PureInsight | October 3, 2005
[PureInsight.org] Since I was little, I have had a particularly strong affection for the land of China. At school when I learned from the history class about a long series of unfair treaties that the Qing Dynasty was forced to sign with the Russian Tsars and about the large area of land in northwestern and northeastern China that had been given to Russia in those unfair treaties, my heart was overcome with indescribable sadness and torment! It was not a visceral reaction as a Chinese citizen or as a patriotic man. It was a genuine sadness and bereavement from the bottom of my heart that kept tormenting me for decades. It was not until I have cultivated in Falun Gong that I gradually came to know the root cause of my feelings. Now I will share the truth with everyone and take the opportunity to untie the knot in my heart. In addition, I would like to take the opportunity to illustrate how a divine being helped create the history of human civilization.
The Reason Why I Was Attached to Land
After Emperor Shengzu, or Kangxi, (1661 – 1722 A.D.) defeated the Revolt of the Three Feudal States and annexed Taiwan, the Chinese people began to gradually recover from the wars. The Qing Dynasty stared to prosper because of Kangxi's compassionate rule. However, the Russians began to advance from the north, fighting in the Amur Valley region with the Qing Dynasty. Kangxi sent troops twice in 1665 to take Yaksa back. After a series of battles and negotiations, Russia and the Qing Dynasty signed the Treaty of Nerchinsk on September 7, 1689, which was considered a treaty that was fair to China. Almost every single Chinese is very familiar with this part of the Chinese history.
After the signing of the treaty, I (in that reincarnation) was appointed as a patrol ambassador on the northern border near the Amur Valley. To this day, I can still remember the views of the large forests, the mountain and the Argun River, as well as the local natural resources. For countless days and nights, I led commanders and soldiers to patrol and guard China's border and would never give Russia any chance to invade China! I retired and died in this region. In that incarnation, I didn't experience anything exciting. I only mention this part of my history to explain why I have been so attached to that land in my present life. But this is not the focus of this article, instead it is another of my incarnations that occurred during Emperor Qianlong's reign (his reign lasted from 1735 to 1796 A.D.).
A Golden Carp Returned Mr. Zhao's Favor by Giving Him a Son
I will not comment on the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty. I will talk only about my reincarnation during his reign. At the time, there was a very famous summer resort in Chengde (or Jahol) in Rehe Province. Near the resort there was a village called Xia Duke Village. A long time ago a man from the village with the surname of Xia became a duke. Consequently, the majority of the villagers changed their surname to Xia for good luck. Only a few families out of about 70 in the villages did not have the surname of Xia.
In the village there was a family with the surname of Zhao. It was a very wealthy family with many maids, servants, horses and donkeys. Mr. Zhao was a very smart and capable man. Mrs. Zhao, whose maiden name was Zhu, was excellent at domestic administration and kept the family very prosperous. Their only regret was their inability to produce any children. There was not a day that went by that they didn't think about this issue.
One day Mr. Zhao suddenly felt like hunting. When he passed by a pond in the wildness, he remembered that Mrs. Zhao had been craving for fish soup lately. He decided to get a few tails of fish to please Mrs. Zhao. He used a tree branch as a makeshift fishing rod and found a few earthworms as the bait. He saw a lot of fish in the pond, but none of them touched the bait. When the sun was setting, Mr. Zhao thought, "It's time to return home. Otherwise, my wife will be worried about me." When he was about to retrieve the fishing rod, a fish took the bait. He was ecstatic! He pulled the fish out of water and saw a carp in the dim light of the sunset. It was not an ordinary carp. It was a translucent, gold carp. Mr. Zhao could see its organs from the outside. It was a large carp that weighed about 7 lbs. Mr. Zhao was very happy. He immediately brought the gold carp home.
As soon as he entered the door, he called for Mrs. Zhao, "My dear wife, look what I have brought you." Mrs. Zhao was sewing when he called. When she came out and saw the gold carp, she turned pale and raised her voice, "Where did you find the carp?"
Mr. Zhao replied, "You have been asking for fish soup lately. I went out hunting today and didn't get anything. At almost the end of the day I went fishing in the pond. When I was about to give up, the gold carp took the bait. It was a trip to get the fish. Hurry up and make a bowl of soup. It must be great for your health!" Then he walked towards the kitchen with the gold carp.
"Stay!" shouted Mrs. Zhao.
"What is going on, my dear? Did anyone upset you today?" Mr. Zhao said with a large smile on his face.
"Did you realize that this is not an ordinary carp? It is a gold carp!"
"So what?"
Mrs. Zhao realized that her husband hadn't understood the severity of the matter, so she began to explain to Mr. Zhao patiently. "Look. It is translucent and gold. It means it is a King of Fish. Do you understand what King of Fish means?"
Mr. Zhao responded with skepticism, "There are kings and civilians among the human beings. Now there is a King among the fish. That's news!"
Mrs. Zhao continued to explain to her husband, "You have heard of the King of Chinese Dragons, haven't you? You have heard of the King of all Tigers, haven't you? You have seen the King of Lions on your hunting expeditions, haven't you?"
Mr. Zhao replied, "I have met the King of Lions. I once ran into several lions in a hunting expedition. One of them roared and the others obeyed his command and charged towards me. Fortunately I climbed up to the tree and leaped from one tree to another and fled."
Mrs. Zhao asked, "It follows that there must be a King of the Fish."
Mr. Zhao said, "Well…" Then Mr. Zhao took one look at the gold carp. With tears welling up in its eyes, the gold carp looked as though it was begging Mr. Zhao to spare its life. Mr. Zhao softened and asked Mrs. Zhao, "My dear, what should we do?"
Mrs. Zhao replied right away, "Release the carp. Release it at once. The sooner, the better."
Mr. Zhao looked up at the night sky and replied with a difficult facial expression, "It is now nighttime. Why don't we keep it in water until tomorrow? I will release it back to the pond first thing in the morning."
Mrs. Zhao said, "In that case, let's get water for the carp right away!" Then she entered the bedchamber.
Mr. Zhao found a large basin and poured a lot of water into the basin. Then he put the carp into the water. He was suddenly inspired to grab a handful of grass from the courtyard and placed it in the basin. The gold carp looked very happy. It swam energetically in the basin.
That night, Mrs. Zhao had a dream where she was told that someone will come to repay them for the good deed they had done. On the next morning, they discovered that the gold carp had disappeared. They were terribly worried. They looked everywhere but couldn't locate the gold carp. Finally they could only pray for the safety of the gold carp.
Three months later, Mrs. Zhao found herself pregnant. Mr. and Mrs. Zhao were ecstatic, so was everyone else in the household. All the neighbors and villages came to visit them and inquired after Mrs. Zhao's long-awaited pregnancy.
Normally a baby is born after ten months of pregnancy, but their baby was born after 22 months of pregnancy. He was born with a very bright pair of eyes and a very handsome face. He had a golden and translucent body. Therefore, everyone called him Zhongyu, which means translucent as jade in Chinese. Born into a hunting family, little Zhongyu started to practice martial arts when he was little. When he grew older, he practiced martial arts under the tutelage of a very famous martial arts master.
Zhongyu Saved Emperor Qianlong from Danger
When Zhongyu was 16 years old, Emperor Qianlong, came to the summer resort in Chengde for hunting. During a hunting expedition, the emperor's horse was frightened by tigers and began to run frantically. Somehow the horse made its way outside the resort region.
Young Zhongyu and his friends were having a great time racing horses when the frantic horse carrying the emperor charged towards Zhongyu. Young Zhongyu immediately grabbed hold of the horse's harness and held onto it with all his strength. Perhaps the horse came to his senses because of young Zhongyu's intervention. Or perhaps young Zhongyu had the strength of Hercules to stop the powerful horse from running. In any case, the horse stopped running.
It took a few moments before the emperor calmed down and said, "Ah! You have saved my life! Why don't you kneel down and receive your reward?!"
The emperor's guards arrived just in time. They told Zhongyu and his friends, "Why don't you kneel before His Majesty?!"
Young Zhongyu and his friends knelt down and said, "Long live the Majesty!" Zhongyu learned to say the line from a local storyteller and he applied it very appropriately.
The emperor took a good look at young Zhongyu and immediately liked the child. The emperor said, "What is your name? Will you follow me to the capital city? I will put you under the tutelage of the best schoolteacher. What do you say?"
"My name is Zhao Zhongyu. I have to get my parents' approval before I give you my consent."
The emperor's guards told him, "Hurry up and thank His Majesty's grace. His Majesty's words are orders. You must follow orders. Besides, you will enjoy infinite wealth and status from now on."
Zhongyu replied, "His Majesty's words are imperial decree, but I still have to discuss with my parents. This is the proper rite. No matter who you are, you must follow the rite."
The emperor burst into laughter and said, "What an unusual child! You may go home. When you finish discussing with your parents, come back to the resort. I will be waiting for you there." Then the emperor and his guards returned to the summer resort.
Pursuing a Career
Zhao Zhongyu said goodbye to his friends and returned home. He told Mr. and Mrs. Zhao what had happened. They could hardly believe their ears. They said repeatedly, "This is an enormous good fortune for our family! Child, go to the capital city. There is an ancient saying, 'Master the literary and martial arts and you will ascend to the imperial court.' As a man, you should develop your career, but you must remember one thing at all times: You must never oppress the people, you must always be kind to others and you must never assist His Majesty if he should become a tyrant!" Thus Zhao Zhongyu joined the emperor at the imperial court.
The emperor fulfilled his promise. He found the best teachers for his literary and martial arts education. Zhongyu was a highly intelligent and talented child, but he was not interested in fame or wealth and was very reticent. He stayed out of sinister political conflicts. At the age of 29, he was appointed military commander in Gansu Province. He achieved many accomplishments in handling border issues and resolving disputes between ethic groups. At nearly 50 years old, Zhongyu was promoted to the rank of the deputy general. He had a lot of children and grandchildren for company.
About three years later, his wife, whose maiden name was Chen, wanted to visit friends in Yili in Xinjiang Province. Zhongyu had no choice but to accompany her to Yili. When they were about to arrive at Yili, they heard that the Russian Tsar's military force had invaded the Lake Balkhash region. The emperor issued a decree ordering Zhongyu to combat the invasion with an army of 100,000 soldiers immediately. Zhongyu had no choice but to follow the order.
A Wake-Up Call from a Deadly Battle with the Russian Tsar's Army
While Zhongyu led an army of 100,000 solders to Almaty, the Russian Tsar's army crossed the China-Russia border and invaded China. [Note: Almaty is in today's Kazakhstan in the southeast part of the country near the border of Kyrgyzstan. Founded in the 1850s as a Russian fort and trading post, the city served as the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1997 and is the commercial and cultural center of the country. ]
The Russian army had more than 300,000 soldiers, three times the number in Zhongyu's army. When Zhongyu's army set up camps, he had a meeting with his staff to work out a plan to defeat the enemy. One of them suggested, "We should try to lure the Russian army into the desert. Without a water supply, they will panic and fight among themselves. Then we can take the advantage of this to wipe out the Russian army!" Zhongyu approved of the strategy, so he devised a tactic to lure the Russian army of 300,000 solders into the desert. Then Zhongyu waited until the Russian army ran out of water before he ordered the attack.
To this day, I still remember the deadly battle. Flying yellow sands screened the sky. On the ground, men were shouting and horses were neighing. The noises of clashing blades and drums were roaring. The arrows kept flying through the air like a locust plague. Dead bodies were everywhere. Blood flowed like a river. My army took full advantage of the location and took cover behind dunes. We wiped out almost the entire Russian army.
We fought from dawn to dusk. Although we won the battle and stopped the Russian invasion, we paid a dear price for it. We started out with an army of 100,000 soldiers, but in the end there were only a dozen men left, including myself! You can imagine the severity of the battle!!! The entire desert seemed to have been covered with flesh-red blood! Watching the ground covered with blood and dead bodies, Zhongyu felt as though his heart had been cut open with a knife. He thought of a poem written by a poet named Cao Song (曹松) in the Tang Dynasty:
The mountains and rivers southern of Yangtzi River became part of the war map,
The civilians had to rely on chopping wood and cutting grass to survive.
Please do not talk of creating feudal lords.
A military general redeems himself by turning millions of lives into bones!
澤國江山入占圖，
生民何計樂樵蘇？
憑君莫話封候事，
一將功成萬骨枯！
Tears flowed down Zhongyu's cheeks.
After Zhongyu returned to the imperial court, the emperor had wanted to honor him by giving him the title of a marquis. But he insisted on retiring and returning to his hometown. At first the emperor refused to grant his wish, but he eventually agreed when he realized that Zhongyu was determined to retire. Thus Zhongyu brought his entire family back to the Xia village and spent the rest of his life with his parents in the pastoral life style.
Epilogue
There are bound to be births and deaths in each person's lifetime, but this part of history is deeply branded into my memory. To this date, I will still be overcome with complicated feelings each time I think of the view of Lake Balkhash region, the harsh wind in the nearby dessert region and the jade art crafts in Hotian, Xinjiang Province! As a cultivator, it is an attachment to think too much of anything. By writing about my two incarnations in the Qing Dynasty, I wanted to let go of my attachment to this part of my history. I would also like to remind my fellow cultivators and the worlds' people that all of human civilization was indeed created by us Falun Gong practitioners under our Teacher's leadership! Let's cherish our predestined relationship with the Fa! Walk the rest of our cultivation path well so as not to waste our countless incarnations in the human realm!
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2005/9/7/33769.html
