The Neglectful Woman

This story comes from Xi’An in China. It is the story of a woman who lived by herself in a small house in her village. This woman was quite lonely as she had no husband. However she had many woman friends whom she would spend time chatting to from time to time.

One day when she was in the village market place she came across an old store selling old wares. There she spotted a beautiful golden statue of the Buddha. There was something almost magical about this statue which caught her attention. When she asked the merchant its price she was so happy that she could afford it.

As the merchant was taking her money and carefully wrapping the golden statue in newspaper he beckoned her to come closer and he whispered: “This is no ordinary statue. It will bring you great good fortune.” The woman was not sure if she believed the merchant but nonetheless brought it back home with eager expectation.

After some weeks she noticed her life was getting better. She was happier. She took care of the statue every day, dusting it and around it and admiring it. As her happiness increased her many friends began to visit her. She was certain that the merchant’s words were true. The statue was bringing her much happiness. She became very busy visiting her friends making them rice cakes and dumpling. Everyday she was doing something for her friends and they admired her even the more. However, the gold statue had remained it its place now for some time and it was beginning to gather dust as the woman had little time now to care for it.

One day she was invited to a gathering with other woman friends. She baked cakes all that morning and prepared many dumplings to eat for lunch. Unfortunately she had not noticed the time slipping by and realised she was running late. She rushed out of her house forgetting to close and lock the door.

It happened that a thief passed by her house and noticed that the door was open. He went carefully went inside and noticed the gold Buddha statue. Thinking that it may be real gold and worth a right fortune he quickly took the Buddha from the shelf and ran off amid the lanes and crowded street with the statue tucked firmly under his coat.

When the woman returned at the end of the day she was shocked to see her door open and with remorse remembered that she had not closed it. Then suddenly her heart sank as she noticed that the golden Buddha was no longer on the shelf. She, of course, realised it had been stolen. With that she wept tears of great sadness.