Yuan gave up on the thought of getting the 300 pieces of silver back. It was close to the Chinese New Year. He begged Miu to loan him some money so that he could get through the Chinese New Year. In order to get rid of Yuan, Miu promised to deliver some money to his home on New Year's Eve. The day before the Chinese New Year, Yuan waited at home from dawn to evening, but Miu did not show up. All the neighbours lit their lanterns and were excitedly preparing for the New Year. But Yuan's family had nothing. His wife wept. They were in misery.

Once, there was a man named Huang Xian, (or Shudu) living in Runan County, Shenyang District during the Eastern Han Dynasty. His family was not well off and his father made a living as a veterinarian. Even though Huang Xian was a poor and lowly person, he gained the respect of top officials, famous intellectuals, and others due to his knowledge, superior moral character, and especially because of his extraordinary tolerance.

Huang Jianji told Zhang Yong, "I haven't done many meaningful deeds. I bought some wheat at the regular price when it was ripe. The following year, I sold it at the original price to the poor farmers before their wheat was ripe. I didn't make money when I bought and sold the wheat. The weight of the wheat was the same. I didn't lose anything but I helped those poor people."

Han Qi possessed great tolerance and a natural disposition to be simple and honest. He never resorted to the use of sly tricks. He accomplished a great deal and had a high position in society, but he was never prideful. No matter how important the responsibilities he held and whatever unexpected disasters and dangers he faced, Han Qi never seemed to be worried.

When the villagers celebrated the building of the bridge, they all felt sad for the good girl—although poor, crippled, and blind—who had inspired it all. The little girl did not feel sad for herself, however. She smiled broadly, showing genuine happiness for the villagers.

Journey to the West is one of the most famous works of classical Chinese literature. In the book, Tang Monk led his three disciples to the Western Paradise and achieved Consummation after experiencing a lot of troubles and difficulties. Some people regard it as been purely fictional. In history, there was a real Tang monk who risked his life and travelled tens of thousands of miles from China to India to bring Buddhist scriptures back to China. The journey he took was also the cultivation process of a cultivator who was eventually able to let go of life and death.

There were two people who followed the same master but, because of the difference in their understandings, they each had a different way of cultivation. They kept their cultivation to themselves and didn't interfere with the other. The older disciple concentrated on cultivating blessings and did not pay much attention to cultivating wisdom, and the younger disciple only emphasized the cultivation of wisdom while not paying attention to the cultivation of blessings

Among all the disciples of the Buddha, Maha Kasyapa was generally acknowledged as an ascetic (a person who renounces material comforts and leads a life of austere self-discipline). Since he was a child, he preferred to be alone and stayed away from crowds. He was extremely smart and sensible. Although he was born into a rich family, he was never accustomed to the luxurious life

The monk felt compassionate for him, but he couldn't find anything to give to the man. When he looked up, he saw the Buddha statue in the temple that he worshiped. He removed the gold ring on the back of the Buddha statue and gave it to the man, saying, "Take it and exchange it for some money."

Confucius had a disciple named Sima Niu, whose brother wanted to hunt down and kill Confucius because the latter had criticised his secret and illegal city wall construction. As a result, Confucius and his disciples could no longer stay in the Song Kingdom.

During the time of Jiaye Tathagata, there was a young monk who sang well. Because of his abilities he usually looked down upon the other monks while singing songs of praise of the Buddha together with them. He believed that his voice was superior to others with its clear, rich and deep qualities. He behaved arrogantly and always demonstrated that he was extraordinary.

The saint then created a tall tree with his abilities, and told the monk to climb up the tree, which the monk did. When the monk looked down from the top of the tree, he saw a pit extremely deep and wide next to the tree. The saint said, "Release your legs off the tree." The young monk obeyed. The saint then ordered him to free one hand from the tree, which he also did. When the saint told him to free the other hand, the young monk became frightened and said, "If I let go, I'll fall in to the pit and die."

She was on the verge of collapse not knowing what to do with her lfie. As she was looking for a way to end her life, she came across monk Maudgalaputra (also called Mujianlian) and asked him, "I'm a person full of karma. The world is too horrible. I must be stuck in karmic relationships and that is why I've been living in this mud. Can you give me some advice, otherwise I have no other choice than to commit suicide?"

After the separation, the group with Loushajia's parents was still in a miserable situation, while the other group regained its prosperity. The unfortunate group divided among themselves into two groups again. After several divisions, Loushajia's parents were singled out. Everyone then realised they were the cause of the misery and thus expelled them from the village.

Balrampur was in the tropical area where there were many poisonous snakes. When he was outside of the city of Balrampur, he saw a father and a son working in the field. Suddenly a poisonous snake came out from the grass and bit the son. The son died shortly afterwards. The father was still working as usual and didn't seem to be affected by the death of his son.

In Morocco, in India, around 500 monks lived in a temple which was located six to seven miles away from the city. They were all strictly trained Picchu. Among them, there was one elder monk called Mokelu who was famous for his "stupidity." No matter how hard people tried to teach him anything, he still did not get it. He couldn't even recite a single Zen proverb and so all the 500 Picchu looked down on him. Nobody liked to be with him making him feel very lonely.

There once was a famous Buddhist monk in Japan. One day, he received a visiting scholar. This scholar was quite conceited and talked endlessly, narrating his own enlightening remarks to the monk. The monk patiently listened, and at the same time he poured tea for the scholar. The tea had already filled the cup but the monk did not stop, and the tea overflowed from the cup.

As Chen Kang was oversensitive by nature, he always thought that Confucius did not pay attention to him because he was not a native resident of Kingdom Lu. Although Confucius seemed to treat all students the same during his lectures, Chen Kang still thought that Confucius did not care about him.

Confucius replied, "So-called 'desires' do not necessarily mean craving for money. To put it simply, a selfish thought that makes one struggle to have an advantage over others is a desire. Although Shen Cheng is upright, he is fond of gaining superiority, and often becomes sentimental easily. This in itself is a kind of desire. How could a person like him be called strong?"

A pure heart with few desires, restraining greed and attachments is a principle a person that cultivates his heart should follow. The ancient sages said that only when a person cultivated himself, could he govern his state and stabilise the world. The king of Lugong cautioned the king of Weihui that a king's indulging himself would reduce his kingdom to ruins. The virtuous and gifted Prime Minister, Wei Zheng, once advised Emperor Tang Taizong to critically examine himself in ten aspects.

Wang Sungu was one of Confucius's disciples in the Kingdom of Wei. Even though he was a high ranking government official, Wang still called Confucius his teacher. One day Wang asked Confucius a question, "There is an old saying, 'It's smarter to please the God Au than to please the God Zao.' What do you think?"

Confucius (BC 551- 479) is regarded as one of the greatest teachers and philosophers in Chinese history and has had a very significant influence on Chinese morality and arts. In his latter years, he travelled with his students to various states (ruled by warlords) to spread his teachings but was not very well received at the time.

Youzi said, "That is not what teacher said." Zenzi replied, "I indeed heard this from teacher." Youzi said again, "This is not the remark teacher made." Zenzi said, "I heard this remark together with Ziyou." Youzi then said, "Teacher possibly did say this, but teacher must have said these words aiming at a specific matter."

Later Zi Gong served as an official in the state of Wei. Some people slandered Confucius. Zi Gong said, "Confucius is unable to be slandered. Other men of virtue are like the knoll and can be exceeded. But Confucious is like the sun and the moon and cannot be exceeded. Those people who slander Confucious can only put themselves in a hopeless situation. But they cannot harm anything of the sun or the moon. Moreover, it will also show that they do not know their own position."

He once shouted out loud in a busy market in Kuizhou, “Tonight eight men will come here. Watch out!” No one understood what he meant. That night a large fire burned down several hundred households. It was not until then that people realized “eight men” referred to the Chinese character “fire.” The Chinese character for fire, when taken apart, resembles two characters, eight and man.

On that occasion, the priest was delighted and spoke amicably with Li Linfu: “I have been in this human world for five hundred years and saw your name listed in the register of deities. If you cultivate, you will rise up to heaven in broad daylight to be a deity. If you do not wish to be a deity, you will be a prime minister with great powers for twenty years. You go home today and give it some thought. Three days later, at the fifth watch we shall meet again.”

The locals only had donkeys. The load was a little too light for a donkey if it only carried one Arhat statue at a time. However, a donkey isn’t strong enough to carry two. Even if the donkey carried two each time, how long would it take to haul five hundred of them? This worried the old monk a lot. He stared at those immobile Arhats, and spoke out to himself, “If you all could walk by yourselves, how great that would be!” Just as he finished his words, a miracle appeared, and those five hundred Arhats really started to walk by themselves.

The elderly man stopped him again and called out to him, “Hey! The Benevolent Mr. Wang! What is the matter with you? I thought you were a kindhearted man. We are predestined to travel together. How can you abandon your travelling partner and take off without even saying goodbye? Fortunately I got up early and caught up with you in time. Come. Come. Let me have a ride on your donkey!” The Benevolent Mr. Wang could not bring himself to refuse the elderly man, so he had no choice but to move half of the ash from the donkey again and carry it on his back so that the elderly man may have his ride.

Master Milarepa appeared to be seriously ill. At that time, the doctor Caopu brought many fine wines and meats to pretend to provide him with support. When he went before Master Milarepa, he laughed at Master Milarepa, "Ha! Such an accomplished person like you should not get seriously ill! How did you get sick? If the illness can be divided and given to others, you can distribute it to your disciples. If the illness can be transferred, please transfer your illness to me! You are in such a quandary--what are you going to do?"

He paused for a moment before telling his disciple with a stern look. “Let me tell you the truth about the beautiful woman. She is not a human being. She is a divine crane in heaven. She was kicked out of the heavenly palace as a punishment after she stole and ate the Queen of Heaven’s peaches. She came to the human realm and assumed the appearance of a beautiful woman. She is a depraved divine crane that knows only to seek pleasure. You have been beguiled by her appearance, but you have wasted more than your time. If you allow yourself to lose your will, you will become a loser! Moreover, if you refuse to comply with her wishes, she will eventually hurt you.”

As years went by, Monk Wu Da remained in the capital of Chang’an and became more and more well-known. Emperor Yi named him the Head Lecturer of the entire country, and bestowed a heavy and expensive incense holder upon him. Wu Da became quite pleased with himself, thinking that he was now above everyone else but the Emperor. Soon after that, he developed an ulcer on his knee. The ulcer looked like the face of a human, and could eat like a human. It brought Wu Da a great deal of pain and anguish. Wu Da went to visit many famous doctors seeking treatment but nobody could help him.

Since we live on earth, we witness the occurrence of natural phenomena everywhere. Ancient Chinese people observed the same phenomena but had different interpretations of the situations than modern people. Their understandings reflect their simple and unpolluted views of the universe. The principles hidden within are far more practical and beneficial than our modern science. The following is a classical tale, “An Eagle Catches Little Chickens.”

Monk Daxing’s reputation was immediately ruined. He was once a highly respected monk, but now he was known as a scandalous rapist in the disguise of a monk. Everywhere he went, people laughed at him, condemned him and cursed him. However, Monk Daxing seemed indifferent to all the insults. Everday he would stroll down Mount Jiuhua to solicit alms to buy milk for the baby. Under his attentive care, the small baby grew increasingly strong, plump and smart.

Ni Shan attended the qualification examination for government officials repeatedly but he was never able to pass it. Some people laughed at him. “You give charity to the poor people almost every day. Why does a virtuous man like you repeatedly fail the examination? Perhaps God is blind after all?” Ni Shan was not discouraged by the scornful remarks. He kept on giving money to poor people as usual.

One day while Guan Ning was hoeing the rice paddy, he hit upon a rock that turned out to be a gold nugget. He threw the gold out of the rice paddy and continued hoeing. Hua Xin saw Guan Ning throwing away the gold nugget and picked it up. He held the gold nugget in his hands and examined it from all angles and then looked at his classmate for a long time before he too decided to throw the nugget back to the field.

Wang Wei loved mountains and forests. He often took lengthy strolls in the woods alone to experience the feeling of being an integral part of the nature. It must have been a very beautiful and profound feeling, but Wang Wei found it hard to share it with others who were not in the same realm. This must be why Wang Wei wrote, “I savor the pleasant feelings with no one.” What he was truly saying is: “If only I could share this wonderful feeling with someone!”

Guang Chengzi answered: "The supreme Dao was originally a state of nothingness and profound. Its highest attainment was tranquil and indistinct. One can only experience it with rapt attention in a tranquil state. Once you achieve this, your body and spirit will naturally be upright and you will enter into a realm of peace and enlightenment...

Once upon a time, there was a water vase like ornament in paradise that was used by Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (or Guan Yin) to contain the elixir and a willow twig. The vase had accompanied Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara in paradise for thousands of years and always thought that it was very important to Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. However, one day Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara suddenly picked up the water vase and said, “Vase, you have become filthy and may no longer stay in this realm. You must now leave for a different realm appropriate to your level.”

He told the servant, “Just tell Liu Zhan I am Yi Ge.” The servant reported to Liu Zhan. Liu asked him what the visitor looked like. After he heard his description, Liu Zhan was very surprised and sighed with emotion. He welcomed Liu Qian to his cabin. Liu Qian still looked like he was twenty years old, while Liu Zhan, the exiled Prime Minister, was all white-haired in his feeble and declining years. Liu Zhan had mixed feelings of grief and joy.

Every being is equal before the Buddha Law. All those who show disrespect to the Buddha Law will have to face serious consequences, so Buddha Sakyamuni banished him from Paradise to the human realm where he would have to suffer from calamities and hardships. He arranged for Golden Cicada to be born as a human and to cultivate for ten incarnations in a row. On the tenth incarnation, Golden Cicada nearly drowned at the age of one month when he was put into a basket, which was placed in the river.

Zhou Dian lived in the Jianchang region of China during the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. Nobody knew what Zhou Dian’s real name was. People just knew that his surname was Zhou. When he reached the age of fourteen, he suddenly appeared to go insane. He started to beg for food in the downtown area of Nanchang City, and he said many strange things, which people couldn't understand. People then just gave him a first name of “Dian,” which means “insane” in Chinese.

Unusual and strange phenomena are often taken as the gods’ forewarning of calamities. A newspaper in China published a news report how a local family had recently bought a gardenia that could make sound like a cricket. I looked up Chinese historic records and found a similar story. But the ancient story isn’t about a talking flower but rather about a talking bull. I hope that this story will inspire everyone to reflect upon the current situation in China.

Once upon a time in China, a man went to Jiao Mountain in search of the Dao. He sought the Dao for seven years before he finally met a Daoist deity called Most Exalted Lord Lao. Lord Lao gave him a drill made of wood and told him to drill a hole through a rock that was five-foot thick. Lord Lao said, “You will obtain the Tao as soon as you penetrate a hole through that rock.” It took the man forty years to finally drill a hole through the rock.

Emperor Gao Zong summoned Huangpu Tan to the imperial court and asked what methods he uses to cure diseases. Huangpu Tan then answered, “A heart with no pursuit makes the body peaceful and healthy. An emperor with no pursuit makes all under the sky well maintained and ordered.” Satisfied with the doctor’s answer, Huangpu Tan was led to the Palace of Benevolent Tranquillity, where the Emperor’s mother resided, to treat her eye disease. The disease was immediately cured. The emperor was very pleased and offered him many gifts. But the doctor accepted none.

Once when he returned home from an imperial court meeting, Wei Xiaqing met his cousins Mr. Wei Zhiyi, Mr. Wei Qumou and Mr. Wei Zhou. Mr.’s Wei Zhiyi, Qumou and Zhou had each come 24th on the national government official qualification examination, and were appointed as Lang Guan (a government service position of the 6th official in an ancient Chinese imperial court.) They chatted for a while on horseback, then Mr. Wei Xiaqing said, “What a coincidence it is for me to meet three Lang Guan’s today. Why don’t I try to foretell your future careers?”

One day an old man showed up uninvited at the party. He wore rags and was painfully thin. The ten friends were in a good mood and they felt sorry for the old man. So they allowed him to remain and shared their feast with him. After the old man finished his dinner, he left.

In the Jin Dynasty, a man named Zhang Chong lived in the city of Chang’an. He believed in Buddhas and prayed every day. One day a civil war broke out, and thousands of people fled from Chang’an. The refugees were captured by the army of a warlord, who slaughtered the men and carried off the women...

Yuan Zi asked the scholar, “There should be some immortals in a secluded area like this! Have you ever met one?” The scholar replied, “There are about five to six Taoists. They come here every two to three days.” Yuan Zi said, “I would like to meet them. Do you think it would be alright?” The scholar said, “They don’t like strangers, but they do like drinking. If you can prepare one jug of good liquor and stay here and wait patiently, then perhaps you might have a chance to meet them.”

This is a fable about Li Zhenduo, a woman who cultivated and obtained the Tao. She is said to have had supernormal abilities and to have lived for hundreds of years whilst never showing signs of ageing. Li Zhenduo was the younger sister of Li Tuo, an immortal who cultivated the Tao at the Long Qiao Peak, Jin Tang Mountain in Western Shu (today’s Sichuan Province). The people of Sichuan saw Li Tuo for many dynasties, over a span of some eight hundred years so Li Tuo was, hence, known as Li Babai.

Tang Taizong, the second Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, is widely considered to be the greatest emperor in Chinese history. The period of his reign (624-649) is called the "Zhen Guan Years,” which was one of the most prosperous periods of time in Chinese history. He is known as an emperor with great virtues. Here are some personal stories about Taizong that illustrate his character.