During the reign of Emperor Gaozong, a poor scholar from Hangzhou named Shen Du stayed at Lingyin Temple to study. Before he left, an old monk pointed to the ever-burning lamp before the Buddha and said, “As long as the lamp burns, your heart lives on. Don’t come back until it goes out.”
He traveled north along the Grand Canal to Chang’an, where a secret letter from an official from his hometown swept him into the political struggle surrounding Chancellor Pei Yan. The Pei household used the promise of an official career to draw him in, step by step. Shen Du half-heartedly went along, accepting favors and passing on information, until he realized he had become an accomplice in harming others. At the edge of the abyss, he turned back and knelt before Di Renjie to confess everything. Three years later, he testified in court, saving the people he had once harmed, though he would forever owe a life. In the end, he returned to Hangzhou and opened a school beside Lingyin Temple, lighting a lamp to guide the next person setting out on their journey.
