(Clearwisdom.net) A fellow Chinese Falun Gong practitioner once shared with me his personal understanding on the meaning of Zhong (忠), which means loyalty to one’s king or superiors. He once read a story in a biography about Yue Fei, who was a highly celebrated military general in the Southern Song Dynasty most known for his unyielding loyalty to his emperor.
When Yue Fei, his son Yue Yun, and his right-hand man Zhang Xian, were on death row, one of his subordinates Zhang Bao, broke into the prison in an attempt to free them. But Yue Fei refused to flee. He declared, “If His Majesty wishes me to die, I will have no other choice.” He was determined to be loyal to his emperor. Yue Yun and Zhang Xian, too, refused to flee. They wanted to die together with Yue Fei.
Zhang Bao decided that he would be disloyal to his friends if he should survive alone, so he killed himself in front of them. Yue Fei told Yue Yun and Zhang Xian, “Today the four of us have manifested the meanings of Zhong (忠), Xiao (孝), Jie (節) and Yi (義).” [Zhong (忠): Loyalty to one’s emperor or superior; Xiao (孝): Filial piety to one’s parents; Jie (節): Code of honor; Yi (義): Loyalty to one’s friends]
The fellow practitioner’s eyes were red with tears as he was telling me the story. He said that when he read this story he realized that loyalty is a necessary quality for a being.
A divine being creates a being and gives that being everything he or she needs. Therefore, that life must completely obey his lord and that’s how it should be. For example, if a Buddha wishes to drink water and creates a drinking cup with his thought, then the meaning and purpose of the cup is to contain water for the Buddha. If one day the cup decides that it no longer wishes to carry water for the Buddha, then it has deviated from its nature. In other words, it has degenerated in nature.
I recall something I once read in the Confucian classics: One’s nature manifests one’s mission given by heaven. For Falun Gong practitioners, it should be our nature to fulfill the missions given by Teacher and Dafa. We must do our utmost to fulfill our mission. There is a Chinese saying, “One must do one’s best to be loyal and to be filial.” To be loyal to Teacher and Dafa, we must let go of any attachment to life and death.
The fellow practitioner emphasized the importance of being able to let go of the thought of life and death at any given time. He experienced the most adverse environment for two years, where he exchanged understandings about life and death with fellow practitioners nearly every day. I can definitely relate to that experience because I, too, faced the threat of death many times and I prevailed over the tests after I was determined to let it go. Afterwards I was rather pleased with myself because I felt I was impervious. But when I faced subsequent tribulations, I found myself filled with all kinds of impure thoughts. When the persecution escalated, I felt I could not let go of the thought of life and death. When challenged with more severe tests, I suddenly realized that I was not able to face the threat of death calmly! One does not truly let go of the thought of life and death unless one is truly impervious. It is not only one’s life, but also one’s thoughts that one should be impervious to.
Many people in China call Yue Fei foolish because he was unconditionally loyal to his emperor. My personal opinion is this understanding is a result of the degeneration caused by the Chinese Communist Party’s ideology. During the Class Struggle and Red Terror, the Chinese people had to betray their own parents, children, spouse, and friends in order to survive. Loyalty and honor were forsaken, while betrayal was adopted in its place. In the end, loyalty became a foolish notion, and to be cunning became synonymous with being smart. Such are the thoughts of today's Chinese people; they are the thoughts of a degenerated and depraved people. If a society is full of such people, how can it not lead to its own demise?