In 658 AD, an official named Cui became the prefect of Hanoi. Prefect Cui is not a good official. This guy is not only greedy for money, but also is very mean to the people, so the locals live a very hard life and complain about him a lot.
However, as the saying goes, do not fight against the rich, and do not fight against the officials, so the people dare not speak out.
It was not satisfied to search for money from local people, and Prefect Cui even thought about getting money in the temple. How to make money? Taishou Cui has been thinking of a solution.
I heard that monks in nearby temples have been begging for alms to raise funds to get a lot of gold, and they want to gilt the statue of Buddha. It just so happened that Grandpa Cui was about to celebrate his fifty birthday, and he immediately came up with a good idea.
So, Prefect Cui found an excuse and went to this temple and saw the monks cleaning the statues of the Buddha. He pretended not to know and asked the monks what they were doing.
Monk was very honest and said that he had prepared enough gold to be prepared to gilt the Buddha.
After hearing this, Cui sighed deliberately: "Oh, it's great! The Buddha has the money to gilt the body. I am a dignified prefect, but I can't even celebrate a decent birthday for myself. Oh, it's so uncomfortable!" The abbot of
came. After hearing this, he asked Cui: "What does this mean by sir? Why can you not live a decent birthday?"
"Master, you don't know. I will soon arrive at to know the destiny of heaven (fifty know the destiny of heaven). I want to celebrate a big birthday, and invite a few tables of friends to have a drink. However, the master also knows that I am honest and my salary is only barely enough to support my family. Where can I have money to celebrate a big birthday? A decent birthday costs a lot of money!"
Abbot of knew what he meant and said silently.
"How about the master lend me some gold. When I have money, I will return it to the master immediately. How about it? The court will reward a group of officials immediately. I will be among them. In less than a month, I will have money. I will definitely return it to the master at that time. How about it?"
Cui Taishou's tone was very kind, but he had a tough face.
When the old abbot saw it, he knew that it would not be possible to borrow it. If the prefect wanted to find fault, he would probably not be able to keep his temple. So the old abbot could only take out a pound of gold and lend it to Taishou Cui.
However, Cui Taishou felt that it was too little and said, "One pound of gold can only be exchanged for dozens of taels of silver. I have to invite many people to a banquet, so where is enough?"
Finally, the old abbot had no choice but to borrow half of the gold he raised to Cui Taishou, which is five pounds of gold. Before leaving, the old abbot repeatedly reminded the prefect Cui to return it on time, and the Buddha's golden body is waiting to be used! Prefect Cui waved his hand impatiently and left happily.
A month later, Prefect Cui did not pay back the money, so the old abbot sent someone to find him, and he said he would pay it back immediately.
Another month later, the old abbot went to find Taishou Cui himself, and Taishou Cui asked him to wait a little longer and it would be fine soon.
Another month has passed, and when the old abbot went to find Cui Taishou again, Cui Taishou refused to see him, and said that he had something big, and was discussing with other officials.
Later, no matter how the old abbot asked for money, Taishou Cui ignored him and did not see him at all.
The old abbot regretted it very much, but there was nothing he could do. The Buddha's golden body was half plated, which was very embarrassing. The old abbot was so angry that he almost went on a hunger strike. The monks tried to persuade him to comfort him.
Two more months later, Cui Taishou died suddenly.
On the night when Cui Taishou died, a cow in the temple gave birth to a calf. The calf was magical, covered in yellow hair, but only had some white hair on his forehead. These white hairs are vaguely written in a few words. After careful identification, they are actually the name of Prefect Cui!
After the monks in the temple found out, they rushed to watch it. After seeing this, the old abbot sighed and said, "Premier Cui once borrowed money from the statue of the Buddha's statue to be sculpted by the Buddha, but he refused to repay it. Could it be that today's incident is his retribution?"
A few days later, the people of the Cui family heard about this. After seeing the words on bullhead , they paid for the cow and calf. The old abbot asked them to pay back the money, but his family refused to admit it and said there was no evidence.
After the calf was led to the house, the Cui family immediately shaved the white hair on his head. However, when I saw the next day, the calf's head was restored, and there were still white hairs, and the name of Cui Taishou.Moreover, this calf doesn't eat milk and doesn't eat anything to feed, just like a hunger strike.
After all, it is related to Prefect Cui, and the Cui family cannot beat it to death, so there is no way. They can only send the cow and the calf back to the temple and instruct the monk to properly feed the calf and not let it get sick and hungry.
The first monk of the DAMO Academy was irritable and said, "Look, this is the retribution for him to borrow money and not pay back his debts! For this little money, our abbot almost went on a hunger strike, and the Buddha's golden body was only half plated. Why did Taishou Cui do this? This is the retribution he deserves!"
The Cui family was full of shame after hearing this.
When he returned home, Cui Taishou's wife called the housekeeper and asked, "Get the account books at home and I'll take a look." After hearing this, the housekeeper quickly brought a book.
Mrs. Cui looked at it and felt that everything was normal and something was wrong. He went to Prefect Cui's study room, looked through it again and again, and even checked the case tables, door panels and other places. Then he found the account book of Prefect Cui's embezzlement and bribery from under a piece of blue brick .
Sure enough, in this account book, all the unclean money that Taishou Cui received since he took office, including over-reported taxes, half-grabbing and half-expropriated land money, and money sent by the lower-level officials... After turning several pages, he finally found out that he had cheated five kilograms of gold from the temple.
Mrs. Cui finally believed the monk's words. He immediately asked someone to open the warehouse at home. After searching for a long time, he couldn't find gold. The account book does not say what gold is used for, but it shows that the money is still there, but where is it?
is right. Since there is a secret account book, there must be a secret warehouse.
Mrs. Cui called the whole family and asked everyone to find it together. Finally, under the kitchen at home, a dark warehouse was found. Sure enough, there were many money, jewelry, jade, gold, etc. embezzled by the prefect Cui. When Mrs. Cui saw it, she knelt down and cried on the spot: "Master, why are you doing this!"
Mrs. Cui took the secret account book and compared it one by one, returning all the money. If it is the money of ordinary people, it will be returned without any fault. Finally, after a month, all the stolen money was returned. All five kilograms of gold from the temple were returned.
The day after the money was refunded, the white hair on the calf's forehead disappeared.
On the night, the calf gave a dream to the monk in the temple and said, "I am the prefect Cui. When I was alive, I embezzled a lot of money and harmed many people. Some people even died because of me. It is precisely because I did too many wrong things that King of Yan Luo reincarnated me as a calf with a name on my forehead to punish me. Now, my family has refunded all the money, but my sins cannot be offset. Remember, after dawn, I will die. You must eat me and share it with people around you. In this way, I can completely atone for my sins and be reincarnated as a human being!"
The next morning, the monk found that the calf was indeed dead. They went to the government to file the record first, and then killed them, and distributed it to the monk and the people around me.
Moreover, this calf doesn't eat milk and doesn't eat anything to feed, just like a hunger strike.After all, it is related to Prefect Cui, and the Cui family cannot beat it to death, so there is no way. They can only send the cow and the calf back to the temple and instruct the monk to properly feed the calf and not let it get sick and hungry.
The first monk of the DAMO Academy was irritable and said, "Look, this is the retribution for him to borrow money and not pay back his debts! For this little money, our abbot almost went on a hunger strike, and the Buddha's golden body was only half plated. Why did Taishou Cui do this? This is the retribution he deserves!"
The Cui family was full of shame after hearing this.
When he returned home, Cui Taishou's wife called the housekeeper and asked, "Get the account books at home and I'll take a look." After hearing this, the housekeeper quickly brought a book.
Mrs. Cui looked at it and felt that everything was normal and something was wrong. He went to Prefect Cui's study room, looked through it again and again, and even checked the case tables, door panels and other places. Then he found the account book of Prefect Cui's embezzlement and bribery from under a piece of blue brick .
Sure enough, in this account book, all the unclean money that Taishou Cui received since he took office, including over-reported taxes, half-grabbing and half-expropriated land money, and money sent by the lower-level officials... After turning several pages, he finally found out that he had cheated five kilograms of gold from the temple.
Mrs. Cui finally believed the monk's words. He immediately asked someone to open the warehouse at home. After searching for a long time, he couldn't find gold. The account book does not say what gold is used for, but it shows that the money is still there, but where is it?
is right. Since there is a secret account book, there must be a secret warehouse.
Mrs. Cui called the whole family and asked everyone to find it together. Finally, under the kitchen at home, a dark warehouse was found. Sure enough, there were many money, jewelry, jade, gold, etc. embezzled by the prefect Cui. When Mrs. Cui saw it, she knelt down and cried on the spot: "Master, why are you doing this!"
Mrs. Cui took the secret account book and compared it one by one, returning all the money. If it is the money of ordinary people, it will be returned without any fault. Finally, after a month, all the stolen money was returned. All five kilograms of gold from the temple were returned.
The day after the money was refunded, the white hair on the calf's forehead disappeared.
On the night, the calf gave a dream to the monk in the temple and said, "I am the prefect Cui. When I was alive, I embezzled a lot of money and harmed many people. Some people even died because of me. It is precisely because I did too many wrong things that King of Yan Luo reincarnated me as a calf with a name on my forehead to punish me. Now, my family has refunded all the money, but my sins cannot be offset. Remember, after dawn, I will die. You must eat me and share it with people around you. In this way, I can completely atone for my sins and be reincarnated as a human being!"
The next morning, the monk found that the calf was indeed dead. They went to the government to file the record first, and then killed them, and distributed it to the monk and the people around me.
