WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

There is a Chinese proverb which goes "Today's beneficiary is the incarnation of his preexisting well-doer; the fate of ones next existence lies in his existence today" ( 要知前世， 今生受者是； 要知后世果，今生做者是 ). This is very similar to what Justin Timberlake was singing in his song "What goes around comes around". This stems from the Buddhist belief in Karma where doing good will benefit us eventually. Otherwise we will get the comeuppance we deserve. An example of this would be a man who jilts his fiance and then marries someone else, then tires of her and does all sorts of things to make life a living hell for her and then divorces the poor woman, then marries another pretty, young woman. When this woman becomes very ill and looks very ugly, he becomes cold towards her and finds all sorts of excuses not to be by her side. When she eventually dies, he could be seen dating another pretty young lady two days after the funeral. To top it all, he takes the grandson from the in-laws and refuses to let them see the little boy. This man tries to show to the world that he is very charitable, kind and good but do you think that one day he will receive his just dues? For your information, this is not a story I invented.

There is also a Chinese proverb stating that "A single merit cannot make a hundred demerits fade; a hundred merits cannot hide a single demerit.(一好遮不了百丑，百好遮不了一丑). For example if a man murders one person but at the same time he has done a lot for charity and has helped a lot of people. Do you think that all the good he has done will cover his evil deed.

You must be thinking that I have gone all preachy today, right? Well, it is because I got two Buddhist books when I went to the vegetarian restaurant to buy dinner this evening. You can get such books free from temples too. They are donated by Buddhists or Taoists who wish to help to share the teachings of Buddha with others.