The story of the nine­tailed fox

2.1 The story of the

Legend has it that all creatures in the world can cultivate, through practices, to become immortal. Of course, the fox is one of them. Every twenty years of practice, the fox will grow an extra tail. When there are nine tails, the cultivation is complete, and at that point, even the gods in heaven will respect the nine­tailed fox.

Cultivation Is Not An Easy Task
However the ninth tail is extremely difficult to obtain. After the fox has obtained the eighth tail, it will receive a sign to help its owner to fulfill a wish. After the wish is fulfilled, a new tail will grow, but one of the old tails will also fall off. This seems to be an impossible task, as this endless looping of gaining and losing a tail will never allow the fox to reach the total number of nine tails!

Integrity is the Key to Quantum Leap
There was a fox with high integrity who had been practising for hundreds of years. It had already helped many people to fulfill their wishes. However, it still only had eight tails. It impatiently asked the Buddha how it would ever be possible to complete the cultivation if this endless looping continued.

The Buddha just smiled without answering. The fox could only focus on continuing its practices. One day, a rainy storm had sent the fox back to the village where it resided. On its way, it saw a young man who was besieged by wolves. With its outstanding power, the fox got rid of the wolves effortlessly and saved the young man. The fox later found out that this young man was the descendant of its first owner from a long time ago. According to the plan, the fox needed to help the young man to fulfill a wish, then it would shed a tail and grow a new one, and continue looping its miserable cycle!

The young man was so ecstatic that he had such fortune to become the owner of the legendary nine-tailed fox, whose story was well known in the region for many years. He was also ecstatic that his wish would be granted no matter how extravagant it was! The eight-tailed fox asked the young man what his wish was, but the boy couldn’t come up with one immediately. In order to give him time to think about a wish, the eight-tailed fox changed shape into a domestic cat and went home with the young man. During the next few days the young man spent a lot of quality time with the fox, which was appearing as a cat, and found that the fox was always gazing into space emotionlessly with a hint of sadness in its eyes. When he learned the secret of its miserable, endless looping of gaining and losing the ninth tail, the young man actually found mercy in his heart for this magical fox!

Finally the day had come when the eight-tailed fox decided not to wait anymore and asked the young man for his wish. The young man thought for a while and asked, "Is it true that I can ask for anything?" The fox glanced at him briefly and nodded. The young man announced his wish clearly word by word: "I wish that you can have nine tails!"

The eight-tailed fox was stunned. Its once doubtful eyes were filled with unspeakable gratitude. The fox bowed down with tears in its eyes and licked the young man's hand. What a touching moment!

Eventually the fox grew its magnificent ninth tail and got to keep all nine of them.It finally truly became a nine-tail fox as the legend has said. And the young man lived a fabulous life ever after.

History tells us that, from the magical lamp of Aladdin, to the Monkey's Paw by W. W. Jacobs, men only think for themselves when luck strikes. We believe that we are entitled to whatever falls into our laps, and take it all as if we truly deserve it.

If we can share our rare luck with others and help them to fulfill their dreams, this generosity and sharing is genuine!

To persist in one's practice, the time will eventually come for the rewards!
The meaning of life is to enrich each others’ lives, which is demonstrated beautifully by the young man and the nine-tailed fox.