Good luck is not as good as good habits - 15 details that can change your life

Author: Wang Zhaohui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: Too much material desire makes the heart restless
If a person has too many material desires and vanity, then when walking, he will be unable to move even a step because of the heavy burden he carries on his back. There was once a ascetic who practiced self-denial and austerity, preparing to leave the village where he lived and go to a uninhabited mountain to live as a hermit. He only brought a piece of cloth as his clothing and went to live alone in the mountains. Later, he thought that when he wanted to wash his clothes, he would need another piece of cloth to replace them. So he went down to the village and begged the villagers for a piece of cloth to use as a change of clothes. The villagers knew he was a devout ascetic, so they readily gave him a piece of cloth without hesitation.
After the ascetic returned to the mountain, he found a mouse in his hut. The mouse often came to bite the clothes he had prepared to wash while he was meditating. He had long vowed to abide by the precept of not killing living beings, so he was unwilling to harm the mouse. However, he had no way to drive the mouse away, so he returned to the village and asked the villagers for a cat to keep. After getting a cat, he thought again—"What does a cat eat? I don’t want the cat to eat the mouse, but I can’t just eat fruits and vegetables like me!" So he asked the villagers for a cow’s milk, so the cat could live on milk.
However, after living in the mountains for a while, he found that he had to spend a lot of time taking care of the cow every day. So he returned to the village and found a bachelor. He then took the homeless bachelor to live in the mountains with him to help take care of the cow. After living in the mountains for a while, the bachelor complained to the ascetic, saying, "I’m different from you. I need a wife and a normal family life." The ascetic thought it made sense, and he couldn’t force others to live the same ascetic life as him.