Evidences Of A Full Character (2)

1 Shentu Jia was born in a poor family. When he was young, he did break the law and been cut off one leg by the government.

2 Zichan was a senior official who was rich and sought for fame and wealth. He and Shentu Jia were birds of two feathers.

3 However, they studied together under the guidance of Bohun Wuren for fairly a long time. Zichan always despised Shentu Jia who was careless in appearance and lamed for breaking the law. Zichan felt disgraced to walk with him on the street.

4 Someday, Zichan could not stand the gossips from the passerby on the street, he said to Shentu Jia,

5“When the class is over, you leave first and I stay here for a moment or you follow me and you keep a distance from me. I would not like to go out the school with you at the same time. What do you think?”

6 Neglecting Zichan’s suggestion, Shentu Jia still acted on his own schedule, without an intention to cater for Zichan's suggestion.

7 On the second day, when class was nearly over, Zichan mentioned it again and said,

8 “Now I want to leave. Could you stay in the classroom for a while until I leave? I saw what you did yesterday. You seem to look me, a senior governmental official as nothing. Do you really think you are equal to me?”

9 As for the impolite requirement, Shentu Jia felt absurd and pitiful for his teacher having such a student. He told Zichan,

10 “There have been an elder who I respect in the classroom. He is our teacher. Maybe you think that you should be respected in the classroom due to your higher position in the government. It is said that a real good mirror can’t be stained by the dust; if it does, it is not the best one.

11 We have studied here for quite a long time, we should really have no serious wrong or error in our judgment. You are here to seek for great wisdom from our teacher, but you still vent such impolite words. Don’t you think that you have committed an unforgivable blunder?”

12 Hearing Shentu Jia beat about the bush to quip him as a bad mirror, Zichan got angrier.

13 He said angrily, “Think of yourself. You are a criminal who has received severest punishment, and still shamelessly to compare your virtue with the sage’s. From your look, I know what scandalous conduct you have done in the past. I feel disgraceful to be your classmate.”

14 Shentu Jia had better self-restraint than Zichan. Looking up at him peacefully, Shentu Jia said slowly,

15 “There are a lot of people who conceal their crime to escape severe punishment; there are few people who receive severe punishment without careful concealment of their crime. Law makes people reflect on how to craftily escape the severe punishment. People hence know playing tricks. Since then pure mind is stained. Law itself can’t correct people’s conduct, and only make them have a hypocritical habit. So a man of crime is not absolutely relative to his character and morals. The difference between a man of no crime and crime is to conceal his crime and escaping punishment or not. Only those of perfect virtue have no intent to commit crime and play some tricks to escape severe punishment. In case they destine to break the law, they accept the punishment without any complaint. After punishment they forget it and face the future.

16 In the battlefield, two armies were at swords drawn. A soldier of enemy was shot by an arrow from Houyi and died at once, which was his destiny. The other soldiers standing near him were safe, which were their good luck.

17 In the past, my friends often mocked me as a criminal without one leg. Every time they mocked, I raged. Since I had followed our teacher, I was calm at it.

18 I think that I have learnt from our teacher how to purify and improve myself. I am no longer an ordinary person who is exposed to anger.

19 Since I have followed our teacher to practice, it has been nineteen years that I don’t think I am a disabled person. Zichan! We together stay here with teacher to seek for the mind content and secret. Now you are appraising me by my figure and thinking that it is disgrace for you as a senior official to walk with me on the street. You do have committed a blunder, don’t you?”

20 Having heard Shentu Jia’ words, Zichan felt compunctious. He thought that it was vain to be here to study for years and his practice was much worse than Shentu Jia’s.

21 He came up to hold Shentu Jia’s hands and said gently, “Well, I know I am wrong. No more word let me hold you up to go out the school. OK?”