"The title of this series is Water-Mirror Turning Back the Tide of Destiny. The intention in writing this series of essays is to "confer praise or censure; to distinguish good from evil." We can apply the good methods we discover and be careful to avoid methods that we found to be evil." This series covers the famous people of China and other countries. "Famous people" does not refer only to good people, but also to infamous people. The famous people are honored by thousands of generations; the infamous people will be despised for tens of thousands of years. And so, those who seek fame may wish to be honored by posterity, but some end up being despised for thousands of centuries. In this age, people are muddled and confused. They mistake thieves for their sons, and consider black to be white. They avoid drowning by leaping into the fire. Therefore, in order to light a bright lamp in the darkness of these times, I bring up those of the past to serve as mirrors for us. Those who were good can be our models; those who were evil can serve as examples of what we should not emulate. I hope, by discussing them, to wake people up from their muddled dream so that they will not be so avid for fame and profit, but will pursue more proper goals instead. Those are my objectives in writing this book. The intent of this book, and the reason it is entitled Water-Mirror Turning Back the Tide of Destiny, is to ward off the world's ill fate. And yet the situation is nebulous as that of the moon appearing in water or flowers appearing in a mirror. Whether it is possible to avert that Will of Heaven is as tenuous as the moon in water or flowers in a mirror. Nevertheless, I still wish to go ahead and exert all my effort in the face of whatever difficulty, to fulfill my responsibility. And so I am writing this book, making its style quite simple so it will be very easy for people to understand. Excerpt from a talk by |
