Once I read some prophesies in a selected classical works translated into Chinese. Greatly interested, I tried to analyze and interpret them with LEE.
A prophesy is an exclamation or reflection, revealing the prophet’s cognition, desire, his experience and spiritual state. Interpreting a prophesy requires that you have experience similar to or even more than that of the prophet, otherwise you will feel at a loss as to how to interpret his prophesies. In our daily life, when a child sees a tin of coke, he may tell the mother he is thirsty and the mother knows he wants a coke. How can the mother interpret the child’s intention? The reason is she knows the child well, and understands what is in his mind. As a good mother, she will surely knows the need and buy a coke for the child.
Another example is seen in the "Death of Yangxiu", a story in the Three Kingdoms Period. Cao Cao was busying planning an attack upon a small town when his chef served him a bowl of chicken soup. Seeing the soup, he exclaimed, "Chicken ribs! Chicken ribs!" Yang Xiu, one of the wise advisers happened to have overheard Cao Cao’s exclamation, thus anticipating Cao Cao was about to retreat. So he ordered his men to get prepared before the order was actually issued by Cao Cao. It turned out Cao Cao really gave the order to retreat. Other advisers could not help wondering why Yang Xiu could foretell. "Well," explained Yang Xiu, "Chicken ribs, are skeletal, though pitiful to discard; it is by no means tasteful. Hence, to launch an attack upon this small town is like chewing chicken ribs. Thus it is only best to retreat." Unfortunately Cao Cao had him executed for this anticipation. Some say Cao Cao was jealous of Yang’s outstanding wisdom. Whether or not this is true, is another matter.
The fact that Yang Xiu could interpret the "chicken rib" implication is because he possessed knowledge and experience comparable to that of Cao Cao, their wisdom being at the same level.
In terms of LEE, the execution of Yang Xiu, a negative starting event, held back those witty men who could on many occasions have told Cao Cao the truth, but did not.
Coming back to the classical works I had read, I do not know who authored it, which, I guess, might be a collection of prophesies by different authors. One of them goes like "when the secret of heavenly bodies is disclosed". The implication may be: mankind will enjoy peace and harmony. This is an inference from the fact that great intelligence is required to disclose the secret of heavenly bodies, and intelligent people are mostly peace-loving. Another prophesy goes like "Those VIPs and ordinary beings! Provided you could go beyond the demarcation line between heaven and earth, go beyond. Yet, unless you have authority, otherwise never". It could be the exclamation of a sage who was originally an ordinary being. He hoped that all the people could believe his God and reach the state of spiritual world in which he himself had experienced the joy and excitement. The following are two more prophesies which have identical implications. "Those who have done even one single good deed will get it (positive/reward)". "Those who commit even one tiny bit of sin will get it (negative/punishment)". The prophet was trying to convince mankind of the great power of God, that is, The "positive/reward" and "negative/punishment", administered by God, which actually represent the principle of LEE. That is, positive and negative starting events will surely produce due subsequent events.
If a sage prophesied: "I would revive." It could be interpreted as another sage perfect as the sage himself will emerge. "I" may not specifically refer to the sage himself. "Revive" could mean the new sage will continue his work which was left unfinished. This is also in conformity with LEE, that is, excellent ideas or motives bring about due subsequent events.
Note: The classical works refer to the Koran, which was the oral accounts of the Prophet Mohammed, later compiled into a holy scripture by his disciples after his death. |
发表于 2023-4-3 11:47:12
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