei was promoted to minister, with his two sons serving as prominent officials.
The ancient wisdom of compassion
The ancients said: “There is a good reward for good deeds and a bad reward for bad deeds. A family accumulating good deeds will have lasting blessings, and a family accumulating evil deeds will have lasting calamities.”
A good man with a compassionate heart who is thoughtful of others will win the respect of gods and people. Heaven will bless him: All blessings will follow him, and all calamities will stay away from him. Therefore, it is not without reason that people have encouraged compassion since ancient times.
The stories of Zhu Ran, Huang Jianji, and Lin Jie demonstrate how Heaven rewards kind and compassionate people. The ancients believed in karma, valued righteousness over profit, and helped others in their times of need, which brought them blessings later. Heaven has no preferences, but always treats good people with kindness.
Compassion has been encouraged by people since ancient times because it is the key to unlocking Heaven’s blessings. Those who are kind and compassionate will be rewarded with lasting blessings, while those who are selfish and unkind will meet with lasting calamities.
Translated by Audrey Wang
