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| Pardon my poor writing. This is month's worth of effort as I learnt from the calligraphy lessons of Professor Tian on Youtube, 每日一题每日一字 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Putqx_2nSeQ&list=PL216D25F4F657AC2E |
夫以銅為鏡, adult_male with bronze as
mirror
可以正衣冠. able with straighten clothes formal_hat
以古為鏡, with ancient as mirror
可知興替. able with flourish substitution
以人為鏡, with man as mirror
可以明得失. able with understand obtain error
朕常保此三鏡, We always protect/defend this
three mirror
以防己過. to prevent self error
今魏徵殂逝, now Wei Ching dead passed
遂亡一鏡矣 thereupon death one mirror alas
By literal translation
Man uses bronze as
mirrors to straighten his gown and cap. To use the ancient as a mirror, one
knows of its rise and fall. To use man
as a mirror, one understands one's errors and failures. We have long defended these three mirrors to
check our errors. Now that Weiching is
dead, thus a mirror's death.
A more polished semantic translation.
Man uses bronze as
mirrors so that he can straighten his attire.
Using history as a mirror, one knows of its rise and fall. Using Man as a mirror, one understands one's
errors and failures. We have long guarded these three mirrors to check our
oversight. Now that Weiching is gone
from us, a mirror is shattered.
Notes:
1.
夫
is an adult male. However, in classical
Chinese, as an initial particle, it means that whatever comes after it is an
opinion. Thus it can be left out in
translation. However, in this context,
it works in both cases. Thus the first
line can be also translated as, "To use bronze as mirrors, one can…"
2.
Mirrors in the modern sense are a western invention. In ancient China, bronzes are highly polished
to give a good reflection. Of course, it
is only an approximation. Depending on
the hue of the surface, true colors are not reflected. The back of the mirror is highly etched into
a high degree of art work. There are
mirrors that can exhibit their designs in a faint illusion in the reflection.
3.
Weiching was a minister to the second Tang Emperor, Tai Tsung. He was such an upright person that even the
emperor dreaded him. He was not
considered a true loyalist, however. He
had been a trusted advisor to the former crown prince whom the Emperor had
killed to usurp the throne. He had
advised the crown prince to take action first against his pretender
brother. Once the emperor had questioned
him on this, he merely replied that if his older brother had listened to his
counsel, today's questioning is moot! He
had served five other masters before the Emperor. In Confucianism, this is not considered as
someone who is loyal but an opportunist.
Another story is that once, the
Emperor had a sparrow hawk for hunting; so pleased was the Emperor that he had
it on his hand. Then, upon the arrival
of Weiching to discuss some state matters, the Emperor dreaded his admonishment
of imperial pleasures (hunting costs a plenty because of its size, security
etc) and hid the bird in his chest since there was not enough time to put it
away without him seeing it. After he
left, the Emperor took out the bird and found that it had suffocated.
Weiching is the subject of many
stories and legends. The most famous of
these is "Executing the Dragon in a Dream" 魏徵夢中斬龍. It is one of the
subplots in the story of the Monkey King.
The original article had many of
the details of this story left out due to space limitation on italki. However, this blog has no such limitation, so
here's the full blown story (still omitting other irrelevant details).
It all started with this
fortuneteller in the city of Changan who told a filial fisherman where to go at
a certain spot at a certain time in the river for his daily catch, with the
stipulation that only a certain number is to be caught, no more and no
less. As time went on, the Dragon King
of this river became alarmed at the number of subjects caught with such uncanny
accuracy. One day, he appeared in front
of the fisherman asking for the reason.
The Dragon King was incredulous and could not believe his dragon ears1. So he went before the fortuneteller to test
him.
He posed an impossible question: How many drops of rainwater will fall the
next time? Even as the guardian and bringer of the rain, he himself would not
know such detailed information until the edict came from the Jade Emperor. He warned the fortuneteller if he is wrong,
he will come and destroy his shop.
Without missing a beat, the fortuneteller went with his calculations and
told him of the answer of how many drops of water will fall the next day at
such a time.
No sooner than the Dragon King
returned to his palace that the Jade edict came. He was told to scatter the exact amount of
rain at the time given by the fortuneteller.
However, he did not want to lose face and decided to add three more
drops of water and to rain a bit later.
After his deed, he smugly went to
the fortuneteller to thrash his place while shouting at the fortuneteller that
what a fraud he was. However, the
fortuneteller looked calmly into the dragon's eyes and muttered,
"You rascal of a worm! Don't you know that I knew who you are when
you first came to me. You dare go on
with this proud rant of yours. Not only
did you not discharge your duty, you dared to falsify the edict. How long do you think your head will be with
your neck!"
Upon hearing these words, the
Dragon King grew cold with fright and realized what a treasonous crime he had
committed. He fell onto his knees
begging the fortuneteller to tell him of a way out.
"Since you have repented, I shall
show you a way. Your appointed
executioner will be Weiching and you will be executed at noon tomorrow. If you can persuade the True Dragon2 on your behalf, you
may have a new lease on life."
When the night drew in, the Dragon
King appeared before Emperor Tang Tai Tsung as an old man in a dream begging
for his life. The Emperor agreed.
The very next day after the morning
audience, Weiching was summoned to the Inner Palace for a few games with the
Emperor. Not wishing to defy his master,
Weiching complied even though he knew he had a heavenly duty to perform. The Emperor employed all his tricks to delay
the minister, reasoning that if he can't leave the palace, he can't perform his
divine duty on time and thus the Dragon King will be saved.
A few minutes before the appointed
time while at the chess game, Weiching fell asleep. Upon seeing this, the Emperor smile to
himself and lamented to himself,
"This old rascal has been
working too hard for the empire. I shall
leave him in peace for a much needed rest."
However, unbeknownst to the
Emperor, the soul of Weiching flew up to the execution's site in the heavens to
witness and oversee the execution. The dragon's head was lopped off.
Just moments after, Weiching woke
up and apologized to the Emperor most profusely for his lack of decorum. The Emperor merely smiled and thought smugly
that he too had accomplished his deed when suddenly news poured into the palace
saying that there was a shower of red rain falling from the sky and a dragon's
head fell.
The head was brought into the
palace and shown to the Emperor. Upon
looking at it, its eyes suddenly popped open and glared most venomously at the
Emperor. The Emperor took fright and
fell ill. He could not sleep nor rest,
hearing the wailing of a headless soul the moment his eyes closed.
The next part of the story tells how
the Emperor was being summoned to Hades to answer against a charge of breach of
promise. After witnessing the terrors
and horrors of Hell, the Emperor needed a way to help ease these eternally
damned souls. Therefore when he returned
to earth safely, he ordered Buddhism to be spread in the Empire. Thus the impetus and the cause for the
Journey of Tripitaka, aka the story of Monkey King
1.
This is a joke on my part. For dragons don't have ears - or they are so
insignificant compared to other majestic parts of its body. Hence the character for deafness is聾!
2. The
reigning emperor.
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