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The Birth of the Buddha 10. The Great Passing
The Birth of Confucius
The Birth of Confucius
Once upon a time, in a place called Tsou, there lived a man named Shu-liang Ho,
who was also called K’ung Ho. He had been a soldier, now retired, and he was so
tall that people said he was ten feet tall. He lived in China some two thousand
five hundred years ago, at about the time when Gautama Buddha lived in India.
K’ung Ho was an older man, perhaps 70 years old. His first wife had died, and
leaving him the father of nine daughters. But K’ung Ho also hoped to have a son.
So he went to the head of the noble house of Yen, and asked for one of their
daughters in marriage. The youngest daughter, Yen Ching-tsai, said that she
would be willing to marry this older man.
The two were married, and not long thereafter Yen Ching-tsai traveled to Ni-ch’iu
Mountain, one of the mountains that Emperor Shun had dedicated to the worship of
its guardian spirit. There she offered up prayers, hoping that she might give
birth to a boy-child. That night, she dreamed that a spirit came to her and
said, “You shall have a son, who will be a great sage and prophet, and you must
bring him forth in the hollow mulberry tree.” Not long after this dream, she
became pregnant. (1)
While she was pregnant, she fell into a dreamy state, and five old men came up
to here, leading behind them a unicorn (this was a Chinese unicorn, or K’e-lin,
was the size of a small cow, had one horn, and was covered in scales). The
unicorn carried in its mouth a tablet made of green jade. On the tablet was
carved a prophecy: “The son of the essence of water shall soon succeed to the
withering Chou, and be a throneless king”; which meant that her baby would grow
up to become wise and valued leader, even though he would never hold political
power. She tied a silk scarf around the unicorn’s horn, upon which the animal
disappeared. (2)
Soon it came time for Yen Tching-tsai to give birth. She told her husband that
she must give birth in the “hollow mulberry tree,” wherever that was, and her
husband said that there was a dry cave in a hill nearby that went by that name.
So even though she was near to giving birth, they travelled to the dry cave that
was named “The Hollow Mulberry.” (3)
On the night the child was born, two dragons appeared in the sky to keep watch;
one to the right of the hill where the cave was, the other to the left of the
hill. Then two spirits appeared in the air above the hill, two women who poured
out fragrant drafts, as if to bathe Ching-tsai in beautiful aromas as she was
giving birth. (4)
And within the cave, Ching-tsai heard music, and a voice saying to her: “Heaven
is moved at the birth of your son, and sends down harmonious sounds.” A spring
of water bubbled up within the dry cave, so that Ching-tsai could bathe her new
baby; and to confirm the prophecy that the new baby was the “son of the essence
of water.” (5)
The Dragons and the Wise Men keep watch (5)
Five venerable men came from afar to pay their respects to the new baby. (6)
Some people said they were the five old men of the sky, the five immortals who
never die, and they had come down from the five planets to celebrate the birth
of this great child. (7)
This little baby grew up to be a great human being, a prophet and sage who was
known as K’ung-fu-tzu, the Master or Teacher K’ung; or here in the Western
world, he is best known to us by the name Confucius.
Confucius said that by the age of fifteen, he knew that he wanted to spend the
rest of his life learning how to master one’s own self, and learning how we can
live harmoniously with brothers and sisters, with our parents and children, with
all those with whom we come into contact. He learned these things, and he began
to teach others how to live wisely and well. Confucius grew so famous that
leaders of nations invited him to come and teach them how to govern their
nations fairly and wisely. Even today, some two thousand five hundred years
after he was born, millions of people around the world still follow his
teachings.
This story is copyright (c) 2009 Daniel Harper. Permission granted to religious
congregations to reproduce this story.
Footnotes
(1) Confucius, the Great Teacher: A Study, by George Gardiner Alexander. pp. 33
ff. The Chinese Classics: Life and teachings of Confucius, vol. 2, trans. James
Legge, p. 58. Confucius: His Life and Thought, by Shigeki Kaizuka (Dover
reprint, 1956/2002), pp. 42-44.
(2) Sages and filial sons: mythology and archaeology in ancient China, by Julia
Ching and R. W. L. Guisso (Chinese University Press, 1991), p. 143. Legge, p. 58
n.
(3) Legge, p. 58 n.
(4) Ibid.
(5) The dragon, image, and demon, or, The three religions of China:
Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, by Hampden C. DuBose (New York: A.C.
Armstrong, 1887), pp. 91-92. (Source of illustration)
(6) Ibid.
(7) From Long Ago and Many Lands, by Sophia Fahs (Boston: Beacon, 1948).
The Birth of Jesus Christ 孔子是不是私生子
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