Hang Zhou is a scenic place in China. During Qing Dynasty (the lastdynasty of China, 1644-1911) there was a kind-hearted person named Run Qepang. Ever since Run Qepang was young he was very kind and he treasured little animals immensely. He also had an ambition of setting captured animals free. Regularly, he did the hard work of going to the banks of the streams or deep in the mountains to release captured animals. The animals he set free were mostly spiral shells and little fishes. He always advised people to set these two types of animals free. Once there was a little kid who asked him,

     Once upon a time there was a couple whose surname was Zhang. They liked eating soft-shell turtle very much. One day they bought a huge soft-shell turtle and gave it to the young maid called Ape,

"Ape! Kill this soft-shell turtle. This time we want to eat a barbecued one, pay attention todo your best!"

Ape had never been fond of killing. However, it was hard for her not to obey the command of the master. Therefore having no way out, she started to sharpen the knife in the kitchen. The knife became sharper and sharper. Ape gazed at the soft-shell turtle. She saw it looking at her with its eyes begging her not to kill.

     "You don’‘t need to be worried about my illness. I believe I will recovergradually."

Laying in bed, Mrs. Fan, who had been very sick for months, was saying in a weak voice to her husband. Mr. Fan patted her with his hand and comforted her,

"You’‘re my wife, I must think of a way to help you recover from the illness. And I still hope that you will give birth to a son for me."

"Ge! Ge! Ge!"

Mrs. Fan kept coughing for a few times.

"See! Your illness is getting worse, how can I not be worried about you? Right, yesterday I requested a prescription from Daoist Fang (people who practise Daoism). Let us try it."

     This is an extraordinary story that happened in the reign of the QingDynasty (the last dynasty of China, 1644-1911). In Wu Town of T¢ng Countythere was a family who raised a dog named Lai Fu. Lai Fu was a lovely dog. His hair was curly and he had a pair of bigblack sparkling eyes. Everyone who saw him adored him. Not only did the family love him, but also the children living around cherished him as well. Lai Fu not only looked lovely, was also very clever. He knew manytricks, which included looking after the house for the master, holding the vegetable basket in his mouth when the family members went to the market,and accompanying the little master Ah Hui to play with a ball.

     Once upon a time there was a well-known family whose surname was Fang. Everyone of the family was very kind, especially the old Madam Fang, who was a very compassionate and affable old lady. We can tell from her everyday life’‘s behaviour. She often reminded her maids,

"At home do not pour any boiling or hotwater on the floor casually. This is because it may kill many ants or little insects on the floor. And if it flows through the drain it ispossible that it indirectly kill other small animals."

As for the normal activities in the house or courtyard, the old madamalso raminded family membrers to pay attetion when they walked. Otherwise they could step on and kill little animals. In addition, she also told thegrandchildren not to wilfully squeeze inserts that lived on the trees to death.

       "Alas! What a stupid son I have! I am worried that he will not be ableto preserve all of the property if I hand down to him. There was a wealthy man who was very astute and capable. However, he had a son who was very stupid and good-at-nothing. Hence the wealthy man had been very distressful.

One day he was again sat down in the living room and sighed. His son was sitting opposite to him and was just mindlessly giggling, "Hihi, hehe!!" "Ai", the wealthy man could not help making a sigh. Then the family old maid came in and said,

     During China’‘s Sai Dynasty (A.D.581-618) in the busy capital city there lived a ordinary person whose name was Mr. Wang Wu. He made wine and he made a living out of it. Although Wang Wuwas an ordinary person, he was very compassionate. For instance, when he made wine there were many flies who were greedy of the fragrance of the wine. Thus they often fell down into the wine cask and nearly got drowned. Then Wang Wu would carefully drained the flies and dried them up with ash. When the flies woke up and were able to fly, he released all of them as a work of merit.

     Once upon a time in Yongzhou (China) there lived a butcher whose surnamewas Zhang. Everyday he would kill a pig to supply the demand for the people who lived around him. However, slaughtering pigs was an act of killing sentient beings Therefore he often thought of making a living out of other profession,

I should change my profession! There are many jobs I can do out of’‘260 professions’‘. Why should I be a butcher? My knife has to kill a pigand "dye red" each day. If I kill 20 pigs each month then I will have killed 260 pigs every year. It’‘s terrible whenever time I think about it."

      Once upon a time in the deep mountains forest there lived an old monk and a young monk. The old monk was a great practitioner of Buddha-dharmaand was frequently in deep meditation. Normally when he started meditation,it could last for half a day or one full day. In addition, during his meditation he would know what was going to happen in the future.

One day, the old monk meditated again. Suddenly he found out that his little disciple was going to pass away in eight days. Therefore the old monk called the young monk and said,

     Once upon a time, in Jiashan of China there lived a person whose surname was Kong. Once Mr. Kong paid a visit to a relative whom he had not seen for a long time. They talked and talked until nightfall. Warm-heartedly the relative invited him to stay for dinner. Since they rarely saw each other, the relative attentively prepared thedinner. He wanted to slaughter the old hen whom he had been keeping for years and cook it for Mr. Kong.