A Story of Buying Shoes

One day, I saw a sign in a store window advertising a closeout sale where I could buy a pair of shoes for only 20 yuan. Since I needed shoes, I bought three pairs. A lady beside me asked, “Are they [the shoes] good?” I said, “What else could I do with 20 yuan? You can easily lose this amount of money in an evening playing mahjong. I will be happy if they last me for two or three months.”

After wearing the new shoes for only three days, they broke. So I went back and got a refund of 60 yuan. On the next day, my mother discovered that I had taken back my father’s good pair of shoes with the other shoes. So, back I went to the clearance store. The owner said that my father’s shoes had already been sold and that he had already refunded 20 yuan for this pair. So, I then spent 60 yuan buying a pair of shoes for my father from a reputable store.

In fact, when seeing the broken shoes, I realized it was because I was too greedy. But I still went back to the store for a refund, hoping to make up for the loss. My mother accidentally grabbed the wrong pair of shoes and none of us opened the box to check. As a result, this 60 yuan was gone.

As I look back, when I said to the lady beside me, “What else can you do with 20 yuan?,” it showed my attachment of showing-off and implying that I was well off. When I said, “You can easily lose this amount of money playing mahjong,” That was something I said casually because actually, I had not played mahjong since I began cultivation. From this sentence, one could see my bad thoughts. Had I been able to recognize and let go of my attachment, the things that happened afterwards would have been different.

Before writing this article, I only realized that I had the attachment of greed. During the process of writing, however, I deeply realized that I also have the attachment of showing-off, which originates from my impure thoughts. From this, I have learned to pay close attention to my every single word and action and to diligently cultivate my speech.