(Minghui.org) Books have been the cornerstone of China’s 5,000 years of civilization. Within them, one can find the essence of Chinese culture, from the wisdom of the ancients to the legends of the divine.
The sage classics, in particular, were held in high esteem. These were written by great thinkers and crystallized the standards for a fruitful life: an emphasis on morality, a belief in the gods, and a respect for the way of heaven.
Protecting these hallowed volumes was regarded as a righteous, noble deed that could bring blessings to the protector. But not all books are created equal: some books would only corrupt people’s morality, and how one treats those books can affect one’s destiny as well.
As the following stories show us, a single thought—and a single decision—is often enough to change the course of a person’s life.
How Thirty Silver Taels Rewrote a Boy’s Fate
Quan Hui Yin Shu Zheng Xin Lu, or “records of the destruction of obscene books,” gives us our first story.
One February day during the Daoguang Emperor’s reign in the Qing Dynasty, a young boy strolled past a bookstore. When he went inside, he saw the bookseller reading something with great interest.
“What kind of book is that, sir?” asked the boy.
“Ah, it’s nothing,” replied the bookseller. “Just some ‘impassioned’ poems, that’s all.”
“What does ‘impassioned’ mean?” asked the boy, his curiosity piqued.
A sly grin appeared on the bookseller’s face. He handed a book to the boy, who then rented it and took it home.
When the boy got home, he opened the book, read a few pages, and sighed.
“As long as these books exist, I will destroy them all.”
The next day, the boy went to the bookstore again. He told the bookseller that he wanted to buy all of the “impassioned” books in his store. But the bookseller laughed him off.
“I make a living from renting out these books,” he said. “How could I sell them to you?”
But the boy refused to leave and insisted on buying them all. So the bookseller gave the boy a ridiculously high price in the hopes of scaring him off.
“You know what, I happen to need some money right now. Give me thirty silver taels, and all the books are yours.”
Undeterred, the boy went home and immediately asked his mother for thirty silver taels to buy books. Thinking that her son wanted to buy sage classics, the boy’s mom pawned off her gold and silver jewelry to get her son the money. After buying the books from the bookstore, the boy took them home and burned them all.
A few days later, the boy fell suddenly, violently ill. The doctors could do nothing to help him; his family was already preparing his funeral.
Just when everyone thought he was gone, the boy opened his mouth to speak. But the voice that came out was a stranger’s:
“You, boy, were originally born with an ordinary fate,” spoke the voice. “You were doomed to fail the imperial examination and live a life of mediocrity. However, at such a young age, you had the integrity to destroy pornographic books, and saved countless people from being corrupted by licentiousness. For your just actions, you are blessed by the divine and your fate will be rewritten: you shall become famous and achieve many great things in the future.”
As soon as the voice finished speaking, the boy woke up and his voice changed back to his own. He shed a layer of skin, which changed his appearance entirely, and his illness was completely gone.
Indeed, when the boy grew up, he lived an illustrious life and had a big happy family, with lots of children and grandchildren around him.
The boy paid a high price to destroy these obscene books in order to protect the locals, and he was duly rewarded for his righteous thoughts and actions. The blessing changed his life and fate, proving the old Chinese saying that “accumulating virtue can rewrite destiny.”
A Fire with Eyes
Our next story is from today’s China, and gives an example of what happens when people protect books that are good for people’s morality.
Villagers living in rural areas often stack cornstalks outside their house. Often, these can easily catch fire if a family is not careful, and these fires could quickly spread to other households since everyone had their own pile of cornstalks.
One day during the Chinese New Year in 2000, some children were setting off firecrackers in front of one farmer’s house. Some sparks flew into the cornstalk pile of his western neighbor, and the neighbor’s pile quickly vanished into ashes. However, such a big fire left the farmer’s cornstalks unharmed.
The next day, the cornstalk pile of the farmer’s eastern neighbor also caught fire and burned to nothing. But this fire was very fierce and continued burning even after it had exhausted the cornstalk pile. Despite the neighborhood’s best efforts, nobody could put it out.
The farmer’s family became worried that their own cornstalks might also catch fire and be destroyed. Just when things seemed hopeless, the fire suddenly became smaller and smaller, and went out in the end.
The villagers were flabbergasted.
“They’re very lucky!” said one of them. “They must have been protected by gods and Buddhas, otherwise there was no way their cornstalks would’ve made it.”
As it turned out, this farmer has a relative who practices Falun Dafa. In July 1999 when Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), launched the persecution of Falun Dafa, many Dafa books were confiscated and destroyed.
Falun Dafa books teach people to live according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, similar to the sage classics of ancient times.
This farmer’s family helped two Falun Dafa practitioners hide their Falun Dafa books, despite the danger that it could bring them from the Chinese authorities. And as seen in this fire incident, their kind hearts eventually brought them protection when they needed it most.
My Own Story
I am a native of Dalian City, Liaoning province. I’m also a two-time cancer survivor, thanks to blessings from Falun Dafa.
At the onset of the persecution of Falun Dafa in July 1999, the local police raided Falun Dafa practitioners’ houses and confiscated their Dafa books.
One day, my husband went to the local police station for some business. While there, he happened to see some of the confiscated Dafa books. Knowing that the practice was good, he thought that he should try to protect these books.
When nobody was watching, he slid all the Dafa books into a bag and sneaked them out of the station. He took the books to his elder sister, my sister-in-law, who practices Falun Dafa.
“Your family will be blessed for what you have done,” my sister-in-law said to him gratefully. And she was right.
Later on, I was twice diagnosed with cancer. The first time, I had cervical cancer, and I recovered fairly quickly after a surgical procedure.
My sister-in-law often brought me Falun Dafa pamphlets, and I also read Dafa books and Minghui Weekly. However, I never had a desire to practice Dafa myself.
In January 2022, I fell ill once again, and my daughter took me to the hospital for a checkup. This time, I was diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer, and doctors said my lungs were already packed with cancerous cells. No surgical procedure was possible.
My daughter was devastated and called my husband. He said, “Since your mom cannot be operated on, just bring her home. She can take Chinese herbal medicine.”
I had one thought in my mind: I won’t take any medication or seek treatment in the hospital. I will just focus on cultivating in Falun Dafa.
My daughter was very upset and kept crying.
“Don’t cry,” I said to her, “I will learn Falun Dafa like your aunty, and I will be fine.”
When I got back home, I found the Dafa book that my sister-in-law gave me and kept reading it. I wasn’t bedridden like a late-stage cancer patient should be, but could keep on doing household chores as usual.
When friends and relatives heard that I was rejected by the hospital, they all came to see me, thinking that I might not live long. They were totally surprised to see me up and about like normal.
“All this is because I am now learning Falun Dafa. Otherwise, I would have long become bedridden, to say the least,” I told them.
Modern medicine cannot help people with late-stage lung cancer, but with Falun Dafa, I felt better and better each day until I was completely recovered. I know in my heart that I am blessed by Falun Dafa. It’s such a wonderful feeling, and no words are enough to express my deep gratitude.
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