Essence of China
P11
January 9 –- 15, 2014
www.TheEpochTimes.com/ChinaCulture
Emperor Wu of Liang:
JANE KU/EPOCH TIMES
CHINESE
CHARACTER
Buddhism patron and ‘monk emperor’
BY DAVID WU
EPOCH TIMES STAFF
ances to the elderly musicians
who could no longer perform.
Xiao Yan )唕埵) (A.D. 464–549)
posthumously named Liang Wu
Di (㠩㬎ⷅ), or Emperor Wu of
Liang, was one of the longestlived emperors in Chinese history.
As the founder and first emperor of the Liang Dynasty )㠩㛅*
(A.D. 502–557) during the Southern Dynasties era!)⋿㛅) (A.D.
420–589), Xiao Yan reigned for
48 years and died at the age of 85.
Believed to be a descendant
of Xiao He )唕ỽ* (died 193 B.C.),
the first prime minister of the
Han Dynasty, Xiao Yan was well
known as an intellectual, a general, and a patron of Buddhism.
Benevolent and
conscientious ruler
Shortly after ascending the
throne, Xiao Yan engaged in his
emperor duties with admirable
passion. He consolidated the education system, promoted righteous officials, and reformed the
ritual codes.
To improve communication
with the people, he placed two letter boxes near the palace’s front
gate, one for government officials’
recommendations and the other
for commoners’ criticisms and
suggestions.
Xiao Yan attached great
importance to the selection and
appointment of government
officials. He arranged to meet
officials of low rank to show his
appreciation, and promoted and
rewarded many upright and
impartial officials, significantly
improving governance.
He reformed the education system and re-opened the national
university to create more qualified civil servants and intellectuals. He disbanded the harem
chorus and supplied living allow-
From emperor’s crown
to monk’s robe
Educated officially in the Confucius canons, Xiao Yan also
explored an interest in Daoism.
However, soon after he began
his reign, he decided to abandon
Daoism and convert to Buddhism.
His conversion ceremony was
attended by 20,000 monks and
ordinary citizens in a large-scale
religious assembly.
As emperor,
Xiao Yan hoped to
build a ‘Buddhist
country’ in which
Buddhist principles
would be used to
govern.
As emperor, Xiao Yan hoped
to build a “Buddhist country” in
which Buddhist principles would
be used to govern and people
would be enabled to pursue Buddhist cultivation and free themselves from mundane desires such
as fame and self-interest.
He became a vegetarian and
banned animal sacrifice. As the
author of a number of well-known
Buddhist texts, he ordered the
preparation of the first Chinese
Tripitaka, a collection of Buddhist
scriptures. He was an emperor of
great compassion and very wary
of capital punishment.
As a devout believer, Xiao Yan
dreamed of becoming a monk in
a temple. In A.D. 527, he left his
office to enter a monastery. His
desperate ministers found him
CHINESE IDIOM
Being surprised due to
having seen so little
BY DUOYU ZHONG
EPOCH TIMES STAFF
Once upon a time, there was a man
who had never seen or heard of a
camel. One sunny day he went for
a walk in a field on the outskirts
of town where many people were
working.
The man was enjoying the scenery when he suddenly saw an animal with two lumps on its back.
Not knowing it was a camel, he was
so surprised that he shouted, “What
is this creature? Quickly, come and
look!”
and persuaded him to return to
the palace.
Four times he took up the
monk’s robe only to be persuaded
to return to his throne. The reluctant emperor became known
as the “the monk emperor” or
“Emperor-Bodhisattva.”
Under Xiao Yan’s reign, cultural and economic development
reached its peak, and Buddhism
became the national religion. However, without a suitable replacement, his religious devotions later
distracted him from state affairs
and some ministers took advantage of his magnanimity.
Xiao Yan died of starvation in a
monastery at 85 after the capital
was attacked and captured by an
army led by a man named Hou
Jing (ὗ㘗*.
According to Buddhist legend,
Hou Jing was born on the same day
that Xiao Yan’s supporters killed
the previous Southern Dynasties
emperor, Xiao Baojuan (唕⮞⌟),
who was cruel and incompetent.
In Buddhism, reincarnation,
karma, and retribution are among
the core teachings. Hou Jing was
believed to have been the reincarnated former emperor Xiao
Baojuan, whose family had been
ordered to be killed by Xiao Yan,
and who had returned to exact
vengeance.
It was believed that Xiao Baojuan’s death was Heaven’s will, but
that Xiao Yan should not have
ordered the execution of Xiao Baojuan’s family. That action formed a
karmic debt between them.
Facing retribution
In the second year of his reign,
Xiao Yan had asked Buddhist
master Bao Zhi to predict if there
would be any tribulations for his
country.
Bao Zhi answered in gestures, first
pointing to his throat, then his neck.
In Chinese, the word for throat )┱)
During the Southern Dynasties period, Emperor Wu of Liang, a
patron of Buddhism, tried to give up his throne for a monastic
life and became known as the “monk emperor” or “EmperorBodhisattva.”
is pronounced “hou,” and the word
for neck )柠) is pronounced “jing.”
This was interpreted to mean that
a man named Hou Jing would end
Xiao Yan’s reign.
Four times he
took up the
monk’s robe only
to be persuaded
to return to his
throne.
Years later, Hou Jing, then a general serving in the Eastern Wei State,
surrendered to Xiao Yan’s army but
soon led his troops in rebellion.
When Hou Jing went to attack the
capital, he was defeated on his way
by Buddhist layman Lu Fahe and
his 800 disciples.
Lu attempted to warn Xiao Yan
of his potential fate; however, Xiao
Yan rejected Lu’s suggestion to pursue Hou Jing and capture him.
Unfortunately, Xiao’s suspicious
political mind had taken over his
cultivated and benevolent one and
he was afraid that Lu and his men
would try to take his throne.
Lu told him: “I am a Buddhist
cultivator. I do not seek political
power in the secular world. I am
helping you because we have a predestined relationship—positive
karma—together.
“I can see the karmic relationship
between you and Hou Jing and
know that you are now to suffer
from retribution. Since you do not
believe or trust me, it appears the
karmic debt between you and Hou
cannot be changed or resolved in a
better way.”
Lu then took his leave.
Hou Jing’s army attacked again
and besieged the capital, and Xiao
Yan’s reign soon ended.
SANDY JEAN/EPOCH TIMES
as “little seen, much surprised,” or
“being surprised due to having seen
or experienced so little.”
The less one has
seen, the more
surprised one will
be. One may see a
camel and mistake
it for a horse with a
swollen back.
Everyone rushed to see what the
man had found. However, they did
not see anything out of the ordinary. One asked, “What were you
shouting about?”
The man answered, “This horse,
it has two horrible tumours on
its back!”
Realizing he was referring to the
camel, everyone burst out laughing.
This story later became the idiom Mou Zi
⮹夳⣂⿒ (Ŵũ聢Ű jiàn ťŶ聭 guài), which
describes someone who, due to
The expression was first found
shallow knowledge or ignorance, in a dialogue in the Buddhist text
is amazed by something that is in “Lihuo Lun” (䎮べ婾), or “Treatise
Settling Doubts,” written by Mou
fact ordinary.
Literally, the idiom is translated Rong (䈇圵), also known as Mou Zi
Guess
the hidden saying,
phrase or word(s)
suggested
by the picture!
BY CINDY CHAN
EPOCH TIMES STAFF
(䈇⫸), a famous Confucian scholar
of the Eastern Han Dynasty (A.D.
25–220) who converted to Buddhism.
In the dialogue, someone asks:
“You mentioned Buddha has
32 remarkable features and 80
detailed features. This is so different from ordinary people. How can
that be possible?”
Mou Zi answered: “The less one
has seen, the more surprised one
will be. One may see a camel and
mistake it for a horse with a swollen back.”
The idiom is sometimes used
to poke fun at someone who
announces a common fact as a
piece of amazing news.
“Treatise Settling Doubts,” in
which Mou Rong answered commonly asked questions about Buddhist practices, was the first book
on Buddhism written by a Chinese
scholar for the Chinese people.
Sudoku Sudoku
Whether it is seeing a camel
for the first time or learning
that a Buddha has many
appearances, if one has not
seen or experienced very
much, one is likely to be
surprised.
The Chinese character ἃ (fó)
stands for Buddha and is a term
phonetically translated from Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language.
ἃ is a phono-semantic compound, a type of Chinese character consisting of a sound component and a meaning component.
In ἃ, the meaning is provided
by ṣ (rén) on the left, which is a
variant of the character Ṣ (rén),
referring to humankind, people,
or a human being. The sound
is contributed by ⺿ (fú) on the
right.
When the term ἃ was first
introduced in China, it was phonetically translated into Chinese
as ἃ旨 (fó tuó),!㴖旨 (fú tuó), ἃ
⚾ (fó tú), or 㴖⚾ (fú tú), among
other variations.
Later, the Chinese people contracted the term Buddha to a
single character, ἃ (fó).
Buddha means “an enlightened being,” one who has
become enlightened through
cultivating (improving) one’s
character and attained immense
wisdom.
Such a sentient being has a
complete understanding of the
entire universe, including the
mysteries of life, humanity, and
every dimension of existence,
and is truly able to distinguish
good from bad, righteous from
evil.
Examples of terms that contain ἃ include ἃシ (fó yì), a compassionate intent; ἃ⁷ (fó xiàng),
a Buddhist image or statue; and
ἃ䴻 (fó ū聩ůŨ), Buddhist scripture
or sutra.
The Buddha School of cultivation practice is called ἃ⭞ (fó ūŪ聠),
or the family (⭞, ūŪ聠) of Buddha.
In the Buddha School, to return
to one’s innate goodness, one
cultivates the Buddha Fa (ἃ㱽,
fó ŧ聢), or simply Fa (㱽,ġŧ聢), the
Truth of the universe.
Buddhism is called ἃ㔁 (fó
jiào), literally “Buddha teaching,”
where 㔁 (jiào) means teaching/
to teach.
ἃ⿏ᶨ↢, 暯≽⋩㕡ᶾ䓴” (fó
xìng ź聩 Ťũ聱, zhèn dòng shí ŧ聠ůŨ
shì jiè) states that “when one’s
Buddha nature (ἃ⿏, fó xìng)
emerges, it will shake ‘the world
of ten directions.’”
The “world of ten directions”
refers to the Buddha School’s
conception of the universe.
ἃ⃱㘖䄏, 䥖佑⚻㖶 (fó ŨŶ聠ůŨ ű聳ġ
zhào, ŭ聫 yì yuán míng) states that
the “Buddha light (ἃ⃱, fó ŨŶ聠ůŨ)
illuminates everywhere and rectifies all abnormalities.”
It explains that the energy
emitted from the bodies of those
who cultivate the Buddha Fa can
rectify all abnormal conditions.
GEOGRAPHY GURU™
Quiz 450
NEW YORK STATE OF MIND:
Fill in the boxes using numbers
between 1 and 9 so that each column, each row, and each 3x3 square
contain all nine numbers only once.
SOLUTION BELOW
The population of New York City, as of the 2010 census, was 8.175
million. The population of Manhattan alone was 1.586 million. If
Manhattan were a state, it would be 39th in population, after Nebraska
but before Idaho. If the entire city—with fewer people than New
Jersey but more than Virginia—were a state, where would it rank?
READ EPOCH TIMES NEXT WEEK FOR THE ANSWER!
Alan Morgan
CAP
Answer for Quiz 449
C
WHAT NATION AM I?
Presented By
This week's solution
I am part Asian and part European. The Caucasus Mountains separate
me from Russia, which has close ties to two of my regions, South Ossetia
and Abkhazia. I am on the east coast of the Black Sea and my capital
city is T’bilisi. I share a name with an American state. I am GEORGIA.
ANS: xx_Thinking_cap_xx_XX_xxx