Thirty-odd years ago, in a small mountain village west of Jinling, a sensational murder case occurred.
The village butcher was a gambler, but he lost every bet. He gambled away the wealth left by his ancestors, his household belongings, and even pawned his cheap butcher knife for gambling money.
Deep in debt, the butcher planned to sell his five-year-old son for money, hoping to turn his fortunes around.
However, the butcher's wife resisted fiercely, refusing to give up her child even at the cost of her life.
In the struggle, the butcher killed his wife, and their son witnessed the entire scene.
Upon realizing he had killed someone, the butcher felt no remorse. Instead, he decided to cover up his heinous crime.
Ignoring his son's presence, he dragged his wife's body to the chopping block, started a fire, and prepared to feed the evidence of his crime to the village stray dogs.
Just as the butcher was about to act, his son suddenly overturned the cauldron, scalding the butcher with the boiling water, and seized the opportunity to escape.
Terrified, the son ran through the village, shouting, which quickly drew the attention of the villagers.
After the son trembling recounted the events, the villagers became enraged and grabbed their tools, preparing to capture the murderer.
But when they arrived at the butcher's house, they found that the butcher had already fled. Only a cold body remained at the scene.
The son collapsed beside his mother's corpse, weeping uncontrollably.
The butcher seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving no trace. The orphaned son was sent to Hanshan Temple by the villagers.
Upon his arrival at Hanshan Temple, the son was fearful of everything around him. Like a frightened kitten, he dared not interact with anyone.
But when he met Abbot Yansong of Hanshan Temple, he suddenly felt an immense sense of peace. The kind-faced old monk simply smiled, dispelling all the darkness from his heart.
The son became a disciple of Abbot Benheng of Hanshan Temple, receiving the dharma name Miaohua.
Despite being the butcher's son, Miaohua had never taken a life and possessed great Buddhist compassion and wisdom.
He trained under Benheng and received care from his senior disciple Miaoji, later welcoming his junior disciple Miaoyou.
The days of practice at Hanshan Temple were Miaohua's most cherished memories. The three of them would always go up the mountain together to chop firewood, chant scriptures, and meditate. They would also sneak down to the town together, carrying buckets, to watch street performers, and upon their return, they would kneel outside the temple with their buckets, accepting punishment.
Though life at Hanshan Temple was beautiful, a shadow lingered in Miaohua's heart, one that no amount of prayer, incense, or scripture chanting could dispel.
The scene of his father killing his mother replayed in Miaohua's dreams almost every night, forcing him to relive the agony repeatedly, only to wake up in a cold sweat.
He would touch his face and find it covered in tears.
One day, while Abbot Yansong was in seclusion and Master Benheng was guarding him, Miaohua said to his senior disciple Miaoji, "Senior disciple, I wish to go down the mountain."
Miaoji naturally knew what Miaohua intended to do, and he sympathized with his junior disciple's plight.
After careful consideration, Miaoji decided: he would accompany his junior disciple down the mountain!
The two disciples packed their belongings, secretly descended the mountain, and began searching everywhere for the butcher.
Because Miaohua had overturned the cauldron and left a large burn scar on the butcher's face years ago, it was not impossible to find him as long as he was alive.
Finally, in a small mountain village in Huizhou, they found the butcher, who had been living under an assumed name for years.
The butcher had changed his identity, married, and had children in this village. Everyone praised the butcher for his kindness, unaware that he had once murdered his wife and abandoned his son.
Seeing his father again, Miaohua was filled with indescribable rage. The butcher, however, appeared very calm, as if he had been awaiting this day.
His past wrongdoings had made the butcher live in self-reproach. He believed he should have killed his son too, so he wouldn't have to live in fear every day, dreading the moment his current life would be shattered by the nightmares of the past!
And now, that nightmare had arrived.
Seeing that the butcher showed no remorse, Miaohua, who had initially intended to guide him, could not restrain himself and killed the butcher.
Miaoji, seeing Miaohua break his vows, knew that the situation had spiraled out of control and quickly led his junior disciple back to Hanshan Temple.
However, on the way back to the temple, Miaohua lost his will to live. In despair, he was gradually consumed by his inner demons.
Upon their return to Hanshan Temple, their actions enraged Abbot Benheng. But saving Miaohua was the most important matter at hand.
They took Miaohua to seek help from Abbot Yansong. Coincidentally, Abbot Yansong had just severed a strand of his evil thoughts in pursuit of Buddhahood.
This strand of evil thought originally had a place to go, but only Abbot Yansong's evil thought could defeat Miaohua's inner demons. Miaohua, remembering the happy times at Hanshan Temple, did not wish to leave this world and implored Abbot Yansong to place the evil thought within him.
Abbot Yansong initially refused, but he could not bear to watch Miaohua die. Ultimately, unable to resist the pleas of Benheng and Miaoji, he made a wrong decision.
To help Miaohua suppress his inner demons, Abbot Yansong removed Miaohua's painful memories.
Miaohua awoke, having forgotten everything. His beautiful life had begun, but as his cultivation grew stronger, the evil thoughts gradually began to surface.
Miaohua started to struggle with the evil thoughts.
At first, he did not know the origin of the evil thoughts, but influenced by them, he became increasingly cruel and cold-blooded. When ordered to descend the mountain to slay demons, Miaohua's methods became more ruthless.
By the time Miaohua realized something was wrong, the evil thoughts had taken root, becoming another nightmare within him.
Afterward, Miaohua harbored resentment towards Abbot Yansong. Though he said nothing, he had long been planning everything in his heart.
And thus, the current scene unfolded.
Now, on his deathbed, Abbot Yansong returned Miaohua's memories, and Miaohua finally had a profound realization and understood everything.
He had hated the wrong person.
Yet Abbot Yansong had always been consistent in his compassion towards him.
"Abbot, I..."
Miaohua's hands and feet were bound, and a golden fillet was on his head. He couldn't move much, but the self-reproach and guilt on his face were evident.
Perhaps due to excessive guilt, Miaohua shed tears uncontrollably.
Abbot Yansong, however, maintained his smile, just as he had when he first met Miaohua.
He gently stroked Miaohua's head and said kindly, "To err is human, to forgive divine..."
"Namo Amitabha..."
As the words fell, Abbot Yansong slowly lowered his head.
Benheng and Miaoji closed their eyes in sorrow, clasped their hands together, and recited in choked voices.
"Namo Amitabha."