這一天我來了，他在家裡，往窗戶玻璃鏡子一看，對他母親就講了，說：「媽媽，我師父來了。」他媽媽說：「你什麼時候有個師父？」他說：「這個就是現在就有個師父了！」他母親也認為他很奇怪的，就把我迎接進他的房裡，我一進門口，他到那兒，我在東北都身上背一個，背一個萬寶囊，這個裡頭什麼東西都有，經典啊、所用的東西啊……在這個，就好像這個「box」一樣，就好像你們那個「box」不過我這個是跨到身上的。這個小孩子見到我，就把我這個「box」就給搶過去了，搶過去他就背著，我就跟著他到屋裡邊了，坐在炕上，我就和他談話。我說：「誰叫你給父親母親叩頭的？是不是你爸爸媽媽歡喜你叩頭？」他說：「不是！」我說：「你為什麼要叩頭呢？」他說：「我覺得我對父親母親的恩沒有法子報，所以呢，我就給父親母親先叩幾個頭囉，令他們兩位老人不發脾氣、歡歡喜喜的，我認為這是作兒子的應該做的。」我說：「你五歲那時候，還不懂得什麼事情，為什麼你就想給父親母親叩頭呢？。他說：「我在那時候，我就覺得這個，我這麼樣做，是我最歡喜的。」我說那好啦！那你呀好過我了，我從十二歲才知道給我父親母親叩頭，也沒有人教我。但是你這從五歲就能這麼樣做，你是一個最好的好孩子。」這小孩子聽了這樣說，他也很高興的。我就又問他父親母親，我說：「究竟他單單給你們叩頭，他有的時候會不會令你們老夫婦兩個發脾氣啊？」他說：「我們老夫婦兩個沒有什麼德行，沒有什麼道德，大概我父親是有道德，所以得到這樣一個好孫子。」你看他不自滿，不說：「哦！你看我是不錯的，我生了這個一個好孩子他來孝順我。」他不這樣講，他父親也是很明理的。他說：「我的爸爸做人是最好的，他大概是很有德行，很有道德，所以才有這樣一個好孫子。」他不說：「我自己做得不錯啊！所以得到這麼一個好兒子。」這個由這一點，就證明他父親一定就是很明理的一個人。」
談了有一個多鐘頭，我就在坑上要下地，要走了。這個小孩子他姓鄭叫鄭德，他趕快下地，把我這一對鞋就給拿去了。我以為他拿這鞋是給我穿鞋好走啊！誰知，他拿起這鞋就跑了，跑到另外一個房，把這個鞋放到另外一個房，回來就對我講，說：「師父，我今天頭一次見到您，一定留您在我們家裡面吃一頓普通的飯。我也不做什麼好的東西，並且我家裡也沒什麼好的東西。」那麼他這樣一講，我也很歡喜這個小孩子，頭一次來，就留師父吃飯，這對師父也很孝順。於是乎，我就默然允許了，就也沒有答覆他，點一點頭，他就去做飯做完了，就拿來大家一起吃完飯。吃完了飯，我就問這個小孩子，我說：「鄭德啊！你現在拜我作師父，是應該師父聽徒弟的話呀？還是徒弟要聽師父的話？」他說：「當然是徒弟聽師父的教訓啦，怎麼可以師父聽徒弟的話？」我說：「哦！那現在你這樣講，為什麼你不得到我的同意，就把我的這一對鞋給我拿走了？叫我在你這兒吃飯，你要是聽師父的話，你不應該把我的這個鞋給我拿走，才留我吃飯，你應該就這樣子對我講，不應該用一種強制的手段，來叫我在你這兒吃飯，你這豈不是叫師父聽徒弟的話嗎？」
我說完了這話，這小孩子即刻就跪到我面前了，說：「師父，我再也不敢了，再也不敢這麼做了，我以為這樣子師父絕對不會走的了。」
我說：「那你知道師父絕對不會走，你這豈不是用一種強，勉強的手段嗎？」啊，他說：「我現在明白了，我以後不這麼樣做了，啊，請師父原諒我！」
待續
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On the day I went to his house, he was inside, and when he looked out the window and saw me coming, he said to his mother, “Mama, my teacher is coming!”
“Since when do you have a teacher?” his mother asked.
“Now! Now I have a teacher!”
His mother thought he was acting very strangely. He came to the door to greet me, and the minute I entered the door, he insisted on taking my bag from me. Wherever I traveled in Manchuria, I carried my “bag of myriad treasures,” which held Sutras and all sorts of things I used. But as soon as the child saw me, he insisted on taking my bag and carrying it on his back. I went in with him, sat down, and spoke with him a little. I asked him, “Who told you to bow to your parents? Did your parents tell you to do that?”
“No,” he said.
“Then why are you bowing every day?” I asked.
“I feel that there is no way I can repay my parents' kindness. They are elderly now, and I bow to them to make them content and not upset with me. I feel it's something a child should do,” he replied.
“But you started doing it when you were five years old,” I said. “A five-year-old child doesn't understand such things.”
“Well, when I was five, I did it because bowing to my parents made me happier than anything else.”
“Very good,” I replied. “You are a better child than I was. I didn't start bowing to my parents until I was twelve. Nobody told me to do it, either. But you started when you were only five. You're a very good child.”
That made him happy. Then I asked his parents, “He bows to you, but doesn't he sometimes do things that make you angry?”
His father said, “We have no virtue in the Way. No doubt my father had virtue, and so he is blessed with When you thoroughly understand all matters and principles, it is especially important to keep a low profile. such a grandson." The child's father was not conceited in the least. He didn't say, "I'm pretty special. See what a fine, filial child I have?" The child's father understood principle. He gave the credit of having a good son to his father's virtue and didn't claim to have done good deeds himself that merited such a reward.
Over an hour passed, and I put my legs down over the edge of the seat [kang, a brick bed used in northern China], preparing to leave. What do you suppose the child, whose name was Zheng De, did? He immediately got down and snatched my shoes. I thought he was going to help me put them on so that I could leave, but instead he took the shoes and ran off with them. He put the shoes in another room and came back, saying, "Teacher, today is the first time I have met you. You must stay at our home and have a simple meal with us, even though we don't have any especially good food here."
I was pleased with the child. The first time his teacher came, he asked his teacher to stay for a meal, which was also being filial to his teacher. I assented in silence by nodding my head. I didn't answer him verbally. Zheng De prepared and served the meal, and we all ate together.
After we finished, I asked the child, "Zheng De, you have bowed to me as your teacher. Is it the case that the teacher should obey the disciple, or that the disciple should obey the teacher?"
"The disciple should obey the teacher, of course," he replied. "How could it be that the teacher should obey the disciple?"
"If that's what you think is right, then why, without asking my permission, did you take my shoes away from me and put them away before asking me to stay for lunch? If you were obedient to your teacher, you should not have hidden my shoes and then asked me to stay. You could have simply invited me without using some way to coerce me into it. Now wasn't that a case of the teacher having to obey the disciple?"
The child immediately knelt before me and said, "Teacher, I'll never do it again. I thought if I did it that way, my teacher would certainly not leave."
"If you knew that by doing that, your teacher could not leave, then weren't you using force to make him stay?"
"I understand now," he said, "I won't ever do that again. Teacher, please forgive me!"
To be continued
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