ABSTRACT
In the chapter entitled ‘Turn your heart [to Buddhism]’ in Yanshi jiaxun, the Family Instructions for the Yan Clan, it says:
Good or evil acts bring disastrous or fortunate consequences. The Nine Schools and the Hundred Philosophers all agree upon this theory. Are the Buddhist scriptures alone to be held as untrue and unreliable? In the premature death of Hsiang T’o and Yen Hui, the cold and hunger of Yüan Hsien and Po I, the happiness and longevity of T’ao Chih and Chuang Ch’iao, and the riches and power of Ch’i Ching and Huan T’ui, if the actions of their previous life are examined and their next life is considered, these will be found to agree [with the principle of retribution].1
