【Cultivating Ethical Behaviour】- Zēng zi change bed lining

For the people of the ancient times, take a look! For Zēng zi, since his disciples respected him so much because he was one with great moral conducts, they got him a better bed lining to sleep on. As a result, Zēng zi said, "Eh, I am sleeping on a bed lining that is designed for the senior officials. I am not such a person. Change it quickly!" He was so sick and really should not have been moved. But he [insisted], "No, no!" He insisted on changing it. In the end, before the bed lining was changed, he passed away. There, why was this done? If we had some minor sickness, [we would say], "Ah-ya, don't tell me to worry about this. This doesn't matter. You wouldn't care either. Why bother?" Why did Zēng zi do that? Think about this carefully. Just before he passed, he said to his son, "Son, examine my feet, examine my hands." He said, look at my feet and look at my hands! And then he said, "from now on," meaning from now on I no longer need to worry. When you still have your body, whatever movement that you make, you will exert some influence. This is karma. Now that the body will be gone, one will no longer be burdened by it. In other words, he was this cautious with any of his gestures. Why? We just don't understand it. There, but as you get to this section, you now understand.

Thus for any noble being who truly practices, he is this careful with his three karmas. No need to hh mention Buddhism, there are Bodhisattvas [who are examples] even in this mundane world.

SOURCE 来源 :

61B 19’01” Vol 8 of Master Jih-Chang’s Discourse P173 LL3
English Lamrim Vol 1 P248

日常师父法语📡61B 19’01”手抄稿第8册P173 LL3

业果 : 曾子换席

那么那时候古代的人，你看喔！那个曾子，因为他的子弟尊重他，他是一个很有德行的人喔，睡的那个席子睡得好一点。结果曾子说：“欸，我睡那个席子是大夫的席，我可不是，赶快给我换！”他病得重得要命啊，因为那个时候动弹不得的时候，他“不行、不行！”一定要给他换。最后换，换的席子没换好，他命就送掉了。喏，这为什么要这样做？要我们平常的时候稍微一点小毛病，“唉呀，再叫我忙这个事情，个无关紧要的，你也马虎它，干什么？”为什么？这里好好地想一想。然后他临终的时候，他跟他的儿子说：“小子，启予足，启予手。”他说你把我的脚看一看，把我的手看一看哪！然后他说，“而今而后”，从现在以后我可以免掉。因为以前只要你有这个身体在，你随便的一举一动，你就会得影响，这个就是业。现在那个身体坏掉了，那从此以后你不必再受这个身体之累。换句话说，他的随便一个动作这么谨慎，为什么啊？我们就是看不懂。喏，你现在到了这里你就了解了。

所以任何一个真正修学的圣者，他三业这么地谨慎法，不要说佛法里边，乃至于世间这种都是菩萨。