(Minghui.org) There is an ancient Chinese saying, “Every thought of man is known to Heaven and Earth; they will make sure that good is rewarded with good, and evil met with evil.”
As the author understands it, this saying shows that this heavenly principle cannot be hidden nor altered, that the Divine knows everything and differentiates good from evil at all times.
In ancient China it was thought that people were duly rewarded for kind thoughts, and punished for evil ones. In fact, everything came down to the moment of that thought. In Chinese traditional culture, there were many references in the writings of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism that all sages and people of virtue since ancient times regarded honesty and uprightness as the main virtues of conduct.
The author believes that the ancient Chinese had it right all along, and that the principles described herein apply as much today as they did then.
The ancients respected Heaven and Earth and treated other people's scrutiny seriously in case they would fall short and offend Heaven and Earth by conducting themselves improperly, even unknowingly. They were always careful and maintained a pure and calm mind even when no one else was around, to make sure that they would never do anything against their conscience.
However, there were also people who thought that if they did bad things in secrecy, nobody would know. However, they would never be able to escape punishment for their wrongdoing.
There were many such stories in ancient books. The following is just one of them.
Struck by Lightning for Ill-gotten Money
An elderly lady who lived during the Qing Dynasty became widowed when she was young.
She brought up her son by doing embroidery work for others. Her son grew up and got a job in a private bank. The elderly lady kept working and saved several dozen silver coins to prepare for her son's marriage in the future. She always carried the money around her waist when going out, for fear of losing it.
Once, she went to burn incense in a temple. She heard that there were a lot of pickpockets in the temple area so she asked the owner of a grain store (an acquaintance) to take care of her money while she went to the temple. However, when she came back to ask for her money, the grain store owner replied angrily, “Who took your money!”
The elderly lady was shocked and argued with him tearfully. Pointing his finger to heaven, the owner swore that he was being wronged by her. The onlookers couldn't tell who was in the right or wrong. In fact, when she left her money with the store owner, a neighbor next door was present and also watched them argue.
The woman asked the neighbor to offer evidence about what happened, but he laughed and said, “Utter nonsense! I've just arrived and never saw you before. How can I tell which one of you is telling the truth!” Hearing his words, people started to make comments, saying that she was in the wrong. She was suffering a gross injustice, but found it very hard to defend herself.
She went home, and in great despair, hanged herself.
Her son came home to find his mother dead. He couldn't understand why she'd committed suicide and was extremely upset.
The unexpected tragedy dealt him a heavy blow and he fell ill. One day when he was half conscious, he saw his mother coming to him and said, “My son, two people will be struck to death by lightning in Yuanmiao Temple tomorrow, and the injustice I suffered will be righted. We'll get the money back. You should go there to take a look even though you are sick.”
The next day, her son went to the temple as requested. The weather was nice and clear at first, but not long after, dark clouds built up, lightning flashed and thunder roared. With a loud cracking sound, a bolt of lightning struck and killed two people.
They were kneeling down face to face, each with a bag of silver dollars in hand. A little while later, one of them (the neighbor of the store owner) came back to life and told everyone: “That day after the elderly lady left her money with the store owner, he had a wicked idea to swindle the money and promised to split it with me. Who would have thought that we offended Heaven by doing so. The magistrate in the underworld judged that the store owner was the main culprit and I was thus spared the death penalty. I was ordered to make a public announcement about this and return the money to her son.”
Someone in the crowd recognized her son and he accepted the money. After he got home, he held a memorial ceremony for his mother and cried sadly in memory of her. He completely recovered from his illness. The store owner's neighbor was bedridden for half a year. He became permanently crippled with a broken hand and a foot.
Epilogue
As the author understands it, the stories presented in this series serve as a warning that everything is controlled by heavenly principles.
The Divine is fully aware of everything - one's words and deeds, every single idea and thought. In fact, good and evil are not only differentiated by what one says or does, but what one thinks as well.
From ancient times, people believed: “Good will be rewarded with good, and evil met with evil, sooner or later.”
However, the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) goes against the universal cosmic law and has forced atheism and the philosophy of struggle in people's minds, forbidding them to believe in cause and effect. The CCP does whatever it likes and deceives the world with lies. Most of all, it has been persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, who believe in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” for the last14 years and has committed unpardonable atrocities.
More than one 140 million Chinese have now declared their withdrawal from the CCP and its related organizations. They have learned the truth and made a clear break with the CCP. They have seen through the CCP's evil nature and made a rational choice, thus choosing bright futures for themselves.
(Source: “The Supreme Book of Rewards and Punishments”《太上感应篇例证》, “Zuo Hua Zhi Guo” 《坐花志果》and etc.)
Category: Traditional Culture
