The Mystical Tale About The Human-Headed Fish

During a casual chat with Taoist Hu (a fellow initiate) one day, he mentioned an incredible incident which he had encountered several days ago. He said: "A few days ago, the son (a Taoist priest) of a former fellow brother in the Kun Lun Immortal Sect came to visit me in Wushe. He told me that a friend of his was suffering from serious mental shock. As he could not help him, he wanted me to go and take a look. His friend went fishing with some other friends last week, and one of them caught a big wu guo fish. They immediately roasted the fish and ate it. Suddenly, they heard the voice of an old woman asking: "Is the meat of the fish tender and delicious? " Searching for source of the voice, they found that the roasted fish was speaking. They were frightened to death, and one of them really died of fright the next day!"

Then, I recalled having read this incredible news article published in the Liberty Times (see appendix) several days ago. Taoist Wu continued to say: "I then inscribed some mantras for fright and pacifying the mind' and gave them to him. I asked him to advise his friend to refrain from killing and eating meat in the future! Only a vegetarian diet is safe, otherwise he has to eventually bear the retribution from these killings and meat eating. Very often, some unexplained mishaps or incurable diseases happen to us, that are caused by the animosity of slain sentient beings, which we kill to eat their flesh."

Talking about the karma of killing, Taoist Wu told us another real story: During the year he was initiated, while he was meditating one day, the local deity, the mountain god, and a hundred year old gigantic Jin (spirit) snake appeared to him.

The local deity entreated him urgently, "People are using bulldozers to build a road in Mountain Lu. Will you please go there and stop them. They will hurt a Jin snake who has been practiced for a thousand years? Disaster is befalling it. It might be heaven's will, but please try to help and save it from this predestined mishap."

Taoist Wu immediately replied, "Since this is heaven's will, how can I help it escape?"

The local deity said, "Please do your best! Even if you cannot save it, at least save the female snake!"

Coming back from samadhi, the Taoist immediately went to the construction site to investigate. When he reached the site, the workers had gone off duty and only the bulldozer was there. He found out that the workers would rest for a few days and it was not definite when they would resume working. The Taoist could do nothing but go home.

Several days later, a villager came in a rush to tell him that the bulldozer had dug up a huge snake weighing fifty Formosan catties (34 kg). Taoist Wu was alarmed by his words, and exclaimed in his heart, "Oh! No!"

He hurried to the site only to find that the huge Jin snake had been killed - hit by the bulldozer blade on the head. Suddenly, he heard some workers yelling, "There is another one!" Immediately, all the workers charged forward, despite the Taoist's great effort to try to stop them.

Finally, the other snake was also captured. It was a female snake weighing about thirty Formosan catties (20.4 kg). Taoist Wu advised the workers, "This Jin snake has practiced for over a hundred years; you must not harm it."

Most of the workers were oblivious to his words, and saw only the profit from captured snakes before them. Fortunately, one of the workers was more benevolent and believed Taoist Wu's words. He used his own money to buy the huge Jin snake and saved it from being killed.

That day, more that a dozen workers delightfully cooked and ate the huge Jin snake that was killed. The next day, when several workers were driving downhill, their car strangely dashed off the cliff and all of them were killed. Within one month, several other workers were killed one after the other in car or construction accidents; some of them got acute illnesses and died overnight. All the workers involved were killed, except the one who bought the female snake.

The news of this incident was widely spread among the villagers in the mountain area. Unfortunately, though everyone knows the story, the slaughter of animals has not been stopped by this lesson.