Bajie Tells Fortune (worldly micro story) / Shi Shengjing
(Translated by Cheng Jiahui/ 程家惠 译)
The story says that Zhu Bajie, the son-in-law living in the home of its parents-in-law, turned into a pig demon in Gaolao Village and, as a result, its face was so slapped by the whole family, Miss Gao and her parents, as well as its eldest brother-in-law, younger brother-in-law, eldest sister-in-law, younger sister-in-law, all together, plus other relatives that it looked neither like a pig, nor like a human being, but an inflated rat, fleeing desperately for its life...
Running for life, it stole the pig food of the farmers. and was chased by them with knives. It made a great mess of the flowering cabbages in the fields with its mouth and was bitten by mad dogs... scolding him: You, a smelly pig head, never deserve the human food...
Recalling its days in the Heavenly Palace, with the great power and prestige, freedom and pleasure, and high position and great wealth, it repented! If you enjoy happiness without practicing Buddhism, you will finally fall into hell...
Unable to stay in the rural area, it changed itself from a pig into a very thin and ugly young man. Some readers will naturally ask, why it didn’t turn itself into a handsome man with more advantages for any career! ... Alas! Not being a pig, how can you know a pig’s bitterness! A handsome man will inevitably attract beautiful ladies like bees and butterflies, and inevitably be gluttonous and lazy, and reluctant to leave the the world of mortals, who might be lured by White Bone Demon or Fox Demon... Never did it want to suffer the second round of hardships and to be tormented by the second round of sins!
It felt that pigs, short-lived, confused and aimless, could only squeeze into places crowded by human beings...as most pigs mistakenly thought that once they could get into those places, they would become human beings! Self-smartly and self-sentimentally with great conceit, they also thought that they could find a road for wonderful life by squeezing into crowds of people in power, with fortune, or of self glorification? They were aware of only one aspect and ignorant of the other...
Even among people, in crowds or in individuals, no one can tell who are human beings or ghosts, and who are dogs or pigs! How can you, a pig head, become a man?
After a lot of hardships of picking up trashes in the urban area, polishing others’ leather shoes, and labouring as a "Bangbang" (free porter) looking for jobs all over the city, it was finally accepted by a fortune teller as an anonymous apprentice just like Sun Wukong (Monkey King), the eldest martial brother, who forever was not allowed to say the name of its master...
In the days of fortune telling, Bajie used some small "magic" tricks that had been despised in heaven to treat people’s sufferings of illness. Later, he was scolded and refused to pay for the treatment. An old man said, “When I close my eyes, I can see my illness myself. You have done nothing for me. Why should I pay you the money? More foolish and uglier than a pig, how dare you ask for the money! I'll call my son working in the police station to come here. You can ask him for the money...”
Not long after that, a man in his forties came to the fortune teller's stall and asked: Can you tell the fortune accurately? Can you foretell if you will get caught?
Later, there was no more later, because Zhu Bajie couldn’t foretell his own being arrested!...作者: yuemanshan 时间: 2021-8-26 08:15
[attach]7509[/attach] 作者: 释圣静 时间: 2021-8-28 20:42