三生有幸
唐朝有一个和尚，号国泽，对佛学有高深的造诣，和他的朋友李源善很要好，有一 天，二人一同去旅行，路过一处地方，看见一个妇人在河边汲水，那位妇人的肚子很大，已经怀孕了。圆泽指着妇人对李源善说：“这个妇人怀孕已经有三年了，等 待我去投胎，做它的儿子，可是我一直避着，现在看见她，没有办法再避了。三天之后，这位妇人已经生产，到那个时候请你到她家去看看，如果婴孩对你笑一笑， 就是我了。就拿这一笑作为凭证吧！再等到第十三年那一年，中秋的月夜，我在杭州天竺寺等你，那时我们再相会罢。”他们分别后，就在这一天夜裹圆潭果然死 了，同时那个孕妇也生了一个男孩子。第三天，李源善照看圆泽的话，到那位妇人家里去探看，婴儿果然对地笑了一笑。等到第十三年后的中秋月夜，李源善如期到 达天竺寺去寻访；
刚到寺门口，就看到一个牧童在牛背上坐看唱歌，道：“三生石上旧情魂，赏月吟风不要论，惭愧情人远相访，此身虽异性常存。”
现在一般人凡是比喻有特别的缘份。或朋友闲在一种偶然的机会里或特殊的环境中相识，成为知己，又能够帮助自己的，就以“三生有幸”来称誉。
Fortune of Three Lifetimes
Today we’ll learn a new phrase meaning, “to meet with extraordinary good fortune.” The idiom reads, “san sheng you xing” and literally means “the fortune of three lifetimes.”
In Buddhist belief, there are three incarnations, which are the past, present and future. People use the fortune of three incarnations to describe “indeed lucky.”
The idiom comes from a touching story of friendship. During the Tang Dynasty in ancient China, a monk called Yuan Guan had a good command of Buddhism. He has a very good friend called Li Yuan.
One day, as they were traveling through the Three Gorges of the Yantgze River, the two arrived at a village. They saw a pregnant woman drawing water from the river. Yuan Guan, the monk, pointed at the woman and said to Li Yuan, “The woman has been pregnant for three years, and is waiting for me to be reincarnated and become her son. I have been running away from this for a while. But today, now that I’ve seen her, I can’t run away again. In three days, the woman will give birth to a baby. Please go to visit her. If the baby smiles at you, then it is me, it will be a sign. At the Mid-autumn Festival in 12 years time, I’ll wait for you at the Tianzhu Temple in Hangzhou. Let’s meet each other then.”
Three days later, just after they had separated, the monk died. At the same time, the woman gave birth to a baby boy.
Li Yuan went to visit the woman, and the baby smiled at him.
Twelve years later, at the time of the Mid-Autumn festival, Li Yuan went to the temple, as his old friend had asked him. As soon as he arrived, he saw a shepherd boy singing a poem. The lyrics went like this: “The one you are meeting is the one you are predestined to meet through three incarnations. I can remember clearly the days when we were singing of the moon and the wind. Thank you for coming to see me from afar. Though I look different, my friendship for you is still the same.”
After singing this poem, the shepherd boy left.
Of course, that shepherd boy was the reincarnated monk, Yuan Guan.
From this story, people drew the idiom “the fortune of three lifetimes.” It reads “san sheng you xing.”
(Source:english.cri.cn)
