(Continued from issue #264)
Instructional Talk by Dharma Master Heng Gwei on November 27, 2016, during Lunch at Gold Wheel Sagely Monastery Emperor Liang’s Jeweled Repentance Dharma Assembly
During the bowing session this morning, I suddenly recalled the time that I had followed the Venerable Master to Europe to propagate the dharma. One day the Venerable Master brought up two verses, which I believe many people are familiar with. Venerable Master Buxu of the Sui Dynasty in China wrote the verses. (There was also a discussion about The Events in the Last Hundred Years in China). During the Sui Dynasty (about 1500 years ago), Venerable Master Buxu had clearly outlined the future course of China, from the feudal era to the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic.The first verse states, “Dark clouds, worrisome fog. Dragon back to the earth, a mud-sculpted monkey. A three-year-old child enjoys three years of blessings. Under the moon, there is no ruler and the waters dry up“. Dark clouds, worrisome fog refers to darkness at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Dragon back to the earth refers to the passing of Emperor Guanxu. Sculpted monkey refers to Yuan Shikai (the first president of the Republic of China); another character for monkey in Chinese is “Yuan”.
A three-year-old child enjoys three years of blessings refers to the fact that Emperor Xuantong was enthroned at age three and enjoyed only three years of blessings as an emperor. From this, we can see that everything follows its course of destiny, be it a nation or a person. How much blessings we have, e.g. food and resources, is predetermined. When deconstructed, Under the moon there is no ruler and the waters dry up, represents the character “qing” as Qing Dynasty. This line signifies the end of the Qing Dynasty.
Who is the next person in the discussion?? It’s Dr. Sun Wen (Sun Yat-sen).
The second verse starts, The gent is the grandfather, and has a refined and elegant character. The Chinese characters for these two lines, when deconstructed, reveals the name Sun Wen.
A ten-thousand-mile rainbow breaks the waves in its quest describes how Dr. Sun Wen, braving the wind and waves, traveled back and forth by ship between Honolulu and China in preparation for the revolution. From the Yellow Crane Tower, a jade flute is played. The Yellow Crane tower is in Wuchang. This line refers to the Wuchang Uprising, Xinhai Revolution. (The people and place of the uprising were already forecasted more than a thousand years ago.)
Throughout the land people sing the victory song refers to compatriots and allies from all over the country coming to acknowledge and support the revolution. As a new five-color flag is unfurled. There was already a layout of the national flag of present-day China, the five-star flag (designed by present time Chinese designer Sicheng Liang).
It leads me to think, “What we do now is following the script that we had previously written for ourselves. We are just acting out the written script. Everything that we do now determines the script that we will act out in the future. Every one of us is running non-stop on the wheel of transmigration of birth and death.
(To be continued …)