Landlord Chang was a rich man who lived in the capital. His house was next to Zhao-yuan Temple. Landlord Chang held lavish banquets and ate gourmet food every day, and often poured his rice into the gutter without eating a single mouthful. The rice flowed along the gutter to Zhao-yuan Temple, where it was discovered and scooped up by the monks. They washed the rice and dried it before storing it in a huge pot. After many years, the collected rice filled many earthenware pots.

One year, Landlord Chang’s elder brother who was a court official committed a serious crime that implicated Landlord Chang. As a result, all of Landlord Chang’s belongings were confiscated, and he had to roam the streets as a beggar. As he was mean to others when he was rich, no one wanted to give him food. Landlord Chang starved and became stick-thin.

One day, as he passed by Zhao-yuan Temple, he saw some rice in a chipped bowl at the foot of a wall. He was just about to eat it, when a huge black dog jumped out and chased him away. Landlord Chang cried and said, “I didn’t want to eat rice before, but now I have no rice to eat even if I want to.”The abbot saw him crying, and asked his disciple to bring Landlord Chang a bowl of white rice. Landlord Chang said as he ate, “This rice is so delicious!”The abbot replied, “This is your rice.”The landlord replied in surprise, “But I have never been charitable, much less donated rice to your temple. How could this rice be mine?”The abbot replied, “This is the rice that you poured into the gutter. I scooped it up, dried it and stored it. Your rice has kept us well fed all this time!”Landlord Chang cried after hearing what the abbot said. Afterward, the abbot allowed Landlord Chang to stay in his temple. From that day on, at every meal, Landlord Chang savored each mouthful of rice, and dared not waste food again.

　　在京城裡有位張員外，他家旁邊有間招元寺。張員外每天吃大魚大肉，常常白飯一口也沒吃就倒進水溝裡，白米飯就沿著水溝流到招元寺，寺裡的師父發現，便把白米飯撈起來，洗乾淨曬乾後裝到大水缸裡，多年過去後，已經裝滿好幾個水缸了。
　　有一年，張員外在朝廷當官的哥哥，因為犯下滔天大罪，張員外也被牽連，所有家產全數充公，張員外便流落街頭當乞丐，又因為他以前常仗著有錢欺負別人，所以沒有人願意給他食物，後來瘦到變成皮包骨。
　　有一天，他走到招元寺外，看到牆下破碗裡有白飯，正要吃時，衝出一條大黑狗，張員外難過的哭：「以前我不吃的白飯，現在想吃也吃不到。」剛好被寺裡的住持看到，便叫徒弟端一碗白飯給張員外吃，他邊吃邊說：「這白飯太好吃了！」住持說：「這些白飯都是你的。」張員外吃驚的說：「我從來不做善事，更別說捐米給寺廟，怎麼會是我的白飯呢！」住持接著說：「這都是你以前倒在水溝裡的白米飯，是我撈起來曬乾貯存起來的，我們吃了好久還吃不完呢！」張員外聽完淚流滿面。後來，住持收留張員外住在寺裡，每天吃飯時，他每吃一口飯都覺得好可貴，再也不敢浪費了。