PureInsight | October 25, 2007
[PureInsight.org] When Wenyun
Yu, Emperor Xuan of the Northern Zhou Dynasty (A.D. 557-581) in the
Northern Dynasties (A.D. 386 - 581), was a crown prince, his father,
Emperor Wu, was extremely strict with him. He would always send an
official, Shen Chen, to supervise him. If Shen Chen had failed to
report to Empeor Wu any small mistakes that the crown prince made, he
would have been executed. Whenever Shen Chen reported to Emperor Wu
about the crown prince's wrong doings, the crown prince was flogged
with a cane more than a hundred times.
When the crown prince took the throne of the emperor, he could still
see the marks from the beatings on his arms. Then he started to ask
where Shen Chen was. By that time, Shen Chen had already escaped.
Servants of the state were ordered to arrest him and bring him back.
Later, Shen Chen was captured and Emperor Xuan sentenced him to death
immediately. Shen Chen said loudly to Emperor Xuan, "It was requested
by your father. Where is my wrongdoing? You slaughter innocent people
and you will pay for it. If the god who governs the underground knows
about this, he will not let you go."
After Shen Chen was killed, Emperor Xuan issued an order in the palace
that people were not allowed to look each other in the eyes nor talk or
laugh with each other when they met. He also sent officials to record
people's mistakes.
A maid who worked for the Queen Zuo was reported for criticism by the
officials because her tears came out while she was raising her body
slightly up to show respect. The maid explained that the reason that
her tears came out was because she thought of what happened
before. Emperor Xuan issued an order to punish her. Each time
when the person who executed the punishment hit the maid's head,
Emperor Xuan felt a severe headache. Each time she was hit in the neck,
Emperor Xuan also felt pain in his neck. Emperor Xuan was very angry
and said: "This is my enemy." Therefore he ordered her to be stretched
out and cut in half at the waist. Then Emperor Xuan started to feel
pain in his lower back.
In the evening of the same day, Emperor Xuan left the south palace. His
illness became worse. The next morning, he could not ride his horse
because of the pain in his lower back. So he had to sit in the horse
carriage. A black stain resembling the human form appeared at the place
where the maid was killed. Emperor Xuan requested people to wash that
place, but it still appeared. So it was washed over and over, but it
still came out. Then Emperor Xuan placed an order to dig up the ground
and cover it with new soil. But after one night, it was the same as
before.
Twenty days after Shen Chen's death, Emperor Xuan died with open sores all over his body.
From: "Fa Yuan Shu Lin" ("Episodes in the Legislative Area")
Translated from:
http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2007/9/17/48401.html
