If you are able to understand Cantonese language, there are lots of interesting paranormal stories told by people in Hong Kong that is way scarier but contains a lesson behind it.
I have encountered a few excellent Buddhist teachers in my life who told me that the moment a person understands kamma, one will be very afraid to think bad thoughts, say bad things and do bad deeds.
A story told by a lay teacher really stuck with me and describes quite clearly how easily we make unwholesome kamma with others in our daily lives.
Once, a long time ago a farmer was tending to his field when he noticed a snake was getting ready to eat a frog. The frog was oblivious to the predator nearby.
The farmer wanted to save the frog. So he took a stone and threw it near the frog, careful to ensure he did not hit the frog. The sound jolted the frog who then jumped away. This caused the snake unable to eat the frog.
Then at night while the farmer was asleep, he was awaken by a loud sounds made by the frog. During that time there was no electricity but the moon was bright and illuminated the room.
The farmer saw, to his shock, that the vengeful snake was at the top of his bed getting ready to bite him. The frog came to warn him throw making noisy sounds.
Immediately the farmer jumped to action. He took an axe he had in the room and used it to kill the snake.
Later, he took in a dog to raise. A passing fortune teller warned him that the dog was an incarnation of a snake and in its life it would come for revenge. The farmer found it hard to believe as the dog was obedient and well behaved. But he heeded something the fortune teller told him to do.
One day, the dog suddenly went crazy. It went to the bed where the farmer was sleeping and started bitting and attacking him. Fortunately the farmer followed the advice of the fortune teller where he took some straws and made it into a man size and put on his own clothes on the straw man.
So the dog was actually bitting the straw man. The moment the dog was bitting, it actually got its revenge and the vengeful energy had left the dog.
But when the farmer saw the dog attacking what it thought was its owner, blind rage overcame the farmer. Without thinking, he took the axe and killed the dog.
After killing the dog, he realized he had made a mistake and took the dog and bury it not far from his house.
Years later, the farmer too passed away. The villagers helped to bury the farmer, right next to his dog.
As a long time goes by, the spot where the farmer was being buried grew into a large tree. And a creeper vine grew at the spot where the dog was buried and it ended up going around the tree to try to kill it.
An old monk passed by the area and saw the tree and creeper and understood the kammic bond that happened between the farmer and the snake. He had both the tree and creeper chopped and used it to make a prayer instrument where each time the instrument is sounded, it would have the sound ‘yan kwo’ ie kamma.
You see, by right, the farmer and the snake started with no kamma between them. He incurred the snake’s wrath when he tried to deny the snake of getting its food. The snake actually have a give and take account with the frog.
That is why in our daily lives, we have no idea the problems we incurr by poking our nose in other people’s business. Please don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that we should not help other living beings. But just to realize inadvertly through interfering we will get caught up with other beings kammic connections as well.
When I share this story with a spiritual teacher, she told me her own similar experience. She was once cutting grass when she heard the desperate loud croaks in deep pain as it was in the process of being swallowed by a snake. Feeling sorry for the frog, she used a stick to prod at the snake to make the snake release the frog.
Eventually the frog escaped. The snake was very angry and turned to her and wanting to bite her. Suddenly she sensed something and said to the snake, ‘okay, now I understand, you have kamma with the frog. Okay, next time I will not interfere’.
The snake seemed to understand and it turned away and slither off.
At night when they were chanting, a loud sound from a frog could be heard as the snake finally got its revenge on the frog.
There is a video where a monk told the story that is similar with the first story:
