(Minghui.org) Continued from part 3
IV Lust Destroys Future
Starting from a young age, Lu Zhongxi from the Ming Dynasty was recognized as a prodigy that was gifted with a photographic memory. He could memorize long passages after only reading through them once. At the age of 17, he traveled to Beijing alongside his teacher, Mr. Qiu, to take the national scholar examination.
Along the way, they stopped to spend the night in different cities. In Beijing, they noticed a striking woman across from the hotel. Mr. Qiu, instead of focusing on the exam preparation, advised Zhongxi, “I heard a temple outside of Xuanwu Gate is quite promising. Why don't you go there and pray to the deities for a chance with this girl?”
Zhongxi thus visited the temple.
That night, Zhongxi had a revelation, “I saw a deity chasing me and Mr. Qiu, seriously reprimanding us. I was scheduled to score the highest on the examination but due to our inappropriate thoughts, my path was rearranged for the worse and my teacher's life was shortened.”
Soon afterwards, he got the news of Mr. Qiu's death due to acute cholera. Zhongxi's life also validated his dream—he did not earn a post with his exam results, and lived the rest of his life in poverty.
Again, the moral of the story is to work toward ridding one's attachments. People should not alter their behavior out of fear of punishment, but rather behave morally because it is simply the manner in which a noble person should conduct himself.
Category: Traditional Culture
