During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a monk named Tianji in the temple on Xiafu Mountain in Huzhou. When Tianji was a child, his family was poor, so he joined a wealthy family as a servant, doing chores such as cleaning. When Tianji was working, he often sighed

Ming Dynasty Wanli , there was a monk named Tianji in the temple on Xiahou Mountain in Huzhou. When Tianji was a child, because of his poor family, he joined a wealthy family as a servant, doing chores such as cleaning.

Tianji often sighed when he was working and said: " Cleaning can remove the dust on the ground, but it cannot sweep away the dust in the heart! " The owner of the house felt that Tianji had a Buddhist connection , so he followed his wishes and allowed him to become a monk.

After Tianji became a monk, he cut off all worldly ties and devoted himself to practice and enlightenment. He gradually achieved some achievements and actually had the ability to predict things.

In the winter of the Jihai year of Wanli, at dusk, Tianji said to the abbot: " Someone is coming tonight. Prepare meals and bowls and chopsticks for thirteen people. " The other monks in the temple sneered and didn't believe what he said at all. After a while, Tianji said again: " Open the grain warehouse and prepare a bag of grain. "

Late at night, some thieves came to the temple, each bringing a bag, but there were only twelve people. Tianji said to them: " You must be very tired from the long journey, why don't you have a meal first! Why is there another person who didn't come? " It turns out , The other person who arrived late went to explore the situation around the temple.

When these thieves finished eating, Tianji said : " You came here just to get some food. These were donated by the believers, and there is nothing wrong with giving them to you now. " Then he pointed out the location of the granary and let them use bags to pack the food. The man who came after said: " My bag I accidentally lost my son on the road, what should I do? "Tianji told him: "I have prepared it for you in advance. Take the packed bag of grain and carry it away. "

When the thieves went out, Tianji also told them: When you go back, take the small road, not the big road, because there are tigers on the road. After the group of thieves discussed it, they felt that since the monk could predict their arrival in advance, he might also ambush them on the path in advance. Therefore, I did not follow the monk's advice and chose the high road. As a result, we actually encountered a tiger on the road. One robber was dragged away by the tiger, and the others squatted on the roadside as if they were scared. The next day these people were caught by government patrols.

Nowadays, people study Zhouyi and Bagua, and can indeed make rough predictions about some things. But Tianji Monk's ability of accurate prediction seems to be better than Zhouyi and Bagua.

Source: [Ming Dynasty] Shen Zhenyuan, Shen Lin Qi, Liu Yan co-authored "Xu Er Tan"