1. A man picked two baskets of mulberries and moved the robbers
During the Han Dynasty, there was a scholar named Cai Shun who showed great filial piety toward his mother, who loved to eat mulberries. One day, Cai Shun picked mulberries and took two baskets, one for black or purple and the other for red. Why did he separate them into two baskets? The more ripe mulberries were black or purple, while the less ripe ones were red.
On the way home, Cai Shun encountered some robbers. The robbers were puzzled. They caught him and asked him: “Why do you put the mulberries into two baskets?” He replied: “The ripe ones are sweeter for my mother. The less ripe ones are for me.”
The robbers were moved by his words. They originally wanted to take the mulberries for themselves, but now they have let him go. They gave Cai Shun some rice, vegetables, and other things they had robbed so he could take them to feed his mother. However, Cai Shun thought about it and refused. He reasoned: “If I take the things and keep them at home, what if the officials come suddenly? When they walk in and see the food, won’t they wonder why the robbed rice and vegetables are in my house? I will be caught red-handed. There is no way I can defend myself, and it will harm my mother!” Therefore, he did not take anything that did not belong to him!
Filial piety is the first of all deeds. A truly filial son will unknowingly become a person who follows the rules in every way. Cai Shun’s filial piety awakened the conscience of the robbers. It tells us that human beings are inherently good by nature. Therefore, as long as we have good virtues, bad people will also be influenced. When we face an evil person, we should not criticize him. The most important thing is that we do well ourselves to affect him and society.
Confucius also mentioned that a virtuous man should “think of righteousness when it comes to personal gain,” meaning that money or gains should be taken correctly. To obtain anything, we must first consider whether it is rightful, and if it is contrary to righteousness, we should never use or take it.
2. A blind man accidentally fell into a well
During the Wuwu Year of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1738), there was a blind artist who sang for a living. He went from house to house singing songs, and each family gave him some food. Just before New Year, after finishing singing for the day, he packed the food and headed home.
He lost his footing and fell into a dry well on the way. The well was in the middle of nowhere, and it was New Year’s Eve. Every family was celebrating, and hardly any pedestrians were on the road. The blind artist shouted at the top of his lungs, but no one heard him. Fortunately, it was warm under the well, and he had food and fruit in his bag. He ate a few mouthfuls of food when hungry and chewed a few mouthfuls of fruit when thirsty. He managed to survive for several days.
It so happened that a butcher named Wang Yisheng was driving a pig nearby. The pig suddenly broke free about half a mile from the dry well. It ran wildly in the field and fell into the dry well. When Wang Yisheng hooked the pig up with a long-handled hook, he found that there was another person in the well. The dying blind artist was saved in this way.
Someone asked the blind artist how he felt in the dry well. The blind artist recalled: “I had no thoughts at all at the time, and my heart felt as if I was dead. I only thought about my old mother, who was sick in bed at home and waiting for her blind son to come back to feed her. She was even losing her blind son now and probably extremely hungry by now. When I thought of that, I couldn’t help but feel my heart bleeding and in unbearable pain.”
The dry well was not originally on the path that Wang Yisheng was taking. The reason why he was led there could be said to be the secret instigation of the gods. It was the blind artist’s filial piety that moved the gods and gained their blessing. If he had not had that thought at the time, Wang Yisheng’s rope that tied the pig would not have been broken.
Translated by Cecilia and edited by Amanda
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