Part 20 (1/2)
Welcoming this suggestion, the King sent for Chao Chen and ordered him to dispatch to the temple of Hua Shan the two Chief Ministers of Ceremonies, Hsi Heng-nan and Chih Tu, with instructions to request fifty Buddhist and Taoist priests to pray for seven days and seven nights in order that the King might obtain a son. When that period was over, the King and Queen would go in person to offer sacrifices in the temple.
Prayers to the G.o.ds
The envoys took with them many rare and valuable presents, and for seven days and seven nights the temple resounded with the sound of drums, bells, and all kinds of instruments, intermingled with the voices of the praying priests. On their arrival the King and Queen offered sacrifices to the G.o.d of the sacred mountain.
But the G.o.d of Hua Shan knew that the King had been deprived of a male heir as a punishment for the b.l.o.o.d.y hecatombs during his three years' war. The priests, however, interceded for him, urging that the King had come in person to offer the sacrifices, wherefore the G.o.d could not altogether reject his prayer. So he ordered Ch'ien-li Yen, 'Thousand-_li_ Eye,' and Shun-feng Erh, 'Favourable-wind Ear,' [29]
to go quickly and ascertain if there were not some worthy person who was on the point of being reincarnated into this world.
The two messengers shortly returned, and stated that in India, in the Chiu Ling Mountains, in the village of Chih-shu Yuan, there lived a good man named s.h.i.+h Ch'in-ch'ang, whose ancestors for three generations had observed all the ascetic rules of the Buddhists. This man was the father of three children, the eldest s.h.i.+h Wen, the second s.h.i.+h Chin, and the third s.h.i.+h Shan, all worthy followers of the great Buddha.
The Murder of the Tais
w.a.n.g Che, a brigand chief, and thirty of his followers, finding themselves pursued and hara.s.sed by the Indian soldiers, without provisions or shelter, dying of hunger, went to s.h.i.+h Wen and begged for something to eat. Knowing that they were evildoers, s.h.i.+h Wen and his two brothers refused to give them anything; if they starved, they said, the peasants would no longer suffer from their depredations. Thereupon the brigands decided that it was a case of life for life, and broke into the house of a rich family of the name of Tai, burning their home, killing a hundred men, women, and children, and carrying off everything they possessed.
The local _t'u-ti_ at once made a report to Yu Huang.
”This s.h.i.+h family,” replied the G.o.d, ”for three generations has given itself up to good works, and certainly the brigands were not deserving of any pity. However, it is impossible to deny that the three brothers s.h.i.+h, in refusing them food, morally compelled them to loot the Tai family's house, putting all to the sword or flames. Is not this the same as if they had committed the crime themselves? Let them be arrested and put in chains in the celestial prison, and let them never see the light of the sun again.”
”Since,” said the messenger to the G.o.d of Hua Shan, ”your grat.i.tude toward Miao Chuang compels you to grant him an heir, why not ask Yu Huang to pardon their crime and reincarnate them in the womb of the Queen Po Ya, so that they may begin a new terrestrial existence and give themselves up to good works?” As a result, the G.o.d of Hua Shan called the Spirit of the Wind and gave him a message for Yu Huang.
A Message for Yu Huang
The message was as follows: ”King Miao Chuang has offered sacrifice to me and begged me to grant him an heir. But since by his wars he has caused the deaths of a large number of human beings, he does not deserve to have his request granted. Now these three brothers s.h.i.+h have offended your Majesty by constraining the brigand w.a.n.g Che to be guilty of murder and robbery. I pray you to take into account their past good works and pardon their crime, giving them an opportunity of expiating it by causing them all three to be reborn, but of the female s.e.x, in the womb of Po Ya the Queen. [30] In this way they will be able to atone for their crime and save many souls.” Yu Huang was pleased to comply, and he ordered the Spirit of the North Pole to release the three captives and take their souls to the palace of King Miao Chuang, where in three years' time they would be changed into females in the womb of Queen Po Ya.
Birth of the Three Daughters
The King, who was anxiously expecting day by day the birth of an heir, was informed one morning that a daughter had been born to him. She was named Miao Ch'ing. A year went by, and another daughter was born. This one was named Miao Yin. When, at the end of the third year, another daughter was born, the King, beside himself with rage, called his Grand Minister Chao Chen and, all disconsolate, said to him, ”I am past fifty, and have no male child to succeed me on the throne. My dynasty will therefore become extinct. Of what use have been all my labours and all my victories?” Chao Chen tried to console him, saying, ”Heaven has granted you three daughters: no human power can change this divine decree. When these princesses have grown up, we will choose three sons-in-law for your Majesty, and you can elect your successor from among them. Who will dare to dispute his right to the throne?”
The King named the third daughter Miao Shan. She became noted for her modesty and many other good qualities, and scrupulously observed all the tenets of the Buddhist doctrines. Virtuous living seemed, indeed, to be to her a second nature.
Miao Shan's Ambition
One day, when the three sisters were playing in the palace garden of Perpetual Spring, Miao Shan, with a serious mien, said to her sisters, ”Riches and glory are like the rain in spring or the morning dew; a little while, and all is gone. Kings and emperors think to enjoy to the end the good fortune which places them in a rank apart from other human beings; but sickness lays them low in their coffins, and all is over. Where are now all those powerful dynasties which have laid down the law to the world? As for me, I desire nothing more than a peaceful retreat on a lone mountain, there to attempt the attainment of perfection. If some day I can reach a high degree of goodness, then, borne on the clouds of Heaven, I will travel throughout the universe, pa.s.sing in the twinkling of an eye from east to west. I will rescue my father and mother, and bring them to Heaven; I will save the miserable and afflicted on earth; I will convert the spirits which do evil, and cause them to do good. That is my only ambition.”
Her Sisters Marry
No sooner had she finished speaking than a lady of the Court came to announce that the King had found sons-in-law to his liking for his two elder daughters. The wedding-feast was to be the very next day. ”Be quick,” she added, ”and prepare your presents, your dresses, and so forth, for the King's order is imperative.” The husband chosen for Miao Ch'ing was a First Academician named Chao K'uei. His personal name was Te Ta, and he was the son of a celebrated minister of the reigning dynasty. Miao Yin's husband-elect was a military officer named Ho Feng, whose personal name was Ch'ao Yang. He had pa.s.sed first in the examination for the Military Doctorate. The marriage ceremonies were of a magnificent character. Festivity followed festivity; the newly-wed were duly installed in their palaces, and general happiness prevailed.
Miao Shan's Renunciation
There now remained only Miao Shan. The King and Queen wished to find for her a man famous for knowledge and virtue, capable of ruling the kingdom, and worthy of being the successor to the throne. So the King called her and explained to her all his plans regarding her, and how all his hopes rested on her.
”It is a crime,” she replied, ”for me not to comply with my father's wishes; but you must pardon me if my ideas differ from yours.”