（Photo source: Envato）
When the Buddha was still around, there was an elder called Sudatta Anathapindika, who was respected by everyone, including the King. He had a friend whom he grew up with and whose name was "Misfortune". The elder saw that his friend lived a poor life, so he asked this friend to come to his house and help him manage his household chores. However, the elder's family members and friends did not like Misfortune, so they told the elder: "Please dismiss him! It's best to stay away from him."
The elder was puzzled and asked: "He is a very good man, why should I dismiss him and stay away from him?"
Everyone replied: "Because he is called 'Misfortune'. Every day I see 'Misfortune', hear 'Misfortune', and keep calling 'Misfortune'..."
The elder replied: "All of you are wrong! Buddha once taught that whether you are fortunate or unfortunate depends on what you have done in your past life. If you have sowed blessings in the past life, you will enjoy a blessed life in this lifetime. On the contrary, if you have not created any blessings in the past life, you will experience a very bumpy life in this lifetime. If you come to this world with blessings, even if your name is 'Misfortune', you will still receive great blessings.”
Even if you were given the name 'saint', you may not be virtuous, let alone lucky! So, we should not be superstitious about names. What matters most is the cause of the past life and the effect of the present life!"
After some time, the elder and his family left the house for a family outing. A group of robbers happened to know about this outing, so they planned to ambush the elder's house at night, waiting for an opportunity to enter the house while no one was home. All these while, Misfortune had been very diligent in performing his duty because he was very grateful for the elder's kindness towards him, so he worked extra hard for the family. Every day, he would wake up before dawn to patrol the house, and even after dark, before bed, he would still patrol the surroundings diligently.
On that day, he noticed people outside the house behaving very suspiciously. He immediately gathered everybody and told them to bring out their gongs and drums. When everyone started to play their gongs and drums, the loud noises frightened the robbers, and they fled. They left in such a hurry that their weapons, stones and sticks were all left behind.
After the elder returned home, everyone immediately told him what had happened while he was away, and they even praised "Misfortune" for being a wise man. "If he hadn't been so attentive this time, we would have suffered heavy losses."
After hearing this, the elder was very pleased and thanked "Misfortune". The elder then went to the garden to tell Buddha about the incident.
The Buddha explained: "This is because you have the wisdom to convince your family and friends to keep such a good person by your side. If you are as superstitious as they are, you cannot escape this disaster. And because you know the 'law of karmic cause and effect', you can differentiate between the good and the bad people instead of judging people by their names. Hence, you have been blessed.
Some people blame everything and everyone whenever they encounter setbacks in life and even rush to find someone to help them change their fate. This is wrong. What matters is the karma that we have created in our past lives. The name our parents gave us has nothing to do with our fate. Therefore, it is important to understand the 'law of karmic cause and effect' as the karma we created in this lifetime with our current behaviour and actions will be brought forward to our next life. Only by doing more good deeds, cultivating more wisdom, and accumulating more merits can disasters be eliminated and misfortunes be turned into blessings.
Translated by Michelle Lim Cheng Wai
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