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34 Mr. Li Saves a Snake and Wins Chenxin Read no more sutras, Chant no more mantras. Filled with mercy though they are, They cannot save you from your karma. Sow hemp, and you shall get hemp; Sow beans, and you shall get beans. Retribution in all its fairness Visits all those guilty of vice. The above eight lines, written by Xu the Divine Taoist of the Song dynasty, mean that good deeds will be duly rewarded and evildoing will be punished . The ancients said, “If you amass wealth for your o spring, they might not be able to keep it; if you collect books for your o spring, they might not be able to read them. The best course is to do good deeds to accumulate moral credit in the netherworld, for the benefit of your descendants generation after generation.” In olden times, there was a man named Sun Shu’ao, who, when leaving home early one morning, saw a two-headed snake blocking his way. He killed it with a brick and buried it in the ground. After returning home, he told his mother, “I am going to die.” His mother said, “How do you know that?” “I’ve heard that anyone who sees a two-headed snake is bound to die, and I saw one today.” “Why didn’t you kill it?” “I did, and I buried it so that no one else will see it and die. I’d rather die myself than jeopardize more lives.” “My son, your wish to save lives will earn you moral credit. You are not going to die.” Later, Shu’ao rose to be prime minister of the state of Chu [in the Spring and Autumn period]. Now we shall tell of a scholar who was rewarded for having saved a snake. In the Xining reign period [1068–77] under Emperor Shenzong of the 591 Song dynasty, there lived in Bianliang a man named Li Yi, a native of Chenzhou , who was reappointed from his position as magistrate of Qi County to that of assistant prefect of Hangzhou. He had a wife with the surname Han and a son, Li Yuan, courtesy name Boyuan, who was devoted to the study of the Confucian classics. Li Yi went home to pack up his personal belongings and, bringing only two servants, set out on his journey to Hangzhou to assume the new post, leaving his wife and son behind. One year went quickly by. Suddenly seized by concerns about his son Li Yuan’s progress in his studies at home, he wrote a letter for his servant Wang An to take to Chenzhou. Wang An was then to bring Li Yuan to Hangzhou to be a companion for his father and to buy books along the way. Wang An took leave of his master and, in a few days, arrived in Chenzhou, where he presented himself to Li Yi’s wife and showed her the letter. The son was called forth from his study to read his father’s letter and to pack for the journey. Having failed in the imperial examinations, Li Yuan was in no mood for books or musical practice but had been amusing himself by touring scenic spots. Now that his father was sending for him, he gathered together his zither, sword, and books, took leave of his mother, and set out on the journey with Wang An. Changing boats all along the way, they came to the Yangzi River in a few days. Fascinated by the landscape, Li Yuan composed a poem: From the Kunlun Mountains to the Eastern Sea, The thundering waves burst over the cliffs. In moonlight, the roar of wind fills the ears; The sound of the river escorts the boats. They crossed the river to Runzhou and wended their way to the Wu River via Changzhou and Suzhou. Toward dusk on the day they arrived, Li Yuan saw from his boat that the scenery along the Wu River was no less beautiful than the landscape paintings of Song Di, an artist of the Song dynasty. Greatly delighted, he told the boatman to moor the boat by Long Bridge. He went ashore and walked up the bridge to the Pavilion of the Hanging Rainbow, where he sat by the balustrade to enjoy the evening scene on Lake Tai. While admiring the view, he saw a house behind a whitewashed wall to the east of the bridge and wondered what it was. As a...

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