The Woman Who Had Sore Eyes

Once upon a time, there was a woman who had a bad case of sore eyes. Another woman told her, “Where there are eyes, there are some times pains. Although my eyes do not ache now, I want to gouge them out so that they will not ache later.”

A bystander said, “Though it’s true that when you have your eyes, they may sometimes ache to disturb you, yet when you don’t have them, you’ll be sure to suffer for lifetime.”

This is also held to be true with the common stupid men. People have heard that wealth and fame are the sources of decadence. They are afraid of retribution in the hereafter for not doing almsgiving in their present lives. The more wealth they have, the more troubles they sometimes suffer afterwards. It is said that if you do almsgiving, you may be happy, or you may be not. But if you don’t do it, you will surely be the most unhappy man.

This is just like that woman who could not bear the thought of having sore eyes, wanted to
gouge them out to suffer forever.