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宋子文生於富有之家，長於錦繡之門。讀書力學，中英兼通。學而優則仕，官至極品。最令人遺憾者，彼雖富貴而貪心不正，斂全國之財為私人所獨有。存款於外國銀行，或投資某公司，獲取厚利。絞盡腦汁，用盡手段，唯利是圖。造成天怒人怨，不見容於國人。未曾作絲毫之善事，更無益於世界人心。徒擁無數之財產，即用電腦統計，亦無法知其究竟之數。糊塗！糊塗！到頭來食肉哽咽而亡。兩手空空，一無所有。如此現身說法，吾人應速覺悟，一切無常，勿復為金錢所迷倒！
宋子文是生在一個富裕有錢有勢的家庭，出身於名望赫奕的家族，過著養尊處優，錦衣玉食的生活。宋氏家族的形成，對於將近一世紀的亞洲和世界歷史局勢的發展，起了關鍵性作用。其成員皆是家喻戶曉的人物。他們聚集了堪稱這個時代最大的財富；宋子文也許是地球上最有錢的人，因此〈大英百科全書〉說：「宋子文享有世界上最大的富翁的名聲。」
宋子文長得矮小結實，性情活潑。他記憶數字的訣竅妙得令人難以置信。圓圓的面孔像一美元喜錢，面部表情和藹嚴峻，看上去很孤僻，總是心事重重。其父將子女送到美國讀書，宋子文在聖約翰中學念書，畢業後入哈佛大學讀經濟系。讀書時很用功學習，所以中英文皆通，講得一口道地的英語。
宋子文於一九一五年畢業於哈佛大學。由於其姊的推薦，擔任國民黨的財政部長。他懂得籌款之道，做事的方法完全是西化。那時中國的財政一團糟，他剛上任時頗能發揮其特長，第一次將中國財政的收支平衡。最令人遺憾的是，他雖已有富貴，可是仍貪心不止，將全中國的錢財刮斂到他的口袋，成為他私人的財產。此外，戰爭期間大量美國軍用補給品和救濟物資，一運到中國後不到兩小時，就立即移入黑市場拍賣，有時候就再也不見了。落到戰場上士兵手裡的補給品，卻寥寥無幾。這種自私自利，貪污受賄，落井下石的行為是令中國貧窮的原因。和文天祥在國難當頭，能拍賣自己所有財產用來買軍糧和兵器，組織軍隊來保衛宋朝的豪傑行為，宋子文眞是令人不齒。
他所擁有的財產涉及面廣，有石油、礦物、航運和其他運輸業的股票，或者投資某公司，獲取厚利。他絞盡腦汁，用盡手段，唯利是圖，從美援蔣介石的三十八億美元中偷了七億五千萬美元，把它投資在聖保羅的房地產，有些投資在紐約，成了在美國最有勢力的中國實業界巨頭。如此，造成天怒民怨，不見容於國人。他未曾做過絲毫的善事，更沒有幫助世界人心的改造，徒然擁有無數來路不明的財產。即使用電腦統計，也難以知道其財產數目究竟有多少。
糊塗啊！糊塗啊！枉費了其父栽培他的苦心，亦枉讀了十幾年的聖賢書。然而因果是絲毫不爽的，一九七一年四月間，宋子文七十七歲時在舊金山會見親友的宴會上，他在吃了許多道菜時，突然停下來，顯得很慌張，接著站了起來，喘不過氣終於倒在地上，過了一會兒他就死了。屍體解剖表明一小塊食物堵在氣管裡，他的頸部神經向心臟發出緊急信號，可是他的心臟太弱支持不了。死後，一分錢也帶不走；兩手空空，一無所有，徒然造了許多罪業。如此現身說法，我們應該趕快覺悟，一切法無常，千萬不要再被金錢所迷惑顛倒了。
偈曰：
不愛中國愛錢財 窮刮民脂積黃白
移徙金山逃審判 游泳玉海賽蓮臺
食肉咽亡貪心報 魂墮苦趣因果該
何必顛倒為境轉 勢動閻君費神裁
偈曰：
「不愛中國愛錢財」：在宋子文的心目中，錢財的地位比中國更重要。觀近數十年的政治，人民所遭遇的痛苦，便知道為官廉潔與不廉潔的影響極大。所以〈大學〉說：「仁者以財發身：不仁者以身發財。」孟子又說：「為富不仁；為仁不富。」因為貪財與不貪財，關係別人的利益和幸福甚大。所以發財不合理便能造罪；不貪財方能造福。只存一家獨富之心，不顧他家的死活，是不仁慈不平等之極。除了他本人要受業報外，還要受餘報的支配。
「窮刮民脂積黃白」：宋子文窮刮人民的脂膏，從中取利發橫財。當時中國在戰爭的蹂躪下人民生活痛苦，士兵軍餉缺乏。他卻不顧前線士兵的死活，將補給品扣下拍賣或囤積在其倉庫，結果受害的是全中國人民和整個國家。中國為何多災多難？就是貪官污吏太多，自私自利造成內憂外患的局面。
「移徙金山逃審判」：宋子文藉著自己的地位，用巧妙的手段將國庫搜刮殆盡，暗中牟私人的利益，令自己富厚，對於中國的災難不肯救濟。他以為逃到美國，就可以逃避審判。這些事，眾人固然無可奈何，法律也扳他不到；他算是棋嬴了，對方的棋輸了。
「游泳玉海賽蓮臺」：他在美國享盡人間的榮華富貴，以為可以逍遙法外，得其所哉。
「食肉咽亡貪心報」：可是天道卻不許他贏，會替眾人作他的大對手，輕輕地動一著，叫他滿盤棋子都殆了，使他一敗塗地。他食肉哽咽而亡，是其貪心的報應。這叫「人有千算；天只一算。」他當初如何在中國財源上作梗，扼殺中國人民，他亦因食物哽在喉嚨中而噎死了。因為宋子文的錢財綽綽有餘，明知中國人民和士兵皆因缺糧而餓死，不但不施財救濟，反而藉此斂財。從道德上責備起來，這簡直是間接的殺人。積錢最多，罹罪有餘，而不肯布施的，負的殺人罪更重。
「魂墮苦趣因果該」：《藥師經》上說：「有諸眾生，不識善惡。惟懷貪吝，不知布施，及施果報。愚癡無智，闕於信根。多聚財寶，勤加守護。見乞者來，其心不喜。設不獲已，而行施時，如割身肉，深生痛惜。……彼諸有情，從此命終，生餓鬼界，或傍生趣。」人定勝天，天定亦勝人；天定是一定的天理。陰陽的定律就是要平均，宋子文做事太過分就是失了平均。其心違反陰陽定律的中和，所以起了反應受到陰陽定律的制裁，使還歸到平均的狀態。所謂「天作孽，猶可違；自作孽，不可活。」如是因，如是果，絲毫不爽。
「何必顛倒為境轉」：世人都以為積錢多，買田產，能使子孫有飯吃，所以拚命想發財。殊不知人喜慳吝貪錢定有嫖賭浪費的子孫替他破財；人喜機巧計算定有糊塗愚笨的子孫被人欺騙。嗚呼！我們又何必為身外之物而迷惑顛倒？為世界榮華富貴的幻化境界所轉呢？
「勢動閻君費神裁」：宋子文在世上所造的深重罪業，一定驚動十殿閻君要費盡心神來制裁審判他。
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Soong Tse-wen (aka T.V. Soong) was born into a wealthy family and grew up in the lap of luxury. He pursued his studies intently and became proficient in both English and Chinese. Upon graduation, he took an official post and reached the highest ranks in government. It is most regrettable that, although he was already endowed with great riches and honor, he was still insatiably greedy. Soong Tse-wen hoarded the whole nation wealth and appropriated it as his own, either depositing the funds into foreign banks or investing them in various business enterprises to make enormous profits. He racked his brains and used every unscrupulous means, simply scheming for his personal advantage. This called down the wrath of heaven and the resentment of the people upon him. He was no longer tolerated by his fellow countrymen. He never performed a single iota of good, nor did he benefit the world and its people in any way. He merely possessed colossal wealth, the total sum of which would be hard to reckon even with computers. How muddled! How confused he was! In the end, he died from choking on a piece of meat and departed empty-handed, owning nothing. In that way he manifested a body to speak the Dharma so that we would quickly awaken to the impermanence of everything and not be so deluded by money anymore!
Commentary:
Soong Tse-wen was born into an affluent household that possessed both money and power. Coming from a well-established family of repute, he enjoyed a pampered life of honor and extravagant luxury. The Soong clan has played a critical role in the developments of Asian and global history in the recent century. Their members are all well-known to every home. They accumulated what is reputed to be the greatest fortune of this era. Soong Tse-wen may have been the richest person on Earth. For this reason, the Encyclopedia Britannica stated that Soong Tse-wen was reputed to be the world's richest magnate.
Soong Tse-wen was short and stocky, with a cheerful and outgoing personality. His special talent in memorizing numbers was nothing short of incredible. His face was as round as an American coin, while his facial expression was friendly and solemn. He had the appearance of a recluse who always had a lot on his mind. When his father sent the children to study in America, Soong Tse-wen attended St. John's High School. After graduating, he entered Harvard University and majored in economics. He was very diligent in his studies, so he became fluent in both English and Chinese. He spoke impeccable English. In 1915, Soong Tse-wen graduated from Harvard University, and at the recommendation of his sister, became the Finance Minister for the Kuomingtang (KMT).
He understood the ins and outs of fundraising, and his style of doing things was completely Westernized. At that time, China's finances were in a state of complete chaos, so when his term began, he applied his talents and balanced the budget of China for the first time. However, most regrettably, despite his great affluence, he was still greedy to no end. He embezzled the entire wealth of China and raked it into his own pocket, turning it into his personal fortune. Furthermore, during wartime, vast amounts of American military supplies and relief aid were auctioned off on the black market within two hours of arriving in China, sometimes never to be seen again. Consequently, the supplies received by the soldiers on the field were meager and few.
Such selfish, corrupt, and malicious practices were the reasons China became so impoverished. Compared to Wen Tianxiang, Soong Tse-wen was certainly worthless and undeserving. During times of national calamity, Wen Tianxiang heroically sold his personal possessions in exchange for supplies and weapons and formed troops to defend the Song Dynasty.
Soong Tse-wen's estate covered vast areas; there were oil fields, mines, stocks in shipping and cargo industries, as well as huge capital gains from investing in corporations. He utilized all of his mental capacity and exhausted all means available for the sole purpose of personal profit. He stole 750 million dollars out of the 3.8 billion dollars of American aid to Chiang Kai-Shek, investing the money in real estate properties in St. Paul and some in New York. He became the most powerful Chinese industrial tycoon in the United States.
Because of this, he enraged the gods and infuriated the people; he could no longer show his face before the Chinese citizens. He did not perform any deeds of charity, nor did he help in the betterment of humanity in the world. He possessed immeasurable fortunes of unknown origins. Even with the help of computers, it would be difficult to figure out exactly how much his wealth was worth.
How foolish and muddled! All his father's efforts to raise him went to waste, and his many years of study were all in vain. Yet, the law of cause and effect never errs in the slightest. During a banquet with relatives in San Francisco in April of 1971, when Soong Tse-wen was seventy-seven, he suddenly stopped eating after several courses had been served. With an expression of panic, he stood up and gasped for breath and finally fell to the ground. Within moments he was dead. The autopsy showed that a small piece of food had blocked his bronchial passage. The nerves in his neck sent an emergency signal to the heart, but his heart was so weak that it did not hold out long. He died without taking a single cent along. He left empty-handed, having created an enormous amount of evil karma in vain. In this manner he taught Dharma through his example. We should quickly awaken and realize that nothing lasts, and not be enchanted by money into an inverted existence.
A verse says:
He did not love China, but he did love money.
He scraped all the fat from the people, amassing gold and silver.
He moved to the Mountain of Gold* to evade trial by court.
He swam in an ocean of jade, thinking it surpassed the lotus dais.
He choked to death on a piece of meat, the retribution for his greed.
His soul fell to the bitter destinies, undergoing its just deserts.
Why did he have to be so muddled and so turned by states,
Making King Yama toil so hard in sentencing him?
* "Old Gold Mountain," that is, San Francisco, California.
A verse says:
He did not love China, but he did love money. From Soong Tse-wen's point of view, money was far more important than China. By observing the politics of the recent decades and the sufferings endured by the common people, one can easily appreciate the magnitude of influence exerted by government officials who are honest versus those who are corrupt. Therefore,
The Great Learning states, "One of benevolence utilizes fortune to expand well-being; one who lacks benevolence utilizes well-being to expand fortune." Mencius also said, "Those who seek fortune lack benevolence; those who seek benevolence lack fortune." Whether or not one is greedy for money greatly affects the benefit and happiness of others. Thus, to gain wealth by improper means is an offense; to turn away from greed can create good fortune. By trying to make his own household singularly affluent while ignoring how other families fared, Soong Tse-wen demonstrated his utter lack of mercy and justice. Not only must he endure his own karmic retribution, he will also have to undergo other auxiliary retributions.
He scraped all the fat from the people, amassing gold and silver. Soong Tse-wen completely scraped clean the people's "fat and marrow" (their hard-earned savings), extracting profits from it to increase his own illicit fortunes.
At that time, China was ravaged by war: her people endured lives of toil and her soldiers were inadequately supplied, yet Soong was not concerned about the survival of the troops at the front line. He either auctioned off the supplies or hoarded them in his own warehouses. Thus his victims were all the Chinese citizens and their entire country. Why has China suffered so many calamities and adversities? It is simply because there have been too many corrupt government officials whose selfish greed resulted in domestic instability and foreign aggression.
He moved to the Mountain of Gold to evade trial by court. Soong Tse-wen took advantage of his position and used devious schemes to strip clean the national treasury, secretly adding to his personal profit. While he made himself overwhelmingly rich, he refused to help alleviate the troubles of China. He thought that by escaping to America, he could evade judgement. The general populace had no choice but to tolerate his crimes, since not even the law could reach him. It could be said that he won the chess game.
He swam in an ocean of jade, thinking it surpassed the lotus dais. He enjoyed a life of extravagant wealth and luxury in the United States, thinking that he could be free and at ease, beyond the reach of the law.
He choked to death on a piece of meat, the retribution for his greed. However, heavenly justice would not allow him to win. On behalf of the people, it took on the role of his adversary. With one small move, it caused him to be dumbfounded in the chess game and drove him to complete defeat. He choked to death while swallowing a piece of meat, which was the retribution for his greed. There is a saying, "Men have a thousand schemes, but heaven has only one scheme." Just as he once took liberties with the finances of China, strangling the Chinese people to death, he himself also died by choking on a piece of meat stuck in his throat. Soong Tse-wen's fortunes were enormous, and he was well aware that Chinese civilians and soldiers were dying from famine, yet instead of trying to relieve the situation, he took advantage of it and swindled more money. From a moral perspective, he was basically committing indirect murder. To amass the greatest wealth and hold ample resources yet refuse to contribute any of it is only makes the crime of killing more severe.
His soul fell to the bitter destinies, undergoing its just deserts. The Medicine Master Sutra states, "At that time, the World Honored One again spoke to the Pure Youth Manjushri saying, "Manjushri, there are living beings who don't distinguish good from evil, who indulge in greed and stinginess, and who know nothing of giving or its rewards. They are stu pid, ignorant, and lack the foundation of faith. They accumulate much wealth and many treasures and ardently guard them. When they see a beggar coming, they feel displeased. When they give without benefiting themselves, they feel as though they were cutting a piece of flesh from their body, and they suffer deep and painful regret.... At the end of their lives, such sentient beings will be reborn among the hungry ghosts or animals..." People can overcome heaven; heaven can overcome people as well. The laws of heaven are absolute. The laws of yin and yang serve to maintain just equality. Soong Tse-wen's excesses disturbed the balance of justice. His mind violated the equilibrium regulated by the laws of yin and yang, thus setting off a reaction where he was disciplined under those laws. Eventually all must return to the state of just equality. As it is said, "When heaven commits evil, we may get away from it; when we commit evil ourselves, there is no escape." Causes are inevitably followed by their corresponding effects, which are never mistaken.
Why did he have to be so muddled and so turned by states? People always believe that by accumulating money to acquire more estates, they can ensure that their descendants will never go hungry, so they do anything they can to earn wealth. Little do they know that those who are stingy and miserly are bound to have descendants who will squander and gamble the family fortune away. Clever and scheming individuals are bound to have foolish and idiotic descendants who will be tricked by others. Alas! Why must we be infatuated with things that we cannot take with us in the end, being deluded by the fantasy of worldly fame and fortune?
Making King Yama toil so hard in sentencing him? Since Soong Tse-wen committed enormous karmic offenses in his life, the Ten King Yamas will certainly be stunned and have to spend considerable effort in sentencing him.
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