Transcribed from an essay in The People’s Republic of China
Source: The Internet
A pair of twin brothers entered the Advanced Level Examination centre.
The result was that the elder brother received a letter of admission from the university and the younger brother failed the exams by a mere difference of two points. The two brothers looked almost identical but their characters were different. The elder brother was loyal and honest, the younger one was lively and clever; the elder brother was not fluent with words and language, whilst the younger one could talk and express himself like the smooth flow of a river.
The elder brother was holding the university letter of admission and stood in front of his poor and sick parents, silent without a word. The young brother locked himself in a room, refused to eat and drink, and kept moaning “The sky is blind and ignorant of a good scholar”. The unhappy and worried father was deep in thought for two consecutive nights. He ultimately said to the elder son, “Let your younger brother go and study, he was endowed with good academic material!”
The elder brother handed the university letter of admission to the younger brother and gave him these words of advice, “This is not an entrance ticket to the door of Heaven, please do not put too much hope on it.”
The younger brother did not understand and asked, “What do you think this is then?”
The elder brother replied, “A piece of blotting paper, this is a piece of blotting paper that specifically absorbs sweat!” The younger brother shook his head and laughed at his brother’s silly words.
At the start of the university, the younger brother walked into the famous university in the big cosmopolitan city with his rucksack on his back. The elder brother, on the other hand, let his weak and sick father return home from the cement factory in the village to rest and recuperate. He took over his father’s role in the factory; he stood next to the rock-crushing machine and picked up the extremely heavy steel spatula … … ….
The rock-crushing machine was full of blood stains. Many workers had had their fingers cut off on this machine. From the first day, the elder brother took up the role in the factory, he had a beautiful dream. He spent three months improving the technology of the machine. As a result, he raised the production standard both in quality and quantity and improved the safety standard of the machine. The factory manager promoted him to work in the car-welding department.
The car-welding department was filled with dust and smoke and many workers suffered from lung disease. After liaising with a few senior technicians, with much devotion and thought and carrying out intensive research, due to their diligence, they finally improved the environmental protection facilities of the department. The factory manager promoted him to work in the Research and Development Department.
In the Research and Development Department, he read books widely. On several occasions, he visited other famous factories to obtain new information and learn new methods. He carried out a lot of repetitive experiments and extensive research, and he started producing new chemical elements. Time after time, he came out with some revolutionary experiments, thus raising the quality of cement tremendously. This enabled the factory to produce new branded products. The new brand of cement was widely sold to various provinces around the south of China.
Thereafter, he became the city’s famous figure in the construction material industry… ….
Since the younger brother entered the university, he spent his first year studying as normal, and even managed to write a few letters to his old father asking about his health. In the second year, he met a rich girlfriend and both fell deeply into the river of love. The girlfriend became his resourceful wallet which was forever full. For two whole years, he did not ask for even one cent from his family. He totally forgot about his background and became a foreigner, ‘Great Handsome’, ‘Really Cool!’.
In his fourth year, the girlfriend finished with him. He was alone and his emotions hit rock bottom. He wasted his time going out night and day in bars, spent lots of time surfing on the internet, lost his willpower to study, and relied on cheating in the examinations to get his university graduation certificate. He was like a fly, after flying round in one big circle, he returned to his home village to look for work. He still had a sense of shame and guilt, and since he was in such low spirits, he was reluctant to return home to see his parents.
Only through introduction did he manage to have an interview with a well-known construction production company. It was not easy for him to pass the first three stages. The last stage involved an interview in the office of the chief executive of the company. At the meeting, the chief executive did not turn up.
Finally, the secretary came out and told him that his application was successful. However, he first had to start work in the car-welding department. He felt that he was more qualified than this and demanded to see the chief executive.
The secretary handed him a note. He unfolded the note and eight large words were written on it: “Wish going to Heaven, must first visit Hell”. He raised his head and saw his elder brother walking in. His elder brother took his seat in the chief executive chair. The younger brother’s face immediately went painfully red, he felt so ashamed.
| Postscript: | |
| ● | Those who have worked hard and carried out their jobs conscientiously can genuinely obtain good results and be on the road to success. Buddhist practitioners should not just admire and worship those with names but no substance, they should not pursue famous religious places, just for the sake of using them as a stepping stone to show off. Buddhist practitioners even go as far as tarnishing the name of one’s previous Rinpoche/Master! With this undesirable psychology and deviated behaviour, how can one be qualified as a Buddhist disciple? Buddhist cultivation is a serious and honest matter. One needs to cultivate with both feet firmly on the ground and must practise with sincerity and honesty before one is able to yield positive results. |
| ● | Buddhist practitioners should not moan and complain, saying that Heaven does not treat them fairly, or that one does not have a good appearance (a strong and healthy physical body), or that one does not have a comfortable living environment to practise Buddhism. These are all caused by one’s previous life that leads to the effects of this life. If everything is just beautiful, perfect and ideal, then one is not living in this sentient world, but in the Heaven realm of the ‘Three benevolent realm’. You must be aware that within the Six Realms (that is, celestial beings, Asolow/Asura, human beings, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell), the celestial beings have too much good fortune and too much happiness, therefore only a few will decide to cultivate Buddhism on their own accord. Once their heavenly fortune runs out and retribution draws near, only then will they awaken; however, at that point in time it will probably be too late! |
