83.THE MURDERED CHICKEN
 
　　 "He was truly a fine man. He was a pious Buddhist who lived by the commandments. And a pure vegetarian," said Li Ziwei, as he wiped away a tear.

　　"Yes, a model for all Buddhists," said his friend Luo Daguan.

　　They were talking about their old friend Jin Shiyan , who really had been every bit as good as they said. People for miles around knew that Jin Shihyen was a true Buddhist. They were all shocked and saddened when Jin died in his forties.

　　Jin came to one of his servants in a dream. "Hi, it's nice to see you again. "Too bad I died so young. I really wanted to go to the Pure Land, but I didn't make it. I'm doing okay now. I can come and go as I please.

　　"Right now I'm kind of like on probation with Amitabha. I'm busy working up enough merit so I can go to the Pure Land. Tell my family not to worry about me. Okay? It was great talking to you."

　　They were all happy to hear about that, but some time later, Jin appeared in his widow's dream, and he was mad! "You dummy! Didn't I teach you anything? Now look what you've done! Are you trying to ruin me? How could you be so
stupid?"

　　 Mrs. Jin didn't know what was wrong. She had never seen her husband so angry before. "What did I do wrong?" She thought maybe he was mad that she had remarried.

　　"You slaughtered a chicken at my tomb when you got remarried! I think it's great you got remarried, I mean I don't want you to go lonely, but why on earth did you do in that chicken? Don't you realize how serious that is?"

　　His wife was sorry but honest. "No, really, I don't know how serious it is."

　　"Well, let me tell you, now I've got this probation officer who follows me everywhere to make sure I don't kill anything. It's like they think it was me who murdered that poor chicken. Now he's always sticking his nose in my business and telling me what I can do and what I can't do. You and your chicken?

　　"I'm really sorry... Shihyen, you know I got remarried. I'm glad you don't mind. You know I'm going to have a baby, too?"

　　"Yeah, I know, it's a boy."

　　"A boy? How nice."

　　"This one'll be fine, but the next time..."

　　"The next time what?"

　　'The next time won't be so fine for you or the kid. Look, my probation officer's coming back, so I gotta run now, but listen, I expect you to stay a vegetarian. No more of these dead animals at my tomb, got that?"

　　Everything turned out as Jin had said in the dream.

　　Look what even one dead chicken can do to a soul after death. Then think
what happens to the souls of people who eat chicken and pork and beef day after
day!

83.被杀掉的鸡
 
　　他是一个真正的好人，一个恪守戒律的虔诚的佛教徒，一个纯粹的素食者。”李子威擦了擦眼泪说。”李子威擦了擦眼泪说。

　　“是，他是佛教徒们的榜样。”他的朋友罗大光接着说。

　　他们谈起了共同的老朋友金世严。他正像他们所说的一样，远近的人们都知道他是一个真正的佛教徒。当知道金在四十多岁就去世时，所有人都震惊和悲痛了。

　　他的仆人曾经梦到金对他说“你好啊，再见到你真高兴。真是糟糕，我这么早就死掉了。我真的很想去往极乐世界，但是我没能够。我现在也过得很好，我能来去随意。”

　　“我现在就好像是处于边地，我现在正在努力行善以便往生极乐世界。请你告诉我的家人别为我担心好吗？和你聊天真是太愉快了。”

　　他们知道了都非常高兴。但是不久，金夫人就梦到了金。他好像疯了一样！“你这个笨蛋！我没告诉过你吗？看看你做了些什么！你是要把我毁了吗？你怎么就这么蠢呢？”

　　金夫人不知道怎么回事。她从未见过她的丈夫那么愤怒过。“我做错了什么？”她想也许他是因为她改嫁而生气。

　　“你再婚的时候在我的墓前杀了一只鸡！我很高兴你又嫁人了，我的意思是我不愿意你孤独，但是究竟为了什么你要对那只鸡那么做？你难道不知道那有多严重吗？”

　　他的妻子觉得很难过，但她还是如实说，“不，真的，我不知道那很严重。”

　　“好吧，我来告诉你。总有一个负责监察的官员随时随地跟着我，看看我有没有杀生。在他们看来，就好像是我杀了那只可怜的鸡。现在他牢牢跟着我，告诫我什么可以做什么不可以做。你和你的鸡……”

　　“真的很对不起……世严，我很高兴你不介意我再婚。你知道我怀孕了吗？”

　　“是，我知道，那是个男孩。”

　　“男孩？那可太好了。”

　　“这个很好，但是下次……”

　　“下次怎么了？”

　　“下次你和孩子都不会好过啊。看，我的监督官回来了，我必须走了。听着，我希望你能当一个素食者。别再杀这些动物放在我墓前了，明白吗？”

　　看看吧，一只死鸡对一个人死后的灵魂还会产生那么大的影响，更何况是对那些日复一日吃鸡、猪、牛的人的灵魂呢！