Karma 4 - God and Buddha Will not Bless Evil People 神佛不會保佑邪惡的人

(English subtitles) Lectured by Daoist teacher Rui-Lie Lee (李瑞烈, 1921-2015) originally, and narrated by his disciple Ah-Ze Huang Zong 鍾黃阿智.
Subtitles:
Brother and sisters of great virtue. Good morning, everyone.
Let's continue the topic of karma. We talked about our teacher's wife in the last session. Though it's impolite to her. Due to her great compassion, it helps us to understand though she wasn't a good doctor in the past life. Now she has achieved on the bodhisattva path. We will know it doesn't matter how bad you were in the past life, as long as you walk on the path of practice in this life. No matter how bad you were in the last life, you must focus on the current life. Behave this life. Hence, we should pay attention nto karma now.
The same is true for the misconducts of many saints in their past lives. They dived into cultivation and finally became enlightened. Whatever you've done in the past, it doesn't matter. The critical thing in this life is to know the truth and practice.
Now I will continue to talk about karma. I usually talk stories about karma. I am going to tell a short story today. Because both good and bad have rewards, I am saying that people are well off because their ancestors accumulated good deeds. There was a rich person. The other man was poor, apparently because his ancestors had done evils, so he is miserable this life. We have various religious beliefs in Taiwan. Whether you are a Daoist, Christian, Buddhist, Confucian, or Muslim. We, Taiwanese, are not against any religion.
2:00
There are many religions prevalent in Taiwan.
We must have a righteous heart when we worship gods. If a man has evil thoughts, gods not only won't bless him but sometimes make him suffer. Somebody said my friend is awful, and gods still bless him.
Our teacher said if someone is awful, and gods still bless him. This isn't a righteous god that would bless him. If it's a righteous god, he will not bless a person who does evils. Absolutely not. If a god blesses an evil person. This is real. The teacher said there are 2 reasons.
Why does a god bless an evil person? 1St, this god isn't righteous, so that he gives blessing. It's said those who burn incense will get blessed due to the offering they give. Just like bribe the corrupt officials with money. Bribe me and plead with me. That is the same as corruption. I don't care whether you are good or bad. This is one reason caused by the corrupt gods. The other reason could be that he had helped this god in the past life. The god thinks of the assistance of this person in the past life. Now I am a god, you came to pray to me. You were good to me in the past life, and I am paying you back.
4:00
You ever helped me, and I pay you the debt I owed. So he gives blessing. Otherwise, righteous gods would never give blessings to bad guys. Gods only bless good people.
I will now cite a story. It was in 1956, this is a real story. It happened on Mar, 28 in Yilan, Taiwan. Everyone in Yilan should know that's the birthday of Eastern Mountain Emperor. There was a rich man. As I said, the rich are rich because of the blessings accumulated by their ancestors. He was rich and powerful.
He prepared a sumptuous set of offerings. He observed others whose offerings on the tables were very little. He then pushed away the offerings of others because he had a bountiful offerings. He put his offering at the center of the altar. After the worship, he went to the gold kiosk to burn paper money.
When he was burning paper money. Now there are no more beggars. After the restoration of Taiwan, there were many beggars. In my childhood, there were still many beggars. Beggars will struggle to occupy a good position during the temple fair. Some of them gathered beside the gold kiosk.
6:00
After they had laid out their straw mats, they began begging or stood beside the temple gate.
The rich man's was going to the kiosk to burn paper money. A beggar wanted to beg from his wife. Because his wife's skirt was very long, when begging, the beggar accidentally pulled the hem of her skirt with his hand. His wife yelled loudly. “That beggar pulled my skirt.” At that time, the rich man was so brutal that he punched the beggar hard on his cheek. The beggar cried out loud and shrank himself up. This is what our teacher had seen with his own eyes. He was in great pain. Why are you sexually harassing my wife? In fact, the beggar accidentally pulled the hem of her skirt. He was not on purpose.
The next year, it was reported in the newspaper. Back then, the rich man's family want to offer incense. He had money and power, and had a sedan. Now it's common to own a sedan. Most people have one. At that time, it was rare to have a car. Because he had a car and said: I would like to drive by myself if we are going to offer incense.
8:00
I prefer not to jumble with miscellaneous people. If he jumbled with miscellaneous people, mishap might not happen to him. Then the group set off.