Life or Death -- One Thought of Good or Evil Will Decide the Outcome -- Written at a Time When SARS Is Rampant
(Clearwisdom.net)
It's hard to imagine what one would think about just as one is unexpectedly
faced with death; but the thought at that moment determines one's fate.
There is a story in Buddhism: in the past, a person named Gan Daduo committed
all manner of crimes. One day while he was walking on a street, he saw that he
was about to step on a spider. A kind thought came to him: "A spider is a small
life, but why should I kill it?" So he stepped over the spider and avoided
killing it.
Since he had done so many bad things, he fell into an endless hell when he
died. While he was suffering, a silver thread from a spider fell down from the
sky. Feeling as if he had found a boat after falling into the sea, he quickly
climbed up the thread with his all strength to escape from the pains of hell.
But as he was climbing, he looked down and saw many other sentient beings were
also climbing up after him. He was afraid that the fine thread could not stand
so much weight and would break, ruining his chance to escape. He kicked down all
of the others one after another. But as he was kicking his companions, the
spider thread broke, and Gan Daduo and all the sentient beings fell into hell
again to suffer in endless misery.
His earlier kind thought had given Gan Daduo a chance to escape from hell;
but his bad thought had drawn him back to hell to suffer again. It seems that
one thought can determine one's fate. It all depends on whether that thought is
good or evil.
Some people have said: The issue of Falun Gong has nothing to do with me.
Perhaps when people are persecuted or even beaten to death, since it did not
happen to you, you may feel that that the issue has nothing to do with you. But
when you hear about what is happening to Falun Gong practitioners and that
people are being tortured for no good reason, you will form an opinion, and that
thought is yours, so it's related to you. Whether your thought is support for
the innocent people, indifference, or hate and disgust for no reason, the kind
or evil thought will bring about totally different outcomes for you. The
following are a few true stories:
1. A Falun Gong practitioner told a girl she knew to remember that "Falun
Dafa is good." Later, while this girl was working, she received a bad shock due
to an electric short, which caused her to fall. But at that moment, she
remembered what her friend had said and recited, "Falun Dafa is good" in her
mind. The result was that she was not injured. Her boss was surprised and
curious about how she had been spared from harm. The girl told her boss what she
was thinking when the accident happened. Hearing the story, her boss said: "How
miraculous Dafa is! I also want to learn it."
2. In Xinji city, Hebei Province, a villager drove his tractor to work. On
his way he saw a "Falun Dafa is good" banner. He thought: "I can use the banner
to clean my tractor." He grabbed the banner and continued on his way. As he
drove, he noticed that the tractor was leaking oil from several places. Then, he
realized that what he had done was wrong and deeply regretted his actions while
holding the banner in his hand. The oil leaks stopped. Since he did not dare to
hang the banner in the original place, he threw it in a place where there
weren't any people. When he got back home, he found that the front axle of his
tractor was broken. The other villagers knew that this was the result of his
wrongdoing, and told the Dafa practitioners in the village his story. He
promised he would not do anything harmful to Dafa again.
3. In October 2000, the plant manager of the boiler unit, my manager, and a
technician together tested a newly purchased high-pressure boiler. Although the
water was heated to 100o C (212o
F), then to 110o C, and then to 120o
C (248o F), the water was not returning to the boiler
unit, as it should have. Suddenly, steam burst out of a two-inch-wide pipe, and
the manager was standing right below it. He cried loudly, "This is the end of
me!" A Falun Dafa practitioner at the scene told him, "I'm a Falun Dafa
practitioner. If you believe in Dafa and trust what I say, just think that
you'll be fine and you won't get burned." The manager yelled, "I believe!"
Meanwhile, boiling water and hot steam poured down on his head, face, neck, and
body. Even though he was soaked by the hot water, he was not burned. Those who
witnessed this were shocked, including the plant manager of the boiler unit, the
technician, and at least ten other factory staff.
Later, the manager held the practitioner's hands with great appreciation and
said "Madam, once you started talking, I felt a great power, which made me
believe. I could not deny it. As I was thinking 'I believe,' a cool current
flowed from my head to my toes. Now I totally believe in Falun Gong! Falun Gong
is really powerful!" He happily called in many staff from the work unit to tell
them what happened to him. He asked the practitioner to teach everyone Falun
Gong, and encouraged all of the employees to learn Falun Gong.
We hope that everyone in the world will remember: "Falun Dafa is good!"
"Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance is good." This one kind thought will bring
people a good future.
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/4/28/49301.html
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