The Compassionate Mother

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In the Sui Dynasty, there was a scholar named Xin Gong Yi (辛公义). His name literally means “Fairness and Integrity”, and he worked hard to live up to those aspirations from his parents.

Once, he was traveling through Minzhou, and he saw sick people out on the streets with no one to take care of them. He found out that the Minzhou people had a custom where if a family member caught a disease, they would abandon that person out on the streets.

Xin Gong Yi was extremely saddened to see these people completely lose their sense of filial piety and integrity. Hence, he took initiative to bring all these sick people to the government office, where he looked after them as if they were his own family. He also found many doctors to come and treat their illnesses.

Once these sick people were healed, Xin Gong Yi then found their family members and had them come pick up their family members. He told them, “I’ve been with your family members for all these weeks, and I’m healthy. Surely you would have been fine too.”

Upon seeing Xin Gong Yi’s virtuous example, the villagers felt very ashamed of themselves, and they changed their ways to become more filial and loving. As a result of Xing Gong Yi’s influence on them, they bestowed him the title of “Compassionate Mother”.