◎ Longmenzi Ningdaoji by Song Lian
A person in the State Jin was very greedy. One day, he saw various types of goods at the marketplace, and took them while thinking aloud, “I may cook a dish with this meat, make clothes with this cloth, and carry things with this bag.” The person turned around to run away with a lot of things in his hand.
The marketplace administrator asked him, “Why do you rob others of their properties even in public?”
The person answered, “When my greedy heart is very strong, I will think all the things in the world should belong to me, and don’t know at all they belong to others. If I take the things of a person, it will be his good luck. When I become rich, I will reward him by folds.”
Seeing the person was so stubborn and reluctant to correct his mistake, the marketplace administrator whipped him, and took back these things. When driven by greed, a person will just take the belongings of others even in public. Once a person loses his wit because of greed, he will do many unimaginable things.
