The Spiritual Attainment of Minghe

Chapter 196: Five Emperors Ruling the World (Ⅱ)

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

With the assistance of so many talented personnel, the Human Tribe prospered under the governance of Yao. During the preliminary period of Tang Yao’s administration, the astronomical calendar was not quite ideal, so the populace often missed the farming seasons. Therefore, Yao commanded the Xi’s and the He’s to observe the Heaven’s will and enacted a calendrical system according to the appearance of the sun, the moon and the positions of stars. This taught the men which season was the right time to take part in production.

The Xi’s and He’s mastered astronomy and calculated the time and date according to celestial phenomena and climatic phenology like the movements of the sun, the moon, the stars and so on. They also determined the four seasons, where a cycle for the moon is a month, a cycle for the sun is a year, and that there are 366 days in a year. This was the earliest calendar recorded in our country, which laid a foundation for the lunar calendar in China.

There are 366 days in a year, so they added intercalary months to rectify the four seasons, which are spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

Emperor Yao once again sincerely admonished all the officials to perform their own duties and deal with all kinds of affairs properly. Under such administration, Human Tribe greeted another wave of rapid development. By then, Emperor Yao had been in on the throne for more than 70 years, feeling that he had fulfilled his Merits. Therefore, he had to find a Great Sage to take over his position as sovereign of Human tribe.

Thereupon, Emperor Yao convened all the officials and asked them who could take the place of the Sovereign of Human tribe. Having heard that, the officials discussed for a while, then replied, "The son of the sovereign, whose name is Dan Zhu, is understanding and knowledgeable, and should be qualified to take the position of the Human Sovereign."

Emperor Yao replied disdainfully, "Humph, Dan Zhu is truly foolish, stubborn and fierce. He is not qualified." Everyone fell into silence after hearing this. Dan Zhu was the son whom Emperor Yao liked best. Now that he was eliminated, there was no one left for them to recommend.

After a short silence, the officials started to discuss the candidates again. Finally, they reached a consensus and spoke with one voice, "Kuhuang Majesty Xuanyuan has a grandson, whose name is Gun. He’s very knowledgeable and competent. His conducts are also commended by the people, so he must be qualified for this glorious responsibility."

Having heard that, Emperor Yao lowered his head and thought for a while. When he was about to give his consent, his heart flipped, then he rowed his eyes, stroked his beard and said, "He is definitely great, but it’s best for you to recommend some more candidates, in case we overlooked."

Having heard that, everyone felt that it was quite reasonable, so they started the discussion again. All of a sudden, a minister called Siyue said to Yao, "There is a person named Yu Shun, he lives among the people, and has a noble integrity. But it’s unknown whether he is competent to take the position as sovereign."

Emperor Yao said, "Hmm, I have heard of this person before, but just don’t know how he is. You should tell me in detail. " Siyue answered, "Shun was born in a household environment with an obstinate father, a wicked mother and an arrogant brother named Xiang. His father Gu Sou is blind and harbors evil intentions. His step-mother is a double-dealer. His brother is stubborn and intractable. They collude with each other, and will certainly not feel content unless Shun is gotten rid of.

However, Shun is very obedient to his parents and fulfills his duties as a son. Besides, he has been very kind to his brother for decades and has never changed. When his family was trying to harm him, he fled just in time. Once things got better, he just went back with them and gave as much help as he could. No matter how miserable his life is, or how bad the living environment is, Shun can always live in concord with his family, treat his parents with filial piety, and handle matters at home well. As a result, they could avoid becoming evil and wicked."

Then Yao said, "Let me give him a test first!" So he asked his two daughters Ehuang and Nvying to get married to Shun. Yao observed his character through them and judged whether he could manage a family appropriately. Shun requested them to set their honors aside and live in their house beside the Gui River, obeying the rules of female behavior.

The two girls both favored Shun a lot and obeyed the female virtues. While making pottery, Shun and the people around him all worked hard and carefully. He tried to better the best, and never worked in a rough and slipshod way. Therefore, wherever he went, people followed him with their whole heart. They gathered a village in one year, and after two years, they formed a county. After three years, they were already a capital.

Yao felt very happy to know about these and bestowed him Chiyi, which were cotton clothes made of cambric, qin, cattle, and goats. Yao also built a warehouse for him. Although Gu Sou still tried to kill him and plotted to frame him with the other members of the family, Shun miraculously survived as if the God blessed him. Even after this, Shun treated his parents and brother like before, friendly and much more respectful.

After testing Shun’s conducts, Yao began to give him a chance to engage the government affairs. Yao commanded Shun to take the position of Situ and to be responsible for the implementation of moral education. Shun taught people to behave themselves according to the Five Cardinal Moral Codes, which were righteous fathers, loving mothers, friendly elder brothers, respectful younger brothers and filial sons. All the officials and people were willing to comply with his instructions, and they all acted in accordance with the Five Cardinal Moral Codes.

Yao also asked him to lead all the officials and deal with the government affairs. All the industries were highly developing with no one left. They were all in perfect order.

Yao ordered Shun to stand by Simen of Ming Court, in charge of receiving vassals who made pilgrimages. Shun got along quite well with the vassals and they were harmonious and friendly with one another. Those vassals and guests who were coming from distant places were all respectful to him.

At last, Yao decided to let Shun go into the woods at the foot of a mountain. He had to go in alone to take the nature’s test. Caught in fierce rain and thunderstorm, Shun couldn’t differentiate directions but still walked on, which showed his strong viability. Through all these tests, Yao saw Shun’s great talents and moral virtues. Shun got Yao’s recognition eventually, and Emperor Yao ordered preparations to be ready to pass the position as sovereign to Shun.

While Emperor Yao was a sovereign, he spent much time propagating the Western Religious Sect, but it didn’t work well. Before the time of the Three Royals and Five Emperors, the Tribe of Humanity, Tribe of Severity, and Tribe of Humanity had already preached in Human Tribe, but Western Religious Sect only had an influence in the east. Although Emperor Yao propagated it, Western Religious Sect was too distant for Human Tribe. Luckily, there were still some people who professed Western Religious Sect, which helped Western Religious Sect to somehow prosper in the east.

Shun’s mentor was Sacred Lady Jin Ling in the Tribe of Severity. The first disciple in Tribe of Severity, Abundant Treasures Buddha, was arranged to be the last Mentor of Human Sovereign. After Shun took the position as sovereign in Human Tribe, Sacred Lady Jin Ling consequently accompanied him, solving all the problems for him and teaching him the method of cultivation.

With the support of Tribe of Severity, Emperor Shun started to make implementations. Firstly, Emperor Shun inspected whether there was anything wrong with the movement of the sun, the moon, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, and Saturn by observing the Big Dipper. Then he held a provisional ceremony to offer sacrifices and tell the Sages. To fete Heaven, the Earth, and four heavens, he burned sacrificial offerings on fire. To fete famous mountains and great rivers, he offered sacrifices from afar. Then he feted all the deities.

He gathered five jade symbols from dukes, vassals, counts, viscount, and marquis, which were Huangui, Xingui, Gonggui, Gubi, and Pubi. Then he chose a bright and propitious day to summon Siyue and governors from all states and gave the jades to them. During the time Shun made an inspection tour to the east, and he burned firewood to fete the East Yue when he arrived at Mount Tai. He then feted all the famous mountains and great rivers by offering sacrifices from afar.

Then, he called in all vassals from the east to help rectify the four seasons, solar terms, length of a month or a day and unified the standard of music temperament, length, capacity, and weight. They also revised the five manners, which are Propitious, Ominous, Guests, Army, and Prizes. According to his stipulation, when having a meeting with the emperor, the vassals should bring five apertured jade tablets and three silk fabrics. Qing Tau Fu is supposed to bring lambs and wild geese, and scholar-officials should bring dead pheasants. After the pilgrims, five apertured jade tablets should be returned to the vassals.

Shun told the vassals how to govern a country, inspecting according to their performances, awarding carriages and clothes according to their contributions. Shun divided the whole country into 12 states and dredged rivers and lakes. He also regulated that the law should be enforced according to penalty. He also implemented banishment, replacing tattooing, nose-cutting, castration, and decapitation. They punished people with whips in the feudal official. In the educational institutions, they punished people with ferrules.

Those faults caused by disasters can be absolved. Whoever persisted in evil and refuse to repent should be punished. At the same time, Sanmiao incited revolts for several times around the Yangtze-Huaihe river basin and Province of Jing. When Shun came to inspect, he banished Huandou to Mount Chong to change the customs of Southern Man. He also ordered Sanmiao to migrate to Mount Sanwei to change the customs of Western Rong. What Shun had done was very pleasing to the people.

However, things happened unexpectedly. During the late stage of Shun’s governance, there were torrential rains and floods in the Untainted Land. Moreover, it got worse and worse. It was not the Dragon Tribe who was to blame this time, but a real natural calamity. Shun was not quite skilled at this. With no alternative, he gave this important task to another Great Sage in Human Tribe, whose name was Gun.

Gun’s father was Emperor Zhuanxu. Zhuanxu’s father was Changyi. Changyi’s father was the Yellow Emperor. He was honorable among the Human Tribe, and a mighty candidate to be the Human Sovereign. It was a waste that they all became Zhi’s ministers. He was dismissed after Emperor Yao became the sovereign of Human tribe.

When Gun was young, he was taught by a deity and learned lots of skills. Since he took the responsibility of regulating water, he worked hard with all his heart. However strong Gun was, he couldn’t block the flooding alone. Even if the whole Human Tribe gathered to contribute all their advice and efforts, the natural disaster couldn’t be stopped.

However, Gun still felt a great responsibility for it. Having got Emperor Shun’s orders, Gun packed his luggage and then regulated the water problems with the others. Gun adopted the method of obstructing. He used the magical earth that Goddess Nvywa had left after creating the humankind. He also made dams to force the water of the Yellow River to return to its own position. Gun blocked the river and deposited water, which contributed to the irrigation of agriculture.

Though the flooding problem subsided temporarily, it was not settled forever. Ten years later, the flooding problem broke out again, and it was even fiercer. Human Tribe suffered a great loss for a while. Consequently, Gun was beheaded in public by Emperor Shun.

After Shun’s death, a baby was born from his corpse, who was saved by Abundant Treasures Buddha, the first disciple in Tribe of Severity. Abundant Treasures gave Yu to Gun’s wife and told her to bring the child up. After Yu knew what had happened to his father, he decided to avenge the insult and settle the flooding problem. He ran here and there to find good methods to solve the flooding problem.