Rice Story
故事全文
Landlord Chang was a rich man who lived in the capital. His house was next to Zhao-yuan Temple. Landlord Chang held lavish banquets and ate gourmet food every day, and often poured his rice into the gutter without eating a single mouthful. The rice flowed along the gutter to Zhao-yuan Temple, where it was discovered and scooped up by the monks. They washed the rice and dried it before storing it in a huge pot. After many years, the collected rice filled many earthenware pots.
One year, Landlord Chang’s elder brother who was a court official committed a serious crime that implicated Landlord Chang. As a result, all of Landlord Chang’s belongings were confiscated, and he had to roam the streets as a beggar. As he was mean to others when he was rich, no one wanted to give him food. Landlord Chang starved and became stick-thin.
One day, as he passed by Zhao-yuan Temple, he saw some rice in a chipped bowl at the foot of a wall. He was just about to eat it, when a huge black dog jumped out and chased him away. Landlord Chang cried and said, “I didn’t want to eat rice before, but now I have no rice to eat even if I want to.”The abbot saw him crying, and asked his disciple to bring Landlord Chang a bowl of white rice. Landlord Chang said as he ate, “This rice is so delicious!”The abbot replied, “This is your rice.”The landlord replied in surprise, “But I have never been charitable, much less donated rice to your temple. How could this rice be mine?”The abbot replied, “This is the rice that you poured into the gutter. I scooped it up, dried it and stored it. Your rice has kept us well fed all this time!”Landlord Chang cried after hearing what the abbot said. Afterward, the abbot allowed Landlord Chang to stay in his temple. From that day on, at every meal, Landlord Chang savored each mouthful of rice, and dared not waste food again.
