Grandson Marries His Grandmother

Source: The Internet

At the age of Emperor Wu of Liang, Buddhism in China flourished. At that time, there was a Ch’an (Zen) Master named Bao Zhi. He was an eminent monk who had achieved the Five Classes of Eyes (from 1st to 5th: Human eyes, Devine eyes, Dharma eyes, Wisdom eyes and Buddha eyes) as well as the Six Supernatural Powers, thus he was able to tell the cause and effect of everything. Once, there was a wedding in a rich family when Master Bao Zhi was invited to recite sutras. As soon as he stepped into the house, he heaved a sign and said, “ Strange indeed!  Strange indeed!  The grandson marries the grandma.
The pigs and sheep are sitting on the brick-bed (remark: brick-bed can be heated up and is commonly found in families of northern China), the six relations are being cooked in the cauldron (remark: cauldron is a large metal pot (kettle) for cooking or boiling over an open fire).
Daughter is eating her mum’s flesh, son is beating a drum of his dad’s skin.
Many people come to congratulate the happy wedding, what I’ve seen is actually painful suffering!”

What is the meaning of this?  ‘The grandson marries his grandma’, do you think it is strange?  Indeed, when this grandmother was dying, she held her little grandson’s hand and was very reluctant to let him go. She told her family, “All of you get married and start careers, leaving only my little grandson alone without anyone to take care of. Alas!  What’s to be done?”  She passed away after saying these last words.

When she was in the Underworld, the King Yama gave her such a sentence, “As you’re so doted on your grandson, you’d better go back (to the Man’s World) to be his wife so that you can take care of him.” Thus, the grandmother was reincarnated to be the wife of his grandson.

Master Bao Zhi looked at the brick-bed and said, “The pigs and sheep are sitting on the brick-bed”; likewise, when he took a glance at the cauldron, he said, “the six relations are being cooked in the cauldron” Having killed by human in their previous lives, the pigs and sheep all came back (in this rebirth, sitting on the brick-bed at the moment) aiming at eating ‘men’s flesh’ so as to compensate for their former karma-reward!  Meanwhile, the six relations and their dependents that used to eat the pigs and sheep had also returned, but this time they (became pigs and sheep themselves) were killed and cooked instead. They were now in the cauldron waiting to repay their debts.

‘Daughter is eating her mum’s flesh’: Outside, there was a girl eating a pig’s trotter deliciously. In fact, the pig was reincarnated from the girl’s mother in her previous existence. ‘Son is beating a drum of his dad’s skin’: Then, Master Bao Zhi looked at those who were playing music, some were striking at the gongs and drums; some were blowing trumpets; some were playing flutes, the atmosphere sounded boisterously!  Among them, a man was beating vigorously at a drum which was made from a donkey’s skin and this donkey was unexpectedly the reincarnation of the drum player’s father!  To conclude, ‘many people come to congratulate the happy wedding’ as they all thought that it was a joyous and jubilant day. However, Master Bao Zhi could only sign, “I can say that it is actually painful suffering!”  In fact, it was human who had mistakenly regarded suffering as happiness!  After hearing this case-law (problems set by Zen masters, upon which thought is concentrated as a means to attain inner unity and illumination), you should have learnt that the cause and effect on Earth can sometimes be very fearful indeed.

It is exactly as:
‘For hundreds of thousands of years, the stew in the pot has boiled up a resentment which is as deep as the sea and which is difficult to soothe. If one wants to know the reasons for astr ntara-kalpa (the calamities of wars) on Earth, just listen carefully to the sounds from a slaughterhouse at midnight. Sentient beings still eat sentient beings’ meat, with careful and thorough thoughts; it’s actually cannibalism.’

The grumbles and hates embodied in a bowl of broth can be as deep as the deepest sea which is too long a story to tell. Would like to know why there are wars on Earth in which the massacres involve a large number of casualties?  They are caused by the accumulation of evil karma of sentient beings that makes them receive the retribution together at the same time, in the same occasion; if you can listen attentively to the sad and shrill cries in the slaughterhouse at midnight, you will be able to understand the horror of continuous and constant killings as well as the corresponding cause and effect. Lions eat venison, sea gulls eat the flesh of fish, humans eat meat, and actually, all the cases mentioned can finally and probably be humans eat humans’ flesh!