浜様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様融 * BuddhaNet * Buddha Dhamma Meditation Assoc. Web Site: www.buddhanet.net PO Box K1020 Haymarket NSW 2000 Email: buddhanet@pobox.com Telephone: +61-2-92123071 藩様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様様夕 * Chinese Buddhist Children Stories *(Accounts of refraining from killing and releasinganimals to make merit) Table of Contents:1. The Old Hen Who Set The Alarm2. The Young Monk Who Saved The Ants3. The Eleven Pigs4. The Big Tortoise Who Seized The Bandit5. The Flies Who Paid A Debt Of Gratitude6. The Story of A Stupid Boy7. The Snake Who Did Fortunate-telling8. Lai Fu, the astute dog9. The Legend Of The Sparrow10.The Soft-shell Turtle Who Cures Ailments11.The Spiral Shells Who Mend The Ship The Old Hen Who Set The Alarm Once upon a time, in Jiashn of China there lived a person whose surnamewas Kng. Once Mr. Kng paid a visit to a relative whom he had not seenfor a long time. They talked and talked until nightfall. Warm-heartedlythe relative invited him to stay for dinner. Since they rarely saw each other, the relative attentively prepared thedinner. He wanted to slaughter the old hen whom he had been keeping foryears and cook it for Mr. Kng. Off he went to the hen-coop and seizedthe old hen. The old hen drew out her throat and cried like anything whenshe knew that she was faced with imminent disaster. Upon seeing the pitiful scene, Mr. Kng's sympathy was arouse and so he quickly told his relative, "Please don't kill the hen!" "But this will make up a dish for you!" "Don't worry, I'll eat anything you give me." "I should try my best to serve you since we rarely have a chance to get together." "Really, you don't have to... I, I..." "C'on, don't say 'I... I...'. Please make yourself at home." Mr. Kng gave a gaze at the hen. He saw that her eyes was sad and tears were on the verge of falling off. Suddenly Mr. Kng determined to make a lie of "good-will". "The case is,... I have been on vegetarian diet recently." "Oh! Really? Why haven't I heard you say that before?" "You've forgotten. We haven't seen each other for a long time. Really, please don't kill the hen." "Alright! Since you are on vegetarian diet, we might as well join you for a vegetarian dinner!"It was late after dinner. The relative asked Mr. Kng to stay overnight.Because Mr. Kng was tired, he was soon in his "dream world" as soon as his head hit the pillow. He was sleeping soundly, when suddenly, he felt a peckon the face which woke him up. He opened his eyes and had a look. There he saw the old hen whom he had saved that evening. Mr. Kng could nothelp be annoyed. "My old hen, don't disturb me, I want to sleep." Then hewent to sleep immediately after he said that. However, the old hen did not listen to him. She again pecked him andwoke him up. Mr. Kng was becoming very annoyed. So he raised himselfand sat on the bed and said to her, "My old hen, you are so ungrateful.I've saved you from being killed today. Yet tonight you aren't even kindenough to allow me a good nights sleep." After rebuking the old hen and as he was just about to lie down on the bedhe unexpectedly heard a tremendous noise. He was so shocked that he brokeinto a cold-sweat when he was able to look at what had happened. A heavy block ofstone had fallen off from the rotten roofbeam onto his pillow! Had he beenlying down on the bed he would have been killed. Gratefully, he saw the oldhen leave and he understood the reason for the old hen's behaviour. After this event Mr. Kng really became a vegetarian. He also constantlytold people about this story to persuade his relative and friends to avoidkilling.Extract of The Buddhist Children's Stories, page 1-4, published by TheWhite Cloud Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mng Gu (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated and proof-read by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2536 1st Lunar Monththe 3th(1993/01/25)01:00 Sydney. The Young Monk Who Saved The AntsOnce upon a time in the deep mountains forest there lived an old monk anda young monk. The old monk was a great practitioner of Buddha-dharmaand was frequently in deep meditation. Normally when he started meditation,it could last for half a day or one full day. In addition, during hismeditation he would know what was going to happen in the future. One day, the old monk meditated again. Suddenly he found out that hislittle disciple was going to pass away in eight days. Therefore the oldmonk called the young monk and said, "My child, I am going to give you aneight-day holiday so that you can go home to see your mother and father." "Really? That's very good, thank you Shifu. In fact, lately I have been feeling quite homesick too." "However, you must remember to come back here by the eighth day." "Okay, Shifu, please take care of yourself. I am leaving now." "Go home now!"Delightedly the young monk went down the mountains, without realisingthat in the eyes of the old monk, there was sadness and a sense of reluctanceto see him leave. After a long walk, the young monk stopped at the bank ofthe stream to drink some water as he was getting thirsty. Then he saw there was an ant cave in which countless ants were going intoand out of it. He stayed to observe for a while with interest. When hewas just about to leave, "Oh! Why is the water level of the stream isrising? Oh no!! The ants will be drowned!!" The reason was it had beenraining upstream for a few days continuously. Therefore the water leveldownstream was starting to rise. He quickly took off his cloth and he put some hard soil in it to made upa protection wall along the cave. Not only did he managed to stop waterfrom covering the cave, but also skilfully diverted the flow of the waterto somewhere else. Hence he saved the lives of countless ants. Eight days passed quickly. The old monk was strolling in the mountainsforest sadly. Suddenly from a distance, he saw the little monk coming back upto the mountains cheerfully. Happily he asked the young monk to recount whathe has done in the pass eight days while he had been away. When he ponderedon this story he finally understood that because the young monk had saved thelives of countless ants this has caused his fated eight-day life expectancyto lenghten into a long and happy life.This is the merit of cultivating good deeds, however seemingly insignificant they be.Extract of The Buddhist Children's Stories, page 5-7, published by TheWhite Cloud Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mng Gu (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated and proofread by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2536 12th Lunar Monththe 28th(1993/01/20) 23:45, Sydney. The Eleven Pigs Once upon a time in Yongzhou (China) there lived a butcher whose surnamewas Zhang. Everyday he would kill a pig to supply the demand for thepeople who lived around him. However, slaughtering pigs was an act ofkilling sentient beings Therefore he often thought of making a living out of other profession,"Em, I should change my profession! There are many jobs I can do out of'360 professions'. Why should I be a butcher? My knife has to kill a pigand "dye red" each day. If I kill 30 pigs each month then I will havekilled 360 pigs every year. It's terrible whenever time I think about it." However, 'Butcher Zhang' had a family to feed. Slaughtering pigs was aprofession that he could made money with ease. Therefore his thought ofchanging profession became replaced by anther thought. He would reassuredhimself, "Oh well, well! Changing profession is not that easy, is it? Furthermore it isn't me who like killing pigs. It's other people who liketo eat pork. Otherwise who'll I sell to when I kill them? Even though Iincur bad retribution, those who eat pork should also share theresponsibilities with me as well. Also we keep pigs because we want to eatthem, don't we?!!" Since he had to arrive at the morning market early, and also pigs madetremendous noise when he killed them, therefore he chose to slaughter themin the dawn. Butcher Zhang also had a habit which he had been keeping upfor years. That was: Every morning as soon as he heard the bell rang fromthe nearby Buddhist temple, he would get up and slaughtered a pig. Thishabitual action had never changed. However, one day he got up late. Later he found out that the temple didnot ring the bell at all in that morning. When the butcher went to thepig-shed he discovered the mother pig he was going to kill gave birth to 11sucking-pigs in the morning. Everyone of them was so fat and already theywere leaning so close to the mother and suckling for milk. How lovely theywere! He felt the event was extraordinary. Therefore he went to the temple. The abbot of the temple told him, "I had a dream last night. I dreamed of11 children who knelt down to beg me to save the life of their mother. Iasked them how I could save her. They replied it was very simple. All Ineeded to do was not to ring the bell." Eleven children? Eleven pigs? Suddenly the butcher understood therelationship between them. He threw the knife he killed the pigs into theriver. Eventually he determined to change his profession.Extract of The Buddhist Children's Stories, page 8-10, published by TheWhite Cloud Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mng Gu (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated and proof-read by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2536 12th Month the28th(1993/1/20) 23:45, Sydney. The Big Tortoise Who Seized The Bandit This story happened in the Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1644 - 1911, the dynastyestablished by the Manchu people, Ed.). The time was the 7th Year of KangXi reign (The first Emperor of The Qing Dynasty). There was a merchant whocame from Anhui. When he was bypassing the place where Songhua Jiang(river) and the Huapu Jiang met, he saw a fisherman caught a huge tortoise. His sympathy for the tortoise arouse so he talked to the fisherman, "I gaveyou three taels (unit of weight for silver in old China) of silver. Pleasedon't sell it for food to people. Let it go back to the river." However, unexpectedly there was another fisherman peeping that andthought the merchant possessed many taels of silver. Therefore he had athought of seizing the money. Then he took the advantage when everyone wasasleep, he held his knife and jumped onto the merchant's boat. One strikehe killed the boat-person and the merchant's servant who were sleepingsoundly. Then he woke up the merchant, "Ooi! Get up! Get up! Give meall of your silver, otherwise I'll kill you." "Okay! Okay! All of my silver is here, take it, if only you don't killme." "Wah! All of my life I have never seen so much silver. You ask me notto kill you? No way! I've got the silver, why should I let you live?" The merchant kneeled down and begged with all his might, "I beg you to bekind, don't kill me. In my family there are my wife and young children totake care of. Furthermore I've already given you all of the silver." Okay! For the sake of your silver, I don't kill you now. However, if Ilet you go, it's not of my benefits. Make it this way, I tie you up andthrow you into the river. Whether you'll be alive or not that depend onyour luck." So the fisherman tied the hands and legs of the merchant and threw himinto the river. The situation was critical. Since the hands and legs of the merchantwere tied up, he could not swim at all and it was up to the heaven todecide his destiny. Upon this very critical moment, suddenly the "relief troops" arrived. Itwas not anyone else but the tortoise whom the merchant saved. It placedthe merchant on its back and swam against upstream for about 20 li (Chinesemile). Continuously it swam until dawn only then they found the waterpolice on petrol. The water police saved the merchant. And under thedirection of the tortoise they caught the bandit fisherman and resumed thelost 400 taels of silver. From then onwards, the people living around andafar passed down with general approval the story of "the huge tortoiseseizing the bandit".Extract of The Buddhist Children's Stories, page 11-13, published by TheWhite Cloud Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mng Gu (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated and proof-read by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2536 12th Month the28th(1993/01/20), 23:45, Sydney. The Flies Who Paid A Debt Of Gratitude During China's Si Dynasty (A.D.581-618) in the busy capital city therelived a ordinary person whose name was Mr. Wng W. He made wine and hemade a living out of it. Although Wng W was an ordinary person, he was very compassionate. Forinstance, when he made wine there were many flies who were greedy of thefragrance of the wine. Thus they often fell down into the wine cask andnearly got drowned. Then Wang Wu would carefully drained the flies anddried them up with ash. When the flies woke up and were able to fly, hereleased all of them as a work of merit. One thing that's worth praising was that this virtues did not end in fiveminutes. Instead it continued day after day, month after month and yearafter year. He persisted in his virtues without stopping. One year misfortune came as someone lodged a false accusation againsthim. Wang Wu was very worried as he saw the day of execution was nearing. "Honestly I am innocent, but what can I do?" However, a miracle happened. When the executioner was just about towrite the execution statement, suddenly there came millions of flies whorisked their lives to seize the head of the brush pen. Therefore theexecutioner could not write anything. It would not have been extraordinarywhen it happened once. Whenever the executioner started to write, the samething happened again and again. The officer then could not refrain from asking himself, "What'shappening? I have been an executioner for years and I have neverencountered anything like this. Perhaps someone has laid an unjust chargeagainst him? I'd better ask my superior to investigate the case." Because of the flies' rescue, Wang Wu finally regained his life from 'thegate of the hell'. After careful investigation of Wang's case by the superior,Wang Wu was proved innocent and eventually he was released. From then on WangWu went back to his normal and happy life.Extract of The Buddhist Children's Stories, page 14-16, published by TheWhite Cloud Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mng Gu (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated and proof-read by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2537 1st Month the4th(1993/01/26), 19:02, Sydney. The Story of A Stupid Boy "Alas! What a stupid son I have! I am worried that he will not be ableto preserve all of the property if I hand down to him. There was a wealthy man who was very astute and capable. However, he hada son who was very stupid and good-at-nothing. Hence the wealthy man hadbeen very distressful. One day he was again sat down in the living roomand sighed. His son was sitting opposite to him and was just mindlesslygiggling, "Hihi, hehe!!" "Ai", the wealthy man could not help making a sigh. Then the family old maid came in and said, "Master, there's a monklooking for you for donation." The wealthy man had been a person who knew how to respect the Buddhists. Therefore upon hearing that, he said, "Please invite him in immediately." Soon an old monk who looked very compassionate came in. The wealthy manvery politely requested him to sit down. The old monk did not sit down. Instead he directly walked towards the stupid son and looked at him. Thenthe old monk slowly touched his head for a few times and said, "In fact,this child is very clever and is good at studying. It's a pity thatthere's too much killing in your home. And this prevent him from beingclever." He left without looking back when he finished the remarks. There leftthe wealthy man to think of the remarks of the old monk, "The old monk wasright. Truly our family have been consuming big fishes and much meatwithout stopping. Also we always throw dishes away when we cannot finishthem. And every festivals we will have delicacies from land and sea. Perhaps it has been because we have been slaughtering many animals at homethat resulted in having an idiotic son." From then onwards, the wealthy man changed himself completely - The wholefamily started to become vegetarian. He banned anyone to take all liveanimals into the kitchen. In addition, he spent much money to buy animalsto release them in the wild as a work of merit. Thus he had been doing formany years. Suddenly one day the stupid son of the wealthy man ran to the father,held his stomach and shouted, "Papa, my stomach's aching and I want tovomit." The wealthy man was very worried. He was just about to invite a doctorto treat his son when the son started to vomit some "black liquid". Everyone was astonished upon seeing it. However, the stupid son became very intelligent since then. No longer anidiot any more, he mastered anything he learnt in no time. The wealthy manwas very happy so he let his son studied. Finally the son attained thebest results in the government examination. This confirmed what the oldmonk had said before.Extract of The Buddhist Children's Stories, page 17-19, published by TheWhite Cloud Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mng Gu (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated and proof-read by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2537 1th Lunar Monththe 8th(1993/1/30), Sydney. The Snake Who Did Fortunate-tellingOnce upon a time there was a well-known family whose surname was Fang. Everyone of the family was very kind, especially the old Madam Fang, whowas a very compassionate and affable old lady. We can tell from hereveryday life's behaviour. She often reminded her maids, "At home do not pour any boiling or hotwater on the floor casually. This is because it may kill many ants orlittle insects on the floor. And if it flows through the drain it ispossible that it indirectly kill other small animals." As for the normal activities in the house or courtyard, the old madamalso raminded family membrers to pay attetion when they walked. Otherwisethey could step on and kill little animals. In addition, she also told thegrandchildren not to wilfully squeeze inserts that lived on the trees todeath. Hence every member of the Fang family, young and old, alwaysradiate an atmosphere of auspicious sign. Anyone who saw would naturallyfeel comfortable right from the heart. One day the old madam Fang's son went to the capital city for business. When he came back he brought back an man-servant, hoping that the servantwould help the old maiden to do some work. The old madam happily acceptedhim. However that night she had a dream. In the dream a red snake told her,"How're you old madam? Actually I am your neighbour, that is because Ilive in the cave of the back of your courtyard. I have been moving in thepast. Since everyone casually pour the hot water and step on the groundwithout payying attention, so I cannot be at rest. However since I movedhere, I have been very satisfied. This is due to your compassionate heart. Now to repay your kindess, I would like to tell your fortune within thesefew days ." The red snake pasued for a while, behaving like any other fortune-teller,it shaked its head and continued, "The man-servant your son brought back isin fact a bandit. However, he will do no harm. Five days latter hisfather will come to see him. You can give them some tales of silver(money) and ask them to leave. Then everything will be fine." Five days later, the man-servant's father came as expected. The oldmadam acted very carefully. She did what the red snake had told her. After half a year, there was a case of robbery took place in theneingboruing county. Later it was found out that the robbers wrer thefather and son. Upon hearing this, from then on the Fang family took evengreater care of all the little animals.Extract of The Buddhist Children's Stories, page 20-22, published by TheWhite Cloud Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mng Gu (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated and proof-read by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2537 1st Lunar Monththe 17th(1993/02/08), Sydney. Li F, the astute dogThis is an extraordinary story that happened in the reign of the QingDynasty (the last dynasty of China, 1644-1911). In Wu Town of Tng Countythere was a family who raised a dog named Li F. Li F was a lovely dog. His hair was curly and he had a pair of bigblack sparkling eyes. Everyone who saw him adored him. Not only did thefamily love him, but also the children living around cherished him as well. Li F not only looked lovely, was also very clever. He knew manytricks, which included looking after the house for the master, holding thevegetable basket in his mouth when the family members went to the market,and accompanying the little master Ah Hui to play with a ball. "Li F roll the ball here quickly." "Hm, Li F is very well-behaved" Truly Li F had been bringing happiness to the whole family. However,there was something very unusual; every midnight he mysteriouslydisappeared, when he returned home the next morning his whole body wassoaking wet. One day the master finally discovered this phenomenon, so he secretlyfollowed Li F to find out what on earth Li F had been doing. He wasvery angry when he discovered the truth. So the story was: Every midnight Li F secretly ran out of the house,swam across the river to a family living on the other shore. At night hekept watch over that family and went home at dawn. When the master knew the truth, he scolded Li F angrily, "What a littledog without any conscience! We give you food to eat, how can you at nightkeep watch over someone else? If you do this again, I am not going to keepyou any more." Upon hearing this, Ah Hui quickly came and said some fine words to defendLi F, "Papa, please do not scold him any more, he will not do it again",Ah Hui continued, "Right, Li F?" Li F behaved as a little child who had made a mistake, bowing his headall the time and murmuring under his breath. It seemed that he admitted hewas wrong. That night the master had a dream. He saw Li F turned into a beautifullittle boy. "Please forgive me, I did not do it on purpose. Because I owe money tothe family, I have to go there to keep watch over then at night for them. I still owe them 13 wn qan (cash, unit of money to measure copper coinsin old China, Ed.) When I finish paying my debt, I will not go there anymore, okay? I will certainly repay you for your kindness." The next day the master placed 13 wn qan around Li F's neck. Li Fquickly went to the family on the other shore, threw the money into theirwindow, and sped off home. From then on, Li F always was well-behavedand looked after the house. He never went anywhere. One summer's day Ah Hui took Li F to go swimming in the river. Ah Huiwas enjoying himself in the water while Li F was watching with interest. As Ah Hui played his legs suddenly became numb, "Oh no, my legs..." As soon as he had said that he swallowed couple mouthfuls of water. Hewould have drowned soon. Li F who was on the bank jumped into the riverwith a splash, swam with all his might towards his little master. Holdingthe boy's pants in his mouth, he swam towards the bank. Then he quicklyran back to the house to inform the family. He saved Ah Hui's life. Afterthis event, the good reputation of "Li F, the astute dog" spread all overthe village. Extract of The Buddhist Children's Stories, page 23-26, published by TheWhite Cloud Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mng Gu (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated and proof-read by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2536 1st Lunar Monththe 21th(1993/02/12)16:00 Sydney. The Legend Of The Sparrow"You don't need to be worried about my illness. I believe I will recovergradually." Laying in bed, Mrs. Fn, who had been very sick for months, was saying ina weak voice to her husband. Mr. Fn patted her with his hand and comforted her, "You're my wife, Imust think of a way to help you recover from the illness. And I still hopethat you will give birth to a son for me." "Ge! Ge! Ge!" Mrs. Fn kept coughing for a few times. "See! Your illness is getting worse, how can I not be worried about you? Right, yesterday I requested a prescription from Daoist Fang (people whopractise Daoism). Let us try it." Mr. Fn stood up and went to get theprescription as soon as he had said that. "What prescription?" "Em! The prescription says that we need to keep 100 sparrows. Everydaywe have to feed them infused-herb rice. After 21 days of feeding them wekill them and eat their brains." "What? Eat the brains of 100 sparrows? No! No way! This is toosavage, I cannot eat them." Mrs. Fn shook her head to imply her disapproval. "What is savage or not savage? You have to eat anything to recover. Furthermore Daoist Fang told me this prescription is very effective." Mr. Fn did not agree with Mrs. Fn's opinion. He went downtown aloneand brought back 100 fat sparrows. He kept them in a cage. Then Mr. Fn he quickly went to the Chinese herb chemist to buy theinfused-herd rice. Laying in bed, Mrs. Fn heard the twittering of the sparrows. She knewof her husband's determination. She could not help sighing, "Alas!" Mrs. Fn continued to think, "No! Normally I couldn't be hard-heartedenough to carelessly step on an ant. Now we're going to kill 100 livesparrows just to save my life, how could I have the heart to do it? 100lives!!" As Mrs. Fn was thinking, she made an effort to walk and crawled to thecourtyard. She opened the sparrows' cage, and set the 100 sparrows free. When Mr. Fn took the herbs back home and saw the empty cage, he knewthat his wife did not want to eat. So he could not help but let it go. Strangely enough, however, since Mrs. Fn set free all of the 100 sparrows,her mind was unusually calm and comfortable. So she started to recoverslowly. Even more extraordinary, one year later Mrs. Fn gave birth to afair and fat baby boy. Mr. Fn could not help but keep laughing andholding the baby and showing it to his wife, "See, our son is so lovely!" To their astonishment, at the same time both of them discovered - thatthere were many black spots on their baby's both arms. And the shapes ofthe spots resembled to the shapes of the sparrows exactly. My dear reader, what do you think of this phenomenon?Extract of The Buddhist Children's Stories, page 27-30, published by TheWhite Cloud Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mng Gu (R.O.C Year)76 Oct.Translated and proof-read by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2537 1st Lunar Monththe 27th (1993/02/18) 11:45, Sydney. The Soft-shell Turtle Who Cures AilmentsOnce upon a time there was a couple whose surname was Zhng. They likedeating soft-shell turtle very much. One day they bought a huge soft-shellturtle and gave it to the young maid called Ap, "Ap! Kill this soft-shell turtle. This time we want to eat a barbecued one, pay attention todo your best!" Ap had never been fond of killing. However, it was hard for her not toobey the command of the master. Therefore having no way out, she started tosharpen the knife in the kitchen. The knife became sharper and sharper. Ap gazed at the soft-shell turtle. She saw it looking at her with itseyes begging her not to kill. Suddenly Ap felt that she did not have theheart to kill it. Therefore she secretly took the soft-shell turtle andset it free in the river. Then she told the master a lie of good-will,"I'm sorry, it was me who didn't look well after the soft-shell turtle andnow it is missing. Please forgive me." Hearing that the master was outraged, "How could you be so careless! Where were your eyes? How could you lose such a big soft-shell turtle? Iam really disappointed! Without any cause you let us lose a beautifulmeal! Alas!" Not long after suddenly Ap suddenly fell severely ill and it seemed thatshe was dying. Mr. and Mrs Zhng saw no sign of her recovery, so theycalled people to take her home. However, those people threw her on theriver bank near her home and went off. At midnight, a big soft-shell turtle suddenly emerged from the water,carrying wet mud, the sort-shell covered Ap's body with the mud. Originally Ap had a temperature all over her body. But then she felt herbody become so much cooler and she recovered in no time. When Ap went back to her master's place, everyone was so surprised thatno one could say a word. "What was the matter?" Ap told the story of how the soft-shell turtle helped her to cure thedisease. The master only half-believed her so they went to look for thesort-shell turtle. Consequently they discovered that it was the one theyhad lost. The whole family was deeply moved by this incident. The couple huggedAp and said, "Fortunately you set free the soft-shell turtle so that wewill not continue to make mistakes. Ap, from now on we swear we will noteat soft-shell turtles any more."Extract of The Buddhist Children's Stories, page 31-33, published by TheWhite Cloud Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mng Gu (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated and proof-read by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2537 1st Lunar Monththe 27th (1993/02/18), 16:00, Sydney. The Spiral Shells Who Mend The ShipHng Zhou is a scenic place in China. During Qing Dynasty (the lastdynasty of China, 1644-1911) there was a kind-hearted person named RunQpng. Ever since Run Qpng was young he was very kind and he treasured littleanimals immensely. He also had an ambition of setting captured animalsfree. Regularly, he did the hard work of going to the banks of the streamsor deep in the mountains to release captured animals. The animals he setfree were mostly spiral shells and little fishes. He always advised peopleto set these two types of animals free. Once there was a little kid who asked him, "Uncle Run, why do you advisepeople to set free spiral shells and fishes free?" He replied with a smile, "Oh! It is because spiral shells and fishes arecheap to buy, but when you set them free you will have saved countlesslives." Therefore as long as Run Qpng saw people selling spiral shells andlittle fishes in the market, he always bought them and set them free. Not only did he continue his blessed actions, but also he urged people tofollow him. In the year of Kong Xi (name of first of emperor of Qing Dynasty) GengSheng (the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Braches, a way of calculating yearsin old China, ed.), because Run Qpng was out on business, he was onboard a ship bypassing F Chun. Unfortunately the bottom of the ship wasstruck by a submerged rock. The ship was in the middle of the river andthe water was rising through the hole struck by the rocks. Soon the shipwould be sink. Run Qpng was panicked and, he thought, "Alas! This time perhaps Iwill die." At the critical moment, suddenly there was a disturbance from the bottomof the ship. Carefully they looked at it, the water had stopped pouringin. Run Qpng felt that it was unusual. When the ship was onshore, only then did they find out that there werecountless spiral shells, layer upon layer, they had used their bodies tofill out the hole. In addition, there were thousands of little fisheshelping the shells by the sides of the ship. This extraordinary situationmade all eyewitnesses admit that it was the first time in their lives thatthey had ever seen such a marvellous spectacle.Extract of The Buddhist Children's Stories, page 35-36, published by TheWhite Cloud Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan, Mng Gu (R.O.C. Year) 76 Oct.Translated and proofread by Forest, Buddhist Calender 2537 1st Lunar Monththe 1st (1993/1/23), Sydney.