龍舒增廣淨土文 7.4

7.4

In the Song dynasty there were two monks named Qingcaotang. The earlier one lived past ninety. A woman of the Zeng family often provided him with vegetarian meals and donated clothing and goods. The Venerable was touched by her kindness and said: "This old monk will become madam's son." One day, when this woman gave birth to a son, she sent someone to look, and Caotang had already passed away while sitting. The son born to her was none other than Duke Zeng Lu. Because in his past life he had been a monk and had cultivated merit and wisdom, he passed the highest examinations at a young age. Later he became prime minister, which from a worldly viewpoint could not be surpassed. Even so, this too was a mistake. Why so? The wealth and honor of this world do not last; once exhausted, they come to nothing, and moreover one is swept away along with karmic conditions, with no end to transmigration. It would have been better to first be born in the Western [Pure Land], see the Buddha, resolve the great matter of birth and death, and then come back to serve as prime minister; then, although entering the womb to take birth, this single nature would not be obscured, and thus, although in the world of transmigration, one would no longer be subject to transmigration, and coming and going in birth and death would be at one's own will. Now, unable to resolve birth and death, he thought of petty kindnesses and became another's son, thereby failing to escape craving and love, remaining forever in transmigration. How great was his miscalculation!