Download Emperor Ming of Han honoured his teacher and listened to advisers

Essence of China
Emperor
Ming of Han
honoured
his teacher
and listened
to advisers
By Lu Ren
Epoch Times Staff
Liu Zhuang (28-75 AD), the
second emperor of the Eastern
Han Dynasty, became known
after his demise as Emperor
Ming of Han. “Ming” means
“understanding” and “bright”
in Chinese.
It was during his reign (57-75
AD) that Buddhism began to
spread into China. The following stories reveal his respectfulness and willingness to listen to advisers.
Honoring his teacher
Liu Zhuang learned Confucian classics from a young age,
and he studied the Classic of
History, also known as the
Shangshu, under the teacher
Huan Rong. After Liu Zhuang
became the emperor, he continued to show respect towards
his teacher.
The emperor often invited
Huan home to teach. Huan
would be given a premium seat,
and Emperor Ming would personally bring the book to his
teacher.
When other students asked
questions, Huan stood up as a
sign of respect to the emperor.
B5
November 10-16, 2016
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Susu / Epoch Times
Emperor Ming quickly
stopped Huan and said, “We
are all students here, and you
need not stand on ceremony.”
China’s first Buddhist temple
One day Emperor Ming
dreamed that a tall golden
man with a glow around his
head came to the centre of the
palace. Emperor Ming was just
about to talk to him when the
golden man suddenly rose up
and flew off to the West.
The next day, Emperor Ming
told his advisers about his
vision. One adviser said that in
the West there is a god called
Buddha, and his body is the colour of gold.
Emperor Ming sent envoys to
Tianzhu (Northwest India) to
search for Buddhist information in 64 AD. They later met
two Indian Buddhist monks
in Afghanistan and persuaded
them to come to China, bringing their Buddhist scriptures,
relics, and Buddha statues with
them on two white horses.
To welcome the Buddhist
scriptures and monks, Emperor
Ming built the first Buddhist
temple in China in 68 AD near
the capital city of Luoyang. It
was called the White Horse
Temple.
Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Epoch Times
The monks resided at the temple and translated the Buddhist
scriptures into Chinese.
Stopping palace construction
for drought
Emperor Ming was preparing
to order the construction of the
North Palace for his enjoyment.
It was a year of drought.
A minister sent a letter to
Emperor Ming, stating, “Currently, farmers are suffering
from the drought, but you plan
to construct the North Palace. If
that is the case, irrigation matters will be put aside, and how
will the people survive? Monarchs in the past were not concerned if their own living environment was cramped; rather,
their attention was on the people’s livelihood. Your Majesty,
what do you think?”
Emperor Ming immediately
stopped the construction plan
and expressed his apologies to
the minister.
White Horse Temple in Luoyang City, Henan province.
Two days later, there was
heavy rain, and the drought
ended.
The people said, “The emperor
accepted the adviser’s suggestion and moved the heavens.”
Translated by Benjamin Ng.
Edited by Sally Appert.
Super powers helped doctors look inside human bodies without machines
By Tara MacIsaac
Epoch Times Staff
The most renowned ancient
Chinese doctors are said to
have exhibited supernormal
abilities, including being able
to look into a person’s body to
see the cause of an illness.
Here’s a look at some extraordinary doctors and their abilities.
Wikimedia Commons
“A Treatise on Cold Injury” (“Shang Han Lun” in Chinese), one of the
oldest clinical textbooks in the world, compiled by Zhang Zhongjing.
1. Hua Tuo (140 to 208 A.D.)
Hua Tuo is known as the first
surgeon in Chinese medicine.
He is also said to have used
supernatural abilities to see
the tumors and other internal
problems to identify them as
the cause of an illness.
When he told Emperor Cao
Cao he had a tumor in his
brain, Cao Cao thought Hua
Tuo wanted to kill him, using
the pretext of performing head
surgery. Hua Tuo died in prison
and Cao Cao died of his illness.
Hua Tuo was a humble man,
uninterested in fame and selfinterest. Though he examined
the emperor, he usually worked
with the common people. He
was forced to diagnose the
emperor after he had already
refused the offer to become the
emperor’s official physician.
Hua Tuo was called the
“Divine Physician,” or “Shenyi,”
in Chinese. He is also known
for developing a type of qigong
exercises. Many physicians in
ancient China paid much attention to their spiritual cultivation and strived to maintain
a high moral character. Their
supernormal abilities could
only come to them this way.
Without any method to scan
the inner body, the surgeries Hua Tuo performed were
believed to be guided by divine
vision.
2. Bian Que (c. 500 B.C.)
An account of Bian Que’s life
is given in “The Records of the
Grand Historian,” (“Shih Chi,”
in Chinese) by the famed histo-
rian Sima Qian. Bian Que met
a man with supernatural powers who gave him a mysterious
medicine.
The man instructed Bian Que
to ingest the medicine with
water “that has not touched
the ground,” such as dew. A
month later, Bian Que had
X-ray vision.
Bian Que passed the funeral
procession of a prince, but
Bian Que saw that the prince
could still be revived. Indeed,
it turned out the prince was
just in a coma and after he was
treated with acupuncture, the
prince became well again.
3. Zhang Zhongjing (150 to
219 A.D.)
When Zhang Zhongjing was
20 years old, he met an offi-
cial named Wang Zhongxuan. Zhang told Wang his eyebrows would fall out at the age
of 40 and that when this happens, Wang will die within half
a year. Zhang gave Wang a prescription to prevent this occurrence.
Wang accepted the medicine,
but did not take it, because he
was offended and did not
believe Zhang.
Days later, Zhang asked Wang
if he had taken the medication
and Wang lied, saying he had.
Zhang wasn’t fooled. He said:
“It looks like you didn’t take it.
Why don’t you care about your
life?”
Years later, when Wang was
40 years old, his eyebrows
fell out. As predicted, he died
within half a year.
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