Around 2009, I often participated in animal release operations, which allowed me to hear about and directly experience the gratitude of those creatures. On the other hand, animals that were killed sought revenge and retaliated against their attackers.
Releasing a turtle brings good luck
In 2010, while working in Dongying, I participated in some animal release operations. While passing by a fishmonger at the market, I saw a wild turtle beside a basin where fish were about to be sold. It was very fierce and kept trying to break free.
I asked the vendor how much the turtle was selling for. He weighed it and explained that it was a wild turtle caught by their family, and the price could be lower than the market price, but they wouldn’t sell it for less than RMB 300 yuan (about US$40). After some bargaining, I finally bought it for RMB 280 yuan.
Later, I took the turtle to a less populated area under the Yellow River Bridge to release it. It seemed familiar with the Yellow River and quickly dove into the water, disappearing beneath the surface. I happily returned home.
One month later, I was returning to work in my hometown, and just before leaving, I decided to stop by the Yellow River Bridge to release some loaches. When I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to encounter the turtle I had set free. It was not scared and stared at me as if it recognized me. After setting the loaches free, I waved goodbye to the turtle, which slowly swam back into the water. Unexpectedly, three months later, these two good deeds brought me immense fortune.
After returning to my hometown, I began working at a real estate agency. Although property prices in Heze were not high, averaging only RMB 3,900 (around US$543) yuan per square meter, the low wage level (around RMB 2,000 yuan per month — about US$280) made it a luxury for my family to buy a house (even the down payment was hard to gather).
Miraculously, three months after starting my job, I found a solution. At that time, the company developed a small community in a slightly less central location, with a market price of only RMB 3,300 yuan (about US$360) per square meter. To take care of its employees, the firm provided them with welfare housing at RMB 1,000 yuan (approximately US$140) per square meter. Thus, I, who initially could not afford a property, owned one shortly after returning to my hometown.
On the day I received the keys to my new home, I had a dream in which the turtle I had saved expressed its gratitude to me.
Killing a big snake led to mental illness
This story took place in a small community centre in Dongying, which had been in operation for nearly 20 years, where my colleague’s grandmother resided. As everyone in the community joyfully welcomed the New Year on New Year’s Eve, something strange happened at Grandma Li’s house. Grandma Li lived on the first floor. Because the community centre was old and surrounded by weeds and trees, wild yellow weasels and snakes would occasionally appear.
One morning, when she returned home, Grandma Li discovered a one-meter-long snake on her sofa. “What bad luck! How did a snake get into the house?” she complained while calling her family to push the reptile back into the small grove outside with a stick. Unexpectedly, the animal did not go far and reappeared in the woman’s yard by the afternoon. To eliminate the threat, disregarding her family’s objections, she killed it.
A few days after the New Year, Grandma Li unexpectedly became confused and mentally unstable. Her family sought medical help everywhere, but nothing was effective. My colleague’s grandmother told him that the snake had no malicious intent toward them, but after being killed by Grandma Li, it became an enemy, which led to the woman’s mental breakdown. Her condition would remain incurable unless they found a virtuous practitioner to resolve this.
These stories teach the importance of treating life with kindness and refraining from killing indiscriminately. Taking lives creates significant karma, and the pain caused will ultimately return to the murderer.
Translated by Joseph Wu and edited by Laura Cozzolino
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