For one’s first love, the boy made 1000 lucky stars for the girl and put them in a bottle. He placed the bottle in her bedroom next to her pillow. He said to her, “These 1000 lucky stars represent my one-thousand-love for you” At that time, both of them were basked in sweetness and happiness.
Later, the girl gradually distanced herself from the boy. She got married and went to France. She said that ‘Paris’ was the ideal place which appeared in her dreams on numerous occasions. When they separated, she said to the boy, “We both have to face reality. From a woman’s point of view, marriage is her second life. I have to seize this opportunity. You are too poor. I can hardly imagine what life would be like if we got married….”
After the girl had left for France, the boy had various jobs. He worked part-time at McDonald’s, sold newspapers, worked as a street hawker, a salesman, and even a construction labourer. He was always hard working at each job. In his spare time, he also attended evening classes at Open University. Nineteen years passed and through the support of his friends together with his hard work, he was finally able to set up his own company. He was now a young man with a Master Degree in Architecture and he became the boss. He became rich, yet still the girl was constantly on his mind.
One day, the boy came out from the office of his company and into the drizzle. From his blue BMW, he saw an old couple walking slowly in front of him. The boy recognised them; they were the girl’s parents and he decided to follow them. He wanted to let them know that not only did he have his car, but also company and villa; he was no longer a penniless soul. The boy drove his car slowly following the old couple. It rained continuously. Although the old couple was carrying an umbrella, the rain still caught them and they were completely soaked. When they arrived at their destination, the boy froze; they had arrived at a religious cemetery, and the old couple went in. The boy saw the girl. The girl in the ceramic photo on the tombstone smiled at him sweetly. On top of the tiny tombstone lay a small chain of lucky stars.
The girl’s parents told him that the girl had never gone to Paris, but went to Heaven instead. She had suffered from cancer. The girl behaved like that because she said that she understood the boy too well; he was a very hard working and frugal person and was destined to be successful. Just before the girl had died, she asked her parents to divide the 1000 lucky stars into 20 separate chains, with 50 stars on each chain. Hence, every year when they came to visit and clean her grave, they would hang on her tombstone, a small chain of lucky stars as requested. The girl said that she would look down on him from Heaven and protect him with the lucky stars.
The girl hoped that one day he would be successful and wished that he would, in the future, find a good wife and have a happy family. The boy dropped to his knees, he knelt down in front of the girl’s grave and tears came streaming down his face. That day was Ching Ming Festival and, for some unknown reason, it seemed that the rain would never stop; the boy was drenched. The boy stared at the ceramic photo of the girl; recalling the girl’s smile full of innocence 19 years ago. He felt like his heart was bleeding, with blood dripping down, drop by drop.
As the boy drove away from the cemetery, with the old couple sat in his BMW, a sad song was being playing from the car’s CD player. It was the Western song called “Memory”…….
Note: The Bodhi Vow
Stars sparkling, Guru in the sky, can we cross the Galaxy to meet You?
Not being afraid of the great distance of the Amitabha Buddha’s Pure Realm in the West, just a wish to fly, in a flash, to Your Lotus Throne.
Past events disappeared in a puff of smoke, meditation enhances my mind to entreat my Guru for blessings.
Even pursuing trillions of years of infinite galactic disasters, my inheritance from Guru will never change!
