民間傳說系列：善念升起的瞬間

2014-09-29

很久以來，在居住在浙西山區的山民中流傳着一個真實的故事，有一個平時生活潦倒、好吃懶做、調戲婦女、不務正業，以偷盜為生的年輕人，村莊里的人都說，這個人作孽太多，不得好死。

終於，他的陽壽到了。有一天，天空雷電交加，烏雲翻滾，霹靂的響雷一個接一個的向山區大地猛撲過來，大有黑雲壓城城欲摧的末日感覺。

這個平時從不愛勞動的懶漢，這天突然不知從哪裡來了一股衝勁，在大家紛紛從田裡往家裡奔逃的時候，他卻反其道而行之，拿了一把鋤頭，說要看看田間，家人好生奇怪，家人勸他，這樣出去很危險，他沒聽，家人就罵道：「去吧，讓雷劈死你！」

對這種罵，他已經聽的太多了，自然不會在意。等他到田埂上，看到快要收割的稻穗浸到了水裡，他想稻穗在水裡很快會霉爛的，那他們一年的辛苦就白幹了，那大家就要餓肚子了。他想到這裡，也管不得雷電交加及傾盆大雨，趕緊捲起袖子及褲子，拿着鋤頭柄將倒在水裡的稻穗一排一排的扶植起來，就在一剎那，上天看到他尚有一絲沒有被泯滅的善念，就在他的頭頂上熄掉了閃電雷鳴停止了瓢潑大雨。等他將稻穀全部扶起的時候，天空已烏雲散盡，太陽也出來了。他自己也感覺雖然全身濕透，但從精神上象換了一個人似的。以前他也知道自己不好，但自暴自棄，今天，他突然感覺到自己是個有價值的人，他的天地似乎寬廣了許多，他不再沉淪，而是開始勤勞向善，這時，他發現村民及眾兄弟也開始對他尊重友善了，他從此成了一位勤勞善良遵從道德的新人。

真是「好壞出自人的一念」，路走絕了的人，善念也可以使之起死回生、柳暗花明又一村，浪子回頭金不換，人們自會珍惜的。
Chinese Folklore: The Moment of Compassionate Thought

In the mountainous western area of Zhejiang Province, the following true story has been passed down for centuries.

A long time ago, there lived a young man who was lazy and loved to eat. He harassed the women in his village constantly. He never did a day of honest work in his whole life, and survived by stealing things from his family and neighbors. Everyone in the village said that he wouldn't have an easy death since he had committed so many sins.

Finally the day came when he was fated to die. That day thunder and lightning filled the sky, dark clouds boiled with turmoil, and ferocious claps of thunder roared, one after another, toward the mountainous areas. The clouds were so huge and black that it appeared as if it were the end of the world.

On that day, the lazy man who had never done any honest work before suddenly had an impulse to do something. When everyone ran back home from the field, he did the opposite. He took a hoe and told everyone that he wanted to see the field. His family thought that his action was very strange. His family urged him to stay at home, saying it was too dangerous. He didn't listen, so his family cursed at him, saying, "Go! Let the lightning kill you then!"

The young man had heard such cursing so much from the others over the years that he didn't pay any attention to it. When he got to the wheat fields he saw that they were flooded. He knew that the wheat would rot very quickly in the water; if it did, the villagers' whole year of hard labor would be for nothing. Everyone in the village would starve if that happened. When he thought about that, he didn't think about the lightning or the tremendous rain. Instead he rolled up his pant legs, picked up the hoe and started propping up the wheat stalks, one row at a time. At that moment, heaven saw that the young man still had some vestiges of compassionate thought, so it extinguished the thunder and lightning above his head and stopped the huge downpour of rain. Just as he had finished propping up every grain in the field, the clouds in the sky scattered and the sun came out.

Although he was soaked physically, somehow he felt that he had become a new man spiritually. He had been angry before and had given up on himself. That day, he suddenly felt his own worth. He realized that he still had a lot of life in front of him. He started to work hard and do good things. Soon his family and neighbors started to respect him and became friendlier toward him. From that day forward, he was diligent and kind-hearted, and pursued virtue to become a new man.

For those people who have walked a dead end road up till now, compassionate thoughts can guide you back to life.