The Hill and the Valley

In the late afternoon, a small house in a narrow city alley was submerged in an atmosphere so heavy it felt suffocating. Shouting echoed from the bedroom, mixed with the mother’s sobbing. Minh stood outside the door, his hand gripping the rough wooden handle tightly, his heart constricting with pain.

His older brother, Quang, was throwing another tantrum. Once again.

"Mom, lend me money! By tomorrow at the latest! Otherwise, I will die!" Quang’s voice roared, bearing no resemblance to that of a twenty-five-year-old man.

"Son... where can Mom find money? We only have Dad’s last paycheck for the month..." His mother’s voice broke into sobs.

"Then sell Dad’s motorbike!"

"If we sell it, how will Dad get to work?"

Minh shivered. He stepped back, leaning against the cold wall. The image of his brother, once strong and the pride of their family, had transformed into a haggard figure with sunken eyes and trembling limbs, craving the drug of gaming. Quang had dropped out during his second year of university. It started as fun, but gradually he sank into online gambling, where every deposit was a bet on his very life.

The family had spent all their savings, sold their small garden plot in the countryside, and even borrowed at high interest rates hoping to pull him out. But everything was like throwing money into an abyss. Quang sank deeper each day. He did not work, lived off his parents, and caused trouble when the money ran out.

At dinner that evening, Dad silently picked up food, his eyes red-rimmed and his back bent low. Mom’s eyes were swollen as she struggled to swallow dry rice. Quang refused to join them, slamming his door shut inside his room. Minh watched this scene, feeling empty inside. He asked himself, why had things come to this? Why was a loving family shattered by money and a meaningless game?

That night, unable to sleep, Minh wandered onto the porch. He looked up at the starry sky, filled with frustration and questions. Why had his brother, once healthy and bright with future prospects, become so weak, sickly, and failed? He remembered words from a monk he had heard on the radio about "merit" and "debt."

A week later, when the family was most desperate, a friend of their mother introduced them to a short retreat at a temple, saying it would help them learn to transform karma. Their mother earnestly begged everyone to go, including Quang, holding onto a faint hope. Exhausted after a three-day binge, Quang numbly agreed.

At the retreat, they listened to a teacher speak. He described merit as a number. Those who are healthy, wealthy, and talented possess positive merit, adding to it daily. Those who are sick, poor, and failing possess negative merit, losing it gradually.

"A person with health rated plus ten can play soccer. At zero, they sit there, exhausted. Below zero, pain and illness begin, leaving them unable to move. A person with negative merit cannot live independently; they cling to others and are naturally looked down upon."

Minh listened, deeply shaken. He thought of Quang, who once could do thirty push-ups—health rated plus five—but now lay bedridden, hands trembling, needing his mother to feed him spoonfuls of porridge. He thought of his family—those with positive merit carrying the burden of those with negative merit.

After the lecture, Minh sought out the teacher to share his family’s situation, especially regarding his brother. He asked, "Teacher, why has my brother become this way? Why must we suffer because of him?"

The teacher looked at Minh with compassion and spoke slowly.

"My child, water flows from high places to low ones. Merit is the same. Those with positive merit are like high hills; those with negative merit are like deep valleys. The valley receives water flowing down from the hill. In a family, those with positive merit carry those with negative merit. Your brother is currently in the 'valley,' his merit deeply negative due to bad karma: addiction to games, debt, harmful speech, and living without gratitude. Your whole family is giving away merit to lift him up."

"So what must I do to save my brother?" Minh asked urgently.

"Saving your brother means saving the whole family. There is only one way: accumulate more merit. Each day, perform a small good deed: help a passerby, pick up trash, speak words of love, offer forgiveness. As you accumulate merit, it will naturally overflow to your brother. Simultaneously, encourage him to practice repentance, acknowledge his faults, and change. Merit does not arise from nothing nor vanish into nothing; it only transforms."

Through the retreat, Minh’s family did not expect an immediate miracle. But from then on, they began to change. His mother helped neighbors with housework, his father repaired bikes for free for the poor, and Minh went to the temple daily to sweep leaves and harvest vegetables. They quietly dedicated their merit to Quang.

Quang, after being bedridden for half a month, woke up feeling empty. Perhaps due to extreme exhaustion, or perhaps influenced by the small blessings from his family, he began to reflect. One evening, when Minh brought porridge to his room, Quang whispered, "Brother... please forgive me. I am a burden..." Then he burst into tears.

That was the turning point. Quang began trying to quit his addiction, though it was incredibly difficult. The whole family supported him together, replacing shouting with patience. Months passed. Quang remained weak, but he could sit up, eat by himself, and occasionally help his mother wash dishes. A small hope had been kindled.

One year later, during a full family meal, Quang sat at the table. His hands trembled, but he served himself food. He said softly, "Thank you, family... for not abandoning me." Tears rolled down his mother’s cheeks as she held his hand tight. Minh watched this scene, his heart overflowing with emotion. He understood that his family had begun to climb out of the valley.