Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 1-2 | Page 56

True Meaning of Sharing
St. Paul's Co-educational College Primary School, Lee, Kwan Yiu - 8
M
y name was Xuanzang, and I was a very poor monk living in a small temple in Hong Kong.
Buddha Bathing Festival was coming, I wanted to go to Tianzhu in India to borrow the famous
“Three Collections of Buddhist Scriptures.” I wanted to put them in my temple to show to my
followers and attracted more people to learn about Buddhism.
When I was planning my journey, I found out that many monks from other temples also wanted to
go there and borrowed the famous scripture too! To prevent other people to recognize me, I put on a wig,
T-shirt and trousers, and pretended to be a tourist. I wanted to be the first people to get there and borrow
the scripture secretly. In order to be the fastest person to arrive Tianzhu and borrow the scripture, I used all
my money to buy an air ticket and left immediately.
When I arrived Tianzhu, I found out that a lot of monks already arrived the temple. The abbot of
the temple came out and talked to them. One of the monk said, “May you borrow the famous scripture to
me? I can give you a lot of money.” Another monk said, “Please borrow the scripture to me, I can give you
more money.” Then I thought, “Oh no! I have used up all my money to buy the air ticket. What should I
do? I have no money to pay the abbot.” The abbot answered them, “all of you go away, I will not rent the
famous scripture to you all!” then he went back inside the temple angrily.
I pretended to be a tourist and followed the abbot into the temple. I said to him, “I am sorry that I
have no money because I am very poor and I use all my money to buy the air ticket to here. I want to
borrow the famous scripture because I want my followers to learn more about Buddhism and attract more
people to believe our religion. I have a suggestion. How about I share the scripture with other monks and
put it into different temples every day? In this way, a lot of followers and other people can learn the
wisdom in the scripture. I think this is the best way to benefit most people.” The abbot said, “although you
do not look like a monk, you are a real monk. I do not want any money, I only want the scripture to
benefit most people and let them know more in Buddhism. I will borrow the scripture to you.” I was very
happy and took the scripture back to my temple. I kept my promise and borrowed the scripture to different
temples every day and let them teach their followers.
One month later, I travelled back to Tianzhu and returned the scripture to the abbot. I told him
that many people were very happy to read the scripture and believed in Buddhism. The abbot smiled to me
and said that he was very happy to hear this than having a lot of money.
Last but not least, “The more you share unconditionally what others most need, the more you will
receive what you most want.”