Narrated by Sister Khang from Au Lac Recorded
by the Entertainment Team,
Los Angeles, USA (originally in Aulacese)

In Au Lac there was a young boy who was in the ninth grade and whose family was experiencing great difficulties. His father was in prison and his mother could do little to support the family because the father had always been the main breadwinner. The boy was very sad because he did not believe that his father could have done anything so bad as to be imprisoned. He became so discouraged that he wanted to quit school and stay home to help his mother raise his younger brother. Soon after this thought emerged, one day in class, by chance he found in his desk drawer a picture of a young woman with sweet, gentle features. As he looked at the girl's countenance, he suddenly felt a fondness for her. With the photograph in his hand, he asked around to find out if a classmate was playing a practical joke on him or if someone had simply forgotten and left the picture behind.

The boy's school held three sessions a day in the same classroom so he spent some time trying to find out which girl sat in the same place that he did, or if anyone had left the picture behind from the other two sessions. Each time he looked at the young woman in the picture, he felt great fondness for her. During this period, there were times when he thought about quitting school, but it seemed as if the young woman in the picture was encouraging him to try to continue his studies because he would need an education to have a better future. From the ninth to the twelfth grades, the boy tried to find the young woman in the picture, with whom he was secretly in love, but he could never find any trace of her.

During this time, the boy remained an extraordinary student. In the twelfth grade, he passed his high school examination with a very high score, and in the same year, his father was released from jail. After graduation, the boy planned to quit school to look for the young woman in the photograph.

Then one day, I went to visit the boy's family. His father and mother went out to buy food to treat me to dinner so only he and I were at home. I noticed that he had just graduated, yet somehow he looked pale and sad. He seemed deeply concerned about something inexpressible. Seeing him in this condition, I felt very uneasy, and tried to advise him by saying, "Now that you've passed the exam, you should try to eat better. Your father is back, and everything is fine now. Since you've completed your studies and passed the exam with a high score, you should be happy and have confidence in yourself. Why do you look so sad? Is something the matter?"

The young man then began to disclose to me that since the ninth grade he had been in love with a young woman in a photograph as mentioned above. He said that if he did not get a chance to meet her, he would feel miserable for the rest of his life. So I asked him, "Is she that beautiful? You still have a long life ahead of you. You're bright and successful, and there are plenty of beautiful girls. Why do you think like that?" At the time, I did not know who the young woman in the picture was so I counseled him in this way. The young man then quietly went to his room and brought the picture out for me to see, and as soon as I saw it, my immediate reaction was to scream, "My God! Don't you know who this is? It's our Master when She was a young student like you!" After hearing this, the young man bowed his head and cried. I was not sure if he was shedding tears of regret for unintentionally not recognizing Master or tears of gratitude for an enlightened Master's help and guidance.

Not long afterwards, the young man went to a major city to study architecture. He was accepted by three universities without having to take entrance examinations because he had achieved a very high score on his high school graduation exam.

To me, it seemed that Master had arranged these events in order to encourage the young man to continue his studies. There were no initiates in his class, and the others he asked about the picture were also non-initiates although he had been an initiate since he was twelve. Perhaps it was Master's plan that those whom the boy asked did not know the identity of the young woman in the picture so that he would have the motivation to overcome his barriers and be successful in his studies.