83.被殺掉的雞 The Murdered Chicken

83.THE MURDERED CHICKEN

　　 “He was truly a fine man. He was a pious Buddhist who lived by the commandments. And a pure vegetarian,” said Li Ziwei, as he wiped away a tear.

　　“Yes, a model for all Buddhists,” said his friend Luo Daguan.

　　They were talking about their old friend Jin Shiyan , who really had been every bit as good as they said. People for miles around knew that Jin Shihyen was a true Buddhist. They were all shocked and saddened when Jin died in his forties.

　　Jin came to one of his servants in a dream. “Hi, it’s nice to see you again. “Too bad I died so young. I really wanted to go to the Pure Land, but I didn’t make it. I’m doing okay now. I can come and go as I please.

　　“Right now I’m kind of like on probation with Amitabha. I’m busy working up enough merit so I can go to the Pure Land. Tell my family not to worry about me. Okay? It was great talking to you.”

　　They were all happy to hear about that, but some time later, Jin appeared in his widow’s dream, and he was mad! “You dummy! Didn’t I teach you anything? Now look what you’ve done! Are you trying to ruin me? How could you be so stupid?”

　　 Mrs. Jin didn’t know what was wrong. She had never seen her husband so angry before. “What did I do wrong?” She thought maybe he was mad that she had remarried.

　　“You slaughtered a chicken at my tomb when you got remarried! I think it’s great you got remarried, I mean I don’t want you to go lonely, but why on earth did you do in that chicken? Don’t you realize how serious that is?”

　　His wife was sorry but honest. “No, really, I don’t know how serious it is.”

　　“Well, let me tell you, now I’ve got this probation officer who follows me everywhere to make sure I don’t kill anything. It’s like they think it was me who murdered that poor chicken. Now he’s always sticking his nose in my business and telling me what I can do and what I can’t do. You and your chicken?

　　“I’m really sorry… Shihyen, you know I got remarried. I’m glad you don’t mind. You know I’m going to have a baby, too?”

　　“Yeah, I know, it’s a boy.”

　　“A boy? How nice.”

　　“This one’ll be fine, but the next time…”

　　“The next time what?”

　　’The next time won’t be so fine for you or the kid. Look, my probation officer’s coming back, so I gotta run now, but listen, I expect you to stay a vegetarian. No more of these dead animals at my tomb, got that?”

　　Everything turned out as Jin had said in the dream.

　　Look what even one dead chicken can do to a soul after death. Then think what happens to the souls of people who eat chicken and pork and beef day after day!

83.被殺掉的雞

　　他是一個真正的好人，一個恪守戒律的虔誠的佛教徒，一個純粹的素食者。」李子威擦了擦眼淚說。」李子威擦了擦眼淚說。

　　「是，他是佛教徒們的榜樣。」他的朋友羅大光接著說。

　　他們談起了共同的老朋友金世嚴。他正像他們所說的一樣，遠近的人們都知道他是一個真正的佛教徒。當知道金在四十多歲就去世時，所有人都震驚和悲痛了。

　　他的僕人曾經夢到金對他說「你好啊，再見到你真高興。真是糟糕，我這麼早就死掉了。我真的很想去往極樂世界，但是我沒能夠。我現在也過得很好，我能來去隨意。」

　　「我現在就好像是處于邊地，我現在正在努力行善以便往生極樂世界。請你告訴我的家人別為我擔心好嗎？和你聊天真是太愉快了。」

　　他們知道了都非常高興。但是不久，金夫人就夢到了金。他好像瘋了一樣！「你這個笨蛋！我沒告訴過你嗎？看看你做了些什麼！你是要把我毀了嗎？你怎麼就這麼蠢呢？」

　　金夫人不知道怎麼回事。她從未見過她的丈夫那麼憤怒過。「我做錯了什麼？」她想也許他是因為她改嫁而生氣。

　　「你再婚的時候在我的墓前殺了一只雞！我很高興你又嫁人了，我的意思是我不願意你孤獨，但是究竟為了什麼你要對那只雞那麼做？你難道不知道那有多嚴重嗎？」

　　他的妻子覺得很難過，但她還是如實說，「不，真的，我不知道那很嚴重。」

　　「好吧，我來告訴你。總有一個負責監察的官員隨時隨地跟著我，看看我有沒有殺生。在他們看來，就好像是我殺了那只可憐的雞。現在他牢牢跟著我，告誡我什麼可以做什麼不可以做。你和你的雞……」

　　「真的很對不起……世嚴，我很高興你不介意我再婚。你知道我懷孕了嗎？」

　　「是，我知道，那是個男孩。」

　　「男孩？那可太好了。」

　　「這個很好，但是下次……」

　　「下次怎麼了？」

　　「下次你和孩子都不會好過啊。看，我的監督官回來了，我必須走了。聽著，我希望你能當一個素食者。別再殺這些動物放在我墓前了，明白嗎？」

　　所有的事情就像金在夢里說過的那樣實現了。

　　看看吧，一只死雞對一個人死後的靈魂還會產生那麼大的影響，更何況是對那些日復一日吃雞、豬、牛的人的靈魂呢！