..續本文上一頁our lives. You”re exhausted every day from having to pound the rice. As for me, I have to slash through the forest to find firewood and to make the fire for cooking the rice for everyone in the household. But all we get to eat is the lowest grade rice mixed with bran. We shouldn”t have been born as human beings. If only we could be reborn like that moneylenders” dog!"

　　From that day on, the memory of the moneylenders” dog kept occupying his thoughts. At the same time, though, he still remained loyal to the monk. But just a few days later he had an attack of horrible cramps and died. After he stopped breathing, his spirit didn”t go off anywhere, but kept hovering around the moneylenders” house — both because it was still fixated on the dog and because it felt attached to the monk. Every morning it would follow the monk in and out of the house.

　　One day, after offering the monk his meal, the moneylender couple presented him with many additional offerings. When he had finished eating, he carried all the offerings out the door where the dog was lying on guard. Seeing the monk with his arms all full of things, the dog thought that he had stolen them from the moneylender couple. So it rushed at him and started to bark. The spirit of the slave, hovering behind the monk, slipped right into the dog”s open mouth and into its stomach — and then couldn”t get out.

　　So now it was stuck. It couldn”t follow the monk in and out of the house as it had every morning. Instead it could only stir around restlessly in the dog”s stomach, which of course had an effect on the dog”s behavior. It couldn”t lie still, and kept getting into places it didn”t belong. The moneylender couple noticed it acting abnormally and, mystified, had one of their servants put it outside in a pen with the other dogs of the household. Before too long, the dog mated with a female, and the female became pregnant. And so now the slave was reborn as a puppy in the female”s womb. While it was in the womb, it still wanted to follow the monk in and out of the house, but it couldn”t get out. All it could do was thrash around in its mother”s womb, causing her all sorts of misery and pain.

　　When her time came, the female finally gave birth to a male puppy much larger and stronger than normal. This was because the puppy”s consciousness had such a strong desire to get out and see the monk all along. As soon as it was born, it opened its eyes wide and started to run — because actually it had been running ever since its time in the womb. So the next morning, when it saw the Private Buddha come to the mansion gate, it was overjoyed. It ran up and jumped all over him, grabbing his shoulder bag from his hand and running after him all the way into the dining room in the moneylenders” house. This amazed the moneylender couple and made them feel strong affection for it.

　　The next morning happened to be the last day of the Rains retreat, which was the final day of the monk”s invitation to eat in the moneylender couple”s home. So before leaving the house after he had finished his meal, the monk said to the moneylender couple, "Because today is the last day of your invitation, I would like to give you my blessing and take my leave to return to the seclusion of my hermitage in the forest." Then he turned to the puppy, "Tomorrow I won”t be coming to your masters” home any more now, so I want you to stay here and guard your masters with loyalty. Don”t follow me out into the forest, okay

　　"

　　When the puppy heard the Private Buddha say this, it was so heart-broken that it dropped dead on the spot. Through the power of its love and loyalty for the Private Buddha, it was reborn as a deva”s son in heaven, with a large following and many pine treasures. His palace was more lovely than that of anyone else”s, h…

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