(I)
In the twenty-fifth year of the Tang Dynasty. Zheng Qi was the doctor of Guangwen, a man named Zheng Xiangru, more than fifty years old, from Longnan to apply for the Mingjing examination, as a nephew to visit Zheng Qi, Zheng Qi treated him without special courtesy, another day to visit again, the same courtesy as the previous time.
Therefore, Xiangru said to Zheng Pi, “Does uncle know that I can pass the exam? Fu Zi said: ‘If he succeeds the Zhou dynasty, it is predictable, even if it is a hundred generations’. Though I am now a commoner, and dare not compare with Yan Hui if Confucius were still alive, yet to say those who are Yan and Zi Xia, I am still not inferior to them.” Zheng Pi was amazed, so he asked what he would have fulfilled, and he answered painfully.
Zheng Pi then closed his door and talked with him all day. He took the opportunity to say to him, “If it is like what you said, why didn’t you take the examination earlier and seek advancement, and did not take the examination until so late?” Xiangru said, “I should be famous only in my coming year. That’s why I didn’t come early, because the time was not right.” Zheng Qi said, “What kind of official should you be?” Xiangru said, “In the next seven years, I will be elected to be a lieutenant of Xin’an County in Quzhou, and I will die in the tenth year.” Zheng Qi said, “Can you tell me what will happen to me in the future?” Xiangru said, “Five years after this, the country will change its year, and in another fifteen years, there will be a great robbery in the area of You and Thistle, and you, uncle, will be defiled at this time, and if you can be loyal and sincere to the country, you can still be moved to banishment, otherwise, it is not what I have predicted.”
In the spring of the next year, Xiangru did pass the exam. In the next seven years, the transfer was reappointed as a lieutenant of Xin’an County in Quzhou, and when he was about to go to his post, he came to tell Zheng Qi that he would part forever, and then he said goodbye with tears. Three years later, an inspector came, and Zheng Qi asked if Xiangru was still there. The man said, “A few months after he took office, he died of an acute illness in a Buddhist temple.”
In the twenty-ninth year of Kaiyuan, the year was changed to Tianbao.
In the fifteenth year of Tianbao, An Lushan rebelled in the eastern capital and sent Zhang Tongru, the pseudo-administrator of the western capital, to Chang’an to expel the Tang officials to the eastern capital of Luoyang. When Zheng Qi arrived at the eastern capital, he became the pseudo-deputy water minister. Thinking of Xiangru’s words, he pretended to be crazy and asked to be dragged to the market for him to defile himself. However, he secretly submitted a memorial to the emperor, and Su Zong assumed the throne in Lingwu, and in that year Tokyo had also put down the rebellion, and ordered the three divisions to try the rebels for their crimes by law. Zheng Qi was relegated to the post of secretary of Wenzhou because he was in the enemy’s camp but did not join the rebels in his heart.
Fortunately, Zheng Pi listened to Xiangru’s advice to be loyal and sincere to the country, and made the right choice at the critical moment, otherwise he might not even have a life after the rebellion was quelled.
Note: Zheng Qi (692 A.D. – 764 A.D.) was a painter and literary scholar of the Tang Dynasty. Character Yu Qi. A native of Xingyang, Zhengzhou. At the beginning of Tianbao, he worked as a xieluang, and later served as a doctor in the Guangwenkan and as a minister of water. He was good at poetry, calligraphy and painting, and especially at landscapes. Because of his poetry, calligraphy and painting, he was praised by Emperor Xuanzong as “Zheng Qi’s Three Perfections”. Zheng Pi was also good at geography, and wrote “Tianbao Military Defense Record”, which described the dangerous places of mountains and rivers, and all the scholars were impressed, and he was called “Zheng Guangwen”.
(Source: “Qian Ding Lu”)
(2)
The Tang Dynasty Chancellor Yang received when he was a teenager, studying in Mount Lu. One day he came to a secluded place where visitors could not go, and met a Taoist priest who said to him, “If you learn the Tao, you will have the destiny of becoming immortal, and if you must become an official, you will be able to achieve the greatest official, but eventually there will be disaster. Can you learn the Tao with me?” Yang collected hesitated for a moment, but was determined to forge ahead and become an official.
He ignored the Daoist’s words and later became a prime minister, but eventually suffered and died in the southern wilderness.
Yang received met the immortal degree he did not learn the Tao, chose the worldly path of government, and finally, as expected, met with disaster and died. What a pity.
(Source: “Northern Dreams and Words”)
(3)
In the Jin Dynasty, there was a man named Li Heng, who was a native of Qiao Guo (modern Bo County, Anhui Province).
When he was young, a monk came to his house and said to him, “You have blessings and injustice rivals both come, and after receiving the blessings your injustice scourges follow. If you are willing to be poor and concentrate on Buddhism, and do not take the path of government, your blessings will be increased and your misfortunes will be destroyed. You must be good to yourself!” Li Heng was impatient and came from a poor family, so he only cared about what rank he would reach in his career and had no interest in practicing Buddhism.
The monk gave him a volume of sutras, but Li Heng was reluctant to accept it and asked if he could become a distinguished official after taking the career path. The monk said, “If you can become an official of the fifth rank or above, you can reach the highest level of three counties. If you can stop when you become the governor of a county, it is still feasible.” Li Heng said, “As long as one can be rich and prosperous in the immediate future, who cares about the future misfortune.”
That night, the monk stayed in his house. When Li Heng got up at night, he saw the monk lying alone in a bed full of people, and when he went into the house to greet his family to see him, he saw him turn into a big bird squatting on the beam of the room, and at dawn he was back to his original appearance. Li Heng just sent him out, and in the blink of an eye he could no longer be seen, so he knew he was a god.
After that, Li Heng made offerings to Buddha and chanted sutras, but could not concentrate on them. Later he became the governor of Xiyang, Jiangxia and Lujiang counties. He was also appointed as General Longchamp. In the year of Taixing, he was killed for participating in the Qianfeng Rebellion.
(Source: “The Jewel of the Dharma Garden”)
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