Baozang felt very puzzled and immediately returned to Beijing. Meanwhile, the emperor, Taizong, was suffering badly from dysentery. Many doctors had tried to treat him but were all ineffective. So, the emperor issued an imperial order to all officials in the court, directing them to find someone who could treat this kind of illness. He told them that whoever found such a person would certainly get a generous reward.

Baozang himself had previous bouts with dysentery, so upon hearing news of the emperor’s condition, he submitted the prescription for the cure he had used. The medicine consisted of stir-frying piper longumi with milk. After taking this medicine, the emperor immediately became well and subsequently issued an imperial order for the prime minister, Wei Zheng, to appoint Zhang Baozang to a government position of official with the fifth highest rank. Wei Zheng, however, didn’t like Zhao Baozang and decided on his own not to issue the promotion order for Zhang Baozang.

More than a month went by, and the emperor suddenly suffered from the same sickness again. He said to the nearby servants, “The fried piper longumi remedy I took before was very effective,” and ordered them to prepare the medicine again. He became well again after taking this medicine. Upon his recovery, the emperor reflected for a while and said to his prime minister, “I once issued an order to award the person who presented the formula with a position that carries the fifth highest rank. I don’t remember seeing that person being promoted yet. Why is that?” Wei Zheng became afraid, and said, “When I got you order, I did not know whether you meant to honor him with a civil official position or a military one.” The emperor became angry, “He cured the emperor. Why don’t we give him a position that carries the third-highest rank? I am an emperor. Am I inferior to you?” Severely he continued, “Honor him with a civil official position with a designation of the third-highest rank. In addition, honor him with the title ‘Honglu Loyal Minister Official.’”

All of these events happened on the 60th day of the monk’s prediction.

Qi Jiguang (November 12, 1528 – January 5, 1588) was a national hero during the Ming Dynasty. He was best remembered for his courage and leadership in the fight against Japanese pirates along the east coast of China as well as his reinforcement work on the Great Wall of China. According to historical accounts, Qi Jiguang’s father, Qi Jingtong (戚景通), was an honest and upright man. He cultivated in his son a yearning for knowledge as well as a firm set of morals. When his father died, Qi Jiguang took over the commandership of the Dengzhou Garrison at the age of seventeen. The rest, as they say, is history.

Qi Jingtong was rather old at the age of 56 before having a son, and he loved the child dearly. He personally taught Qi Jiguang to read books and to practice martial arts. He was also very strict when it came to his son’s character development and moral conduct.

One day, when Qi Jiguang was 13, he tried on a pair of exquisitely made silk shoes and fell in love with them. He walked back and forth in the courtyard lingering and relishing in their elegance. This caught the eye of his father.

His father called him to the study and admonished him angrily, “Once you put on good shoes, you will naturally want to wear good clothes. Once you wear good clothes, you will naturally think about eating good food. At such a young age, you have already developed the yearning for good clothing and good food. In time to come, you will be insatiably greedy and when you grow up, you will pursue delicious food and beautiful clothing. If you were a military officer, perhaps you would even embezzle the soldiers’ pay. If you continue like this, it would be difficult for you to succeed in any undertaking honestly.”

Qi Jiguan’s father then learnt that the silk shoes were a gift from his maternal grandfather. But even so, he ordered Jiguang to take off the shoes and instantly tore them to pieces. He did this to prevent Jiguang from developing the bad habit of indulging in luxury.

The Qi family has a dozen dilapidated thatched huts that had been left in disrepair for many years so Qi Jingtong hired several craftsmen to renovate them. In order to have a presentable place to receive officials from the royal court, he asked the artisans to install four engraved doors in the main hall and had Qi Jiguang supervising the installation.

The artisans considered the Qi family a prominent and prestigious household and thought that it would not be befitting if there were only four engraved doors. They talked to Qi Jiguang privately, “Your family consist of great Generals. For such a prestigious household, all doors throughout the compound should be engraved with flowery embossments, which would be twelve leaves in total. Only this can match the prestige of your family.” Qi Jiguang thought their suggestion was reasonable and brought it up with his father.

Qi Jingtong reprimanded his son sternly for his vain and flashy idea and warned him, “If you pursue vanity, you won’t be able to accomplish great things when you grow up.” Qi Jiguang accepted his father’s criticism and told the artisans to install only four engraved doors.

Qi Jingtong also taught his son that the purpose of studying literature and practicing martial arts was not to pursue personal fame and fortune but to serve the country and the people, and also to cultivate moral conducts such as, “loyalty, filial piety, incorruptibility, and proprieties”.

Under his father’s personal instruction through his words and deeds, Qi Jiguang was content with a quiet and modest existence. He diligently focused on his studies and his practice of martial arts. Later, he became a celebrated General and defended the country against foreign invasion and was also an outstanding military strategist in the Ming Dynasty. His legacy was firmly etched in the annals of history.

Showing off, wallowing in and attaching to things like external appearance, wealth, knowledge, achievements and status in order to gain adulation and praise are all signs of vanity. The root of vanity is egotism. This trait will undermine one’s lofty aspirations and cause one to fall short of being anything great. If one becomes slave to such illusory glory and fights with or even harms others, it will be lamentable indeed.

Even though Qi Jiguang’s family prestige and status could support a life of indulgence and opulence, his father did not wish for him to be brought up in pursuit of these ways, and instead focused on his inner character and upright moral standing.

Many parents who are often eager to give their children the best of everything in our modern materialistic world could well take a lesson from this approach, and teach their children to appreciate that success in life does not depend on what you wear or what you own, but should be a reflection of the strength of your character and moral values.

Near the end of Sui Dynasty there was a poor scholar who lived in Taiyuan City. This scholar earned his meager income from teaching. His home was near an official storehouse. One day he went into it and found several thousand strings of cash. He could not help taking some of the cash.

At the same moment, a man in golden armor suddenly appeared and pointed a weapon at him saying, “If you want money, you must get permission from Duke Weichi. His name is Weichi Jingde. This is his money.

The scholar didn’t know who Weichi Jingde was. He started looking for him everywhere. One day, he arrived at a forge and was told that the blacksmith’s name was Weichi Jingde. He was busy hammering iron with his upper body naked and hair messy. When the blacksmith stopped working and took a break, the scholar went up and spoke the formal greeting. Weichi Jingde asked him why he paid him such a formal greeting. The scholar said, “I’m very poor and you are very rich. I wonder whether you could give me 500 strings of coins.” Weichi Jingde became very upset and said, “I’m a poor blacksmith. How can I be a rich man? Why are you insulting me?”

The scholar said, “If you could have pity on me, please give me a written note. You’ll understand in the future what is going on.” Weichi Jingde gave up and told the scholar to w

rite a note for himself. The notice said that the blacksmith was giving 500 strings of coins to the scholar. Weichi then dated it and signed it.

The scholar paid his grateful respects and left with the note. Weichi and his apprentices laughed at him since they thought he was absolutely absurd.

The scholar returned to the storehouse where he met the man in golden armor again. He gave him the note. The man smiled and said, “Right,” and asked the scholar to hang up the note on the beam of the storehouse and to take exactly 500 strings of cash.

A few years later, Weichi Jingde joined the army of Li Shimin. He rose in the ranks, and became a general and a close associate of Li Shimin. Li Shimin and his father eventually overthrew the corrupt Sui dynasty, and Li Shimin himself later became Emperor Tang Taizong. Because of his outstanding military service and contribution to the country, Weichi Jingde was given the title of Duke Weichi. When it was time for him to retire, Emperor Tang Taizong awarded him a lot of money and a storehouse, which had never been touched. After the storehouse was opened and the money had been checked, 500 strings of coins were found missing. When he was just about to punish the storehouse guard, Weichi suddenly found a note hanging up on the house beam. He recognized the note as the one that was written when he was a blacksmith. When he finally got over his astonishment a couple of days later, he privately sent someone to look for the scholar. The scholar was found and he told Weichi the whole story. Weichi Jingde gave him a lot of money and distributed the rest of the property in the storehouse to all the friends he had made when he was a blacksmith.

The man in the golden armor must have been someone extraordinary.

The Qi King, Qi Jinggong (547 B. C. - 490 B. C.) was enjoying the scenery from his window while wearing a fox fur coat. He felt that the snow was becoming more and more beautiful, and wished that the snow would continue for several more days so the scenery would be even prettier.

At this moment, his courtier Yan Ying stepped in. Qi Jinggong said to him in high spirits, “The weather is strange this winter. You see, it has been snowing for three days, yet I do not feel cold, but rather feel like the spring is here.”

Yan Ying saw that Jinggong wore a warm fur coat and his room had a hot stove burning, so of course he felt like it was spring. Yan Ying asked Jinggong intentionally, “Are you sure it is not cold at all?”

Jinggong felt that Yan Ying’s question was rather funny and then nodded his head with a smile. Yan Ying knew Jinggong did not understand why he asked such a question, so then he spoke frankly. “My King, I heard that a wise king would think of hungry people when he is full, think of cold people when he is warm, and think of miserable people when he is comfortable and happy. How come you did not think of others?”

Jinggong was very embarrassed and his face blushed red because he knew he was wrong.

This story tells us that one should not care only about oneself without caring about others. One should think of others more in every circumstance.

Story sourced from (Clearwisdom.net)

At first, when the donkey realized what was happening he cried horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement, he quieted down and let out some happy brays. A few shovel loads later, the farmer looked down the well to see what was happening and was astonished at what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was shaking it off and taking a step up. (Shifting)

As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he continued to shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, to everyone’s amazement, the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off!

Moral: Life is going to shovel dirt on you. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Every adversity can be turned into a stepping stone. The way to get out of the deepest well is by never giving up but by shaking yourself off and taking a step up.

What happens to you isn’t nearly as important as how you react to it.

During the Yuan Dynasty, in the spring of the 24th year of Emperor Ziyuan (A.D. 1287), Hu Bilie entrusted authority to his minister Shang Ge. However, Shang Ge was autocratic and cruel in his politics. He favored members of his own party and at the same time, rebuked and attacked politicians from other parties who had differing views. Shang Ge established a department called the “Zhengli” (tax collection) that was responsible for collecting owed taxes. This department dispatched many officers to monitor the roads. People who could not pay the taxes were arrested, and the jails were soon crowded with people. People who walked on the road dared not talk and were often suspicious of each other.

Then Beijing suffered an earthquake. Arluhunsali wrote a letter to Hu Bilie recommending that he speak out about the situation openly. He said that the cause of the earthquake was the excessive tax collecting by the “Zhengli” Department and that people were furious and complained angrily. He appealed to Hu Bilie to do away with the “Zhengli” department and release the innocent people from jail. Hu Bilie followed Arluhunsali’s recommendation, eliminated the “Zhengli” Department and waived the owed taxes. On the day that he announced his decision to the entire nation, people in Beijing cheered and celebrated. The market sold out of liquor. Later, Shang Ge’s corruption was exposed, and he was dismissed from office and tried in court. When he was facing sentencing, Shang Ge sighed to Arluhunsali, “I ended up here today because I did not heed your advice.”

In ancient China, everyone from the emperor and senior officials to the common people believed in the correspondence between heaven and the human world. They believed that if an emperor is virtuous and cares for his people, then gods will give people auspicious signs and blessings. If an emperor is ill-hearted and rules his country ruthlessly, harming his people, then gods will send disasters to warn the emperor. Earthquakes, droughts and other natural disasters were signs of warning to rulers. Whenever disasters came from heaven, emperors all needed to think about what they did wrong and issue an imperial decree to expose their mistakes to the whole nation. They fasted and prayed. They freed all innocent prisoners and tried to correct their mistakes in order to beg for pardon from gods and therefore bring an end to calamities and lay a foundation for a good fortune.

Tian Ji’s Mother Refuses to Accept a Bribe of Gold

During the Warring States Period (453–221 B.C.), Tian Ji was the prime minister of the Qi State. He was known for his hard work and diligence.

One day one of Tian’s subordinates presented Tian with a gift of 100 taels of gold so that he could be favored by Tian. [the Chinese tael refers to a unit of measure in the ancient Chinese system of weights and currency. One tael of silver weighed about 40 grams]. Tian refused the gift repeatedly, but he eventually accepted it to be diplomatic. He returned home and forwarded the gift to his mother. But his mother was outraged and scolded him, “This gold is worth more than your salary for the past three years as a prime minister! Have you robbed the gold from the people or have you accepted a bribe?”

Tian Ji lowered his head and told his mother what had happened. His mother responded to him solemnly, “I heard that a learned man must govern his behaviors vigilantly, cherish his good name, and never take anything that does not belong to him. A learned man should have nothing to hide as he will not cheat or take advantage of others. A learned man will repel bad gestures and reject bribes. You carry the responsibility of the state’s administration, so you are supposed to set a good example for the people. But now you have taken a bribe from one of your subordinates. You have cheated the duke and failed the people. You have truly broken my heart! You must return the gold right away and ask the duke for punishment!”

Tian Ji felt terribly ashamed of himself after hearing his mother’s admonishment. He immediately returned the gold and then went to the royal court to confess to the Duke of the Qi State of his wrongdoing. Tian told the Duke what his mother had told him and begged the Duke to accept his resignation. The duke praised Tian’s mother highly for her moral values. He told the entire court of officials, “A virtuous mother raises virtuous sons! Now that I know you have a virtuous mother, I no longer need to worry about corruption in my state. I shall pardon you for your misdemeanor.”

The duke issued an imperial edict and ordered the entire state to learn from Tian Ji’s mother. Her emphasis on raising children with upright morals as the base for education left a deep impression with the duke. From then on, Tian Ji governed his behavior with an even higher standard.

Cui Xuanhui’s Mother Teaches Him to be Loyal and Incorrupt

Cui Xuanhu was a high-level government official in the Tang Dynasty (618–907 A.D.). His mother once told him, “I’ve heard that when one’s child becomes a government official, you can tell that he is a good official if he leads a simple, frugal life and that he must be a bad official if he is frivolous with money and leads a life of luxury. I could not agree more. I’ve noticed that many of our relatives provided their parents with lots of money, but their parents never asked them where the money came from. It would be good if the money came from their salaries; otherwise, they would be no better than bandits. Even if these people did not commit terrible crimes, I wonder how they can sleep at night. You are receiving a salary from the government. If you are not loyal, pure, and honest, how can you face Heaven?”

Cui Xuanhui followed his mother’s words closely. He was a loyal official and looked after the people in his state. He was later known as a very untainted and honest official.

It is a Chinese traditional virtue to be honest, pure, and uncorrupted if you are a public servant. Parents set a good example for their children by governing their own speech and conduct and by guarding their own morality. In turn, children were inculcated with good moral standards.

Being truly responsible to their children, parents in ancient China were very mindful for their children’s upright bringing and honourable characters. Virtuous parents taught their children to be moral members of the society, always be honest to themselves and others and not be swayed by temptations.

It was said that, in the Ming Dynasty, a new Futai (provincial governor-general) assumed office in Hangzhou City. This person was also surnamed Qin, and was Qin Hui’s descendant. Not long after taking up the post, one day the Futai led one of his subordinates on a tour of the West Lake. When he came to the Yue Fei Shrine and saw his ancestor keening down before Yue Fei, he hurriedly covered his face with cloth and backed up.

After returning to the yamen (a government office in feudal China), the Futai was very nervous. He called his subordinate in to discuss how to remove the iron-cast statues.

The subordinate stroked his beard, thought for a little while, and said, “If we remove the statues openly, the common people certainly won’t allow it, and they might even stir things up. In my opinion, it’s better to have this pair of statues thrown into the West Lake. Sunken in such a huge lake, they won’t possibly be found even if the lake water was all syphoned out.”

The Futai said, “Excellent! Excellent!” So he had the statues removed that very night and the statues were then thrown into the lake.

Unexpectedly, at dawn the very next morning, a strange thing happened: the water of West Lake began to smell. It smelled so bad that people became lethargic and wanted to throw up when they went near the water.

Someone discovered two iron-cast statues in front of the Yue Fei Shrine were missing, and yelled, “Come and see, two statues are missing. Somebody must have thrown them into the West Lake. Otherwise, why would the water stink so badly?”

After finding that the statues in front the Yue Fei Shrine were missing, many common people came to the Futai yamen to report it and request that the criminals responsible for removing the statues be arrested.

The Futai was still sleeping. Hearing a lot of noise, he got up and asked what was going on. His subordinate explained to him what was happening. Having a guilty conscience, the Fuitai told his subordinate to spread the word that he was ill.

Would the common folks leave? Hardly. More and more people came and the crowd almost pushed down the stone lions in front of the government compound. The Futai was afraid something big would happen if things kept on going like that, so he forced himself to come out and face the crowd. He said, “This – is all rumour. Please don’t be so ready to believe it.”

The common people said, “You’ll know when you see whether it’s rumour or not.”

The crowd surrounded the Futai and was determined to drag him to go and have a look. The Futai had no other choice but to sit on the large sedan chair carried by eight people and they came to the West Lake. A few li’s (the distance unit used by Chinese people. 1 li = 500 meters, or 0.3 mile) away from the lakefront, he smelled a strong odour blowing straight to the sedan chair. Luckily he hadn’t eaten breakfast in the morning because he didn’t get a chance. Even then he barely managed to hold back the vomit.

Upon arriving at the lakefront, the Futai peeked through the curtain seam, and saw nothing but a dense crowd in front of him. With his heart beating fast, he walked out of the sedan chair slowly. He dry-coughed several times and said, “It’s normal for the lake water to stink once in a while, and you don’t have to make a big fuss about it. In my opinion, this has nothing to do with the iron-cast statues.”

By now, some people roared in the crowd, “What’s your relationship with Qin Hui? Why would you even shield him?!”

For a while, the Futai didn’t know what to answer. He calmed himself down and thought to himself, “Don’t panic! The statues have sunk to the bottom of the lake, who can possibly find them?” The thoughts comforted him greatly, and he said arrogantly, “Stop deliberately creating trouble! If anybody can really scoop the statues out of the lake, this official is willing to resign and ask for punishment!”

As soon as his words came out, the pitch-black lake water suddenly became limpid and clear. A pair of iron-cast statues floated off from the bottom of the lake, as if lifted by somebody, drifted straight toward the Futai.

The Futai was frightened and his face turned yellow. He rushed into the sedan chair headfirst and yelled, “Run! Run!”

The crowd started to throw stones toward his chair as he ran away. When the sedan chair arrived at the yamen, many holes had already been punched into the canopy by stones. The back of the Fautai’s head had three large bumps each as big as a walnut. That very night, not daring to wear the official headgear, the descendant of Qin Hui escaped Hangzhou City like a drowned mouse.

After the iron-cast statues drifted to shore, the common people scooped them out of the water and put them back to kneel at the Yue Fei Shrine.