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How Yanshan Dou Changed Fate
- Alex Chen
- 3 hours ago
- 13 min read
Yanshan Dou (窦燕山) was a famous hero of the Five Dynasties period in China's history (907-979). When he was young, his family was wealthy, but he did not use his wealth to help others or to do good deeds. By the time he was 30, he still did not have a son.
(For context, in ancient China, people cared heavily about having a son to pass on the family lineage. Although we might not think it's a big deal nowadays, it was a very very big deal back then.)
One night, Yanshan had a dream. In this dream, his deceased grandfather and father told him, "You need to change yourself immediately and start doing good deeds! The fate that you came into this world with is not very good. Not only are you not destined to have a son, your lifespan is also short. But if you diligently cultivate goodness now, you might be able to turn your fate around."
When Yanshan woke up, he was soaked in cold sweat. He realized the truth of his father and grandfather's words, and he was deeply grateful for their loving admonishment. From then on, he diligently improved himself and cultivated goodness.
His family had a servant who stole a large amount of money from them. (For context, it was common for wealthy people to employ servants back then). This servant then ran away and left his 12-year old daughter there. He also left a note saying "I sell my daughter to you to return my debt."
When Yanshan saw this situation, he felt sorrow for this young girl. He immediately burned the slip of paper and took the girl in as his own daughter. He told his wife, "Let's raise this girl properly. Once she grows up, we can find a good family for her to marry into." (For context, it was normal for parents to arrange marriage for children back then). After this girl grew up, Yanshan found a virtuous husband for her and paid for her marriage expenses.
When the servant father found out about this, he felt deeply touched and ashamed. He came back to Yanshan's house and cried while apologizing for his past wrongdoing. Yanshan didn't scold him, but instead urged him to turn over a new leaf. The servant's entire family was endlessly grateful towards Yanshan, so they put his picture on a table, and every morning, they made food offerings to the picture as a way to express their gratitude.
One time, Yanshan visited a place and found a bag of money. Inside was 30 taels of gold and 200 tales of silver (a lot of money!). He thought, "This is a very large amount of money. Someone must have left it here by accident." He then waited there and guarded the money, waiting for the owner to return. The next day early morning, he heard a crying man approaching.
Yanshan asked the man why he was crying. The man said, "My father committed a crime and was banished to a remote region to serve in the army. In order to save my father from this punishment, I begged all my relatives to lend me money. I worked so hard to accumulate that money, and I kept that bag of money by my side carefully. But yesterday, I got drunk with a friend and lost the bag of money. If I can't save my father, I'll never see him again!"
After hearing this, Yanshan was sure this person was the owner, so he returned the money to him. Moreover, he gifted him some more money. The person was extremely relieved and grateful.
Yanshan continued to practice good deeds. For example, when relatives lacked money to pay for marriages or funeral affairs, he would pay. He also lent money and helped innumerous poor people, helping them establish a better life for themselves.
In order to save money to help the poor, he lived a very frugal life. He only spent money on necessary expenses, and he used the rest to help others. He established four schools and hired virtuous teachers to teach the youth. If a student was eager to learn but did not have the money to pay tuition, he would sponsor them. Many talented people graduated from his schools.
One day, Yanshan dreamed of his father and grandfather again. They told him, "You have done many great deeds over the years. Because of your accumulated merit, your lifespan has been extended by 36 years, and you will have five prominent sons who will bring glory to the family name. Once you leave this world, you will be born in heaven. Karma is definitely real. Doing good deeds will bring fortune, and bad deeds will bring misfortune. Perhaps the result will be in this lifetime, perhaps next lifetime, or perhaps it will influence the future generation. Nothing slips karma, that is for sure."
Afterwards, Yanshan was even more diligent in cultivating virtues. He later indeed had five sons who all became high ranking government officials. The people called them "the five Dou dragons". Yanshan lived until 82 years old. He knew ahead of time the time of his death. He bathed, changed into clean clothes, and told his family he is going to leave. Then he smiled and passed away.
Commentary
Yanshan's story has two major lessons for me. First is the origin of worship ceremonies, and second is how to change one's fate.
1: The origin of the bows, prostrations, and worship ceremonies
After I started learning ancient Chinese philosophy and culture in my mid-twenties, I had the chance to attend many workshops and events. At these events, there was something that I was uncomfortable with: those ceremonies where we have to bow down or prostrate to the Buddha or Confucius or ancestors or teachers. Before my mid-twenties, I had never bowed to anyone.
I grew up as an atheist who believed that religions are superstitious. When I heard the word "religion", I would imagine a cult of people bowing down and worshiping a statue of a deity. Later, my mother got into Buddhism, and she would prostrate in front of a Buddha image, and I thought she had become superstitious.
After I started learning Confucianism, I learned that in ancient China, people would bow down to their teachers. There's even a ceremony for when a new student begins to learn from a teacher at a private academy. In this ceremony, the child's father leads the child to do nine bows to the teacher as a way to show their respect to the teacher. If the child sees how much the parent respects the teacher, then the child would also respect the teacher and be able to learn well from the teacher.
That makes sense to me, but it still feels really weird for me to bow to anyone because I never did it before, and bowing still makes me think of either superstitious religious cults or medieval kings and their servants. I also saw some Chinese people bowing down to monks, and I thought to myself, "Do you guys view monks as gods or kings or something?"
One time, I asked someone who grew up in traditional Chinese culture about this, and he said, "I grew up seeing my parents bow to my grandparents and teachers, so I feel it's very normal and natural to bow down to my parents and teachers. It's simply a way to show our deep respect and gratitude. As for Buddhism, you really respect the Buddha if you want to learn Buddhism. Monks represent the Buddha, so of course we would bow to them."
Again, it makes sense intellectually to me, but I still feel it is strange for me to do it to anyone. After I heard Yanshan's story, I suddenly had an epiphany. No one told Yanshan's servant to set up an altar table, put up a picture of Yanshan, and offer food to it every day. He had this idea on his own! Why? Because he was so deeply grateful, and he wanted to do something to express that emotion.
It's kind of like when someone is very happy, they laugh or scream. Or if someone is really sad, they cry. Here, he's so grateful that he just has to do something to let that emotion out, and what naturally came to his mind was to set up an altar table and make offerings to a picture of Yanshan.
After all, the servant cheated Yanshan a lot of money, but Yanshan not only did not chase him down or torture his daughter, he even forgave him and gave his daughter a good life. That's deep and big kindness!
In that feeling of gratitude is also the feeling of admiration and respect. He's so touched and impressed by Yanshan's kindness and virtues that setting up an altar table for Yanshan just feels natural and right. I wouldn't be surprised if the servant and his family also bowed down in front of the altar table every day.
When I understood this, I suddenly understood why people have worship ceremonies for the Buddha or God or Confucius or anyone else. It must be because they are deeply grateful for those people for the things they've done in their life and for their teachings that saved their lives or really changed their lives for the better. At least, that should be the origin of these worship ceremonies and rituals.
Perhaps nowadays, some people bow and do rituals without understanding why, or out of the superstitious belief that somehow the deity will bless them, but the origin of such rituals should have been out of gratitude and respect.
It would be like if the servant had a great-great-great-great-grandson, and he sees the family bowing down to the picture of Yanshan every day, but no one actually told him what Yanshan did for the family in the past. The boy then assumes that maybe Yanshan is a supernatural deity who can bless them if they worship him.
For me personally, I reflected on how my life has changed and improved after learning the teachings of the Buddha and Confucius and ancient stoic philosophers. It's thanks to their teachings that I now feel much more peace and joy in life. It's almost like I was reborn thanks to their teachings. With this kind of gratitude in my heart, I feel that bowing to them is very suitable.
I then thought about the gratitude of my parents, especially my mother who went through a lot of hardship to give birth to me and raise me. Although it still feels a little weird to bow to her because I've just never done it, and that's not how I was taught to express gratitude in my life, but I feel it's very reasonable.
From another perspective, we shouldn't be attached to appearances or methods. The most important thing is the intention behind our actions. In some cultures, giving a bow is very normal. When they give that bow, perhaps their feeling of gratitude and respect is equivalent to my feeling of gratitude and respect when I give my mother Tuina massage for an hour. It's the intention that matters, not necessarily the method of expression. It's most important to express in a method that the other person likes.
Now, if I attend a ceremony where we bow down to the Buddha or Confucius or ancestors or teachers, I know the intention behind the rituals, and I feel more natural doing the bows and prostrations.
2: Changing Fate
I've previously written a series of articles on the law of karma and changing fate. The first article mentioned that karma has flower retributions and fruit retributions. If we do good deeds, we may or may not receive the good results in this life depending on whether the conditions are ripe. If we receive good results in this life, that's just the flower retribution. The fruit retribution will be even bigger in a future life. The same is true for sins.
We are born with karma that we carry from our past lives. We already have a fate at the moment of birth, but that fate is subject to change with our every thought, speech, and action. The third article in the karma series explained that karma has size and heaviness. A person originally with a lot of fortune can lose it fast if he or she commits a lot of sins. Meanwhile, a person originally fated for a lot of suffering can turn that fate around if he or she accumulates merits and virtues. The book Liao Fan's Four Lessons explains fate in detail, and Yanshan's story is a great example.
Yanshan was originally destined for a short life and no heir, which is a result of sins committed in past lives. We can conjecture that he committed the sins of killing and creating fear in others, leading to the karmic consequence of a short life. Having heirs to carry on the family name also requires virtues and fortune, and he didn't cultivate enough to have descendants in this life.
However, after hearing admonishment from his grandfather and father, he diligently cultivated virtues and accumulated merits. As a result, his life was extended by 36 years, and he had five prominent sons! This is just his flower-retribution. His fruit retribution was heavenly rebirth, where everything is thousands of times better than in the human realm.
To change his fate so drastically and quickly, Yanshan must have accumulated extremely large goodness in this life. We can go through his story part by part and analyze the karma.
At the beginning of the story, it said that although he was wealthy, he didn't use his wealth to help others or do good deeds. To be selfish and not help others in need when you have the ability is a sin. This might have been a habit carried over from his past lives since the text said that he was originally destined for a short life.
Later, he had a dream where his deceased grandfather and father urged him to turn over a new leaf. More importantly, he actually listened to their advice. This illustrates the saying,
"Fortune belongs to those who listen to criticism."
The fact that he could believe what his grandfather and father said about past karma and changing fate is also related to his past lives. He must have learned such things before, so he was easily able to believe in it this life.
Later, his servant stole a large amount of money from him. According to the law of karma, this is not random. Why would the servant steal money from him of all people? Why that amount? It's because Yanshan also stole from the servant in a past life, and now the conditions are ripe for the servant to collect that debt.
What happens to us is a result of our past karma, but how we respond now creates our future karma and is a reflection of our virtues. Normally, if a servant stole a lot of money, the master would be furious and send people to chase the servant down. Whether he's successful or not at getting the money back would depend on if he truly owes that money to the servant.
But in Yanshan's case, he not only forgave the servant, which is already hard enough, he even took care of the servant's daughter as his own daughter. This is very big goodness for many reasons. First, it is very difficult for most people in such a situation to forgive the servant and then to take care of the daughter. Others might have sent people to kill the servant or kill the daughter. He didn't, so he saved two lives, which is a big deal.
Second, he was very sincere about it. He comes from a wealthy family, yet he raised a servant-class girl for many years as his own daughter and didn't change his mind. This is very selfless compassion. He didn't brag about it or think himself to be amazing, so he was humble too. He did it out of an intention of pure goodness. By saving someone else's child, he plants the seed to have his own children. And since he himself cultivated such great virtues, his children would surely be virtuous too.
Another time, he found a lot of money and guarded it until he found the correct owner. The owner was going to use that money to save his father. If he lost that money, the lives of the father and the owner would be ruined. Therefore, Yanshan saved another two lives, which is again planting the seeds for longevity.
When relatives lacked money for funerals or marriages, he would pay. Giving parents a proper funeral is filial piety. By helping others be good children, he plants the seed for himself to have good children. Helping others get married and have descendants is planting the seed for himself to have children.
He helped many poor people establish a better life for themselves. Originally, these people were going to live a life of suffering and fear, but thanks to Yanshan, they could live a good life. This is giving them comfort, health, and wealth, which will reap the karmic results of comfort, health and wealth for himself.
He built schools and hired virtuous teachers. This is contributing good people to society, which is one of the greatest contributions we can give. Good education is foundational for a good life. His act of supporting good education is giving wealth, health, and wisdom, and he will reap these karmic results.
Most importantly, he did all of these things out of sincerity. He didn't seek a reward. He did these because it felt like the right thing to do.
He persisted for years. He persisted despite difficulties. He was willing to live a very frugal life in order to help others more. It's because of his sincere intentions, as well as the great scale of impact that he had, that he accumulated so much goodness so fast.
Later, his grandfather and father told him that his life would be extended by 36 years and that he would have five prominent sons. He lived until 82, which means that he was originally destined to live until 46. Having good children is a great fortune because they greatly impact our happiness and quality of life. Good children make our later years peaceful, while bad children can ruin our lives. Yanshan also died a very peaceful death and even knew the time of his death. This is one of the greatest fortunes.
Relating back to ourselves, we might think, "Well, Yanshan has a lot of money, so it's easy for him to accumulate goodness. I'm not rich or powerful, so it's harder for me."
But we have to remember that the size of our good karma depends on the sincerity of our intentions. If person A has $1000 dollars that he could donate, but he is only willing to donate $100, that's 10% sincerity. If person B has $100 dollars but is willing to donate $50, that's 50% sincerity. As long as we try our best to help others in whatever way appropriate, then our merit is full.
We might think, "Well Yanshan was lucky to have encountered a lot of situations where he could help others. I don't have that many opportunities."
We should remember that cultivating goodness and virtues should be done in our already existent daily life. Do we make the people already us happier and better, starting with our parents and family? Or do we add trouble to them? Do we diligently fulfill our responsibilities? These are the foundation for merit. If we neglect our basic responsibilities and instead go out looking for opportunities to do good deeds, then that's not real goodness, that's just being greedy for merit and praise, which is a sin.
As our virtues improve, we will naturally attract bigger opportunities of more impact. We don't need to actively seek them or be impatient for them to come. What we should be afraid of is that big opportunities come, but we lack the virtues to handle them properly, resulting in sins instead of goodness. Thus, if we want to better our fate like Yanshan, the most important thing is to cultivate our virtues in everyday life.
Conclusion
Yanshan's story helped me realize the origin of worship rituals, which is a natural expression of gratitude and reverence. His story also illustrated many principles of karma, such as big karma versus small karma and flower retributions versus fruit retributions. We are fortunate to hear his story, and we need to cherish this fortune by emulating him and by diligently cultivating ourselves just like he did.
Weekly Wisdom #391
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