【Description】
How did Zhu Yuanzhang rise from a cowherd boy to become emperor? He had spent time as a monk, begged for food and joined the army; he had been so poor that he couldn’t afford to bury his parents and brother. From living as the lowest of society to ascending the highest throne to reign over all people, was every stage of his life a coincidence or determined by fate?
In this video, Grandmaster JinBodhi tells the remarkable life of Zhu Yuanzhang. The story includes two secret codes: “88” and “99”; what secrets are embedded in these codes? Please listen to Grandmaster JinBodhi’s teaching.
【You will learn】
- The history of Zhu Yuanzhang
- The story of Zhu Yuanzhang becoming a monk and a beggar, and later his time in the military
- The secret behind the coincidence between Zhu Yuanzhang’s name and the events that were destined to unfold
【Content】
Hello, everyone. (Hi, Master.) Today, we meet again according to the plan to continue the discussion on this complex topic, fate. Everyone has their own perception of fate. I think especially those who are of a certain age have a perception and summary about fate, or have some judgment and realization.
It is difficult to describe fate. Many hidden factors could affect one’s fate. We don’t understand these arcane truths. Sometimes we feel that we grasp some clues, but we still can’t really understand. It feels like you’ve seen through it, but it is actually hard to grasp. It is really hard to say. So we can only learn from some stories, as these stories are from real cases.
Don’t just listen to my words alone. I still want us to continue our discussion. Does everyone still want to hear Zhu Yuanzhang’s story? After listening to it, we wonder whether a person has a destiny or not. We would learn to think on our own.
This was Zhu’s family condition. He lived in the Fengyang region of Anhui Province. He hadn’t received an education, he took care of landlord’s cows. This wasn’t hard labor; he only needed to goad the cows to the hill to eat grass. As long as the cows didn’t fall to their deaths or run away, it was fine.
OK. Let’s talk about the bad things he did when he was little. He was a kid with wild dreams. How crazy? Kids don’t care about rich or poor. Kids are good friends as long as they can play together, right? He would often tell his companions, “Follow and listen to me well. In the future, I will make you a general.” He would often have this thought. Normal kids don’t boast that much while playing games. Boasting about being a great swordsman is OK. But usually no one talks about being a lord, emperor or queen.
Kids loved to hear him boast. One day his companion said, “Brother Chong Ba, if we all listen to you, what is there in it for us? Aren’t you the emperor?” Zhu Yuanzhang was called Chong Ba when he was young. Chong Ba thought to himself, “I have to give some benefits at some point.” But he had nothing. Eventually, out of nowhere, he said, “You will have meat to eat.” What meat? Beef.
Wasn’t he taking care of the cows for others? They were all poor kids. So as soon as he said there was beef, they all said, “We will listen to you. We will do whatever you tell us to do.” Zhu said, “Kneel down and kowtow to me. Call me Emperor Zhu and I’ll kill a cow for you to eat.” Those kids would do anything to eat meat. So they regarded him as Emperor Zhu.
They had kowtowed, and he had said those words. What could he do? He killed a cow. He didn’t worry about the consequences; he just killed the cow, and managed to cook the beef. His brothers were eating pretty happily. How did he explain to the landlord that one cow was missing? This Chong Ba was very naughty. The cow tail is inedible; so he stuck the cow tail into a crack in the stone of the mountain.
The landlord asked, “Where is my cow?” Zhu said, “That cow went into the mountains. Look, the tail is still sticking out.” He showed the landlord the tail, which had obviously been sliced off by a knife. The landlord said, “That is nonsense. You guys killed it, there are traces of cow blood, and there is the pot used to cook the cow.” This landlord was in a rage and said, “This kid is too naughty. You’ve cost me money. You are supposed to take care of the cow, but you ate it instead, and came up with this stupid lie. If you ever do this again, I will hit you and hire someone else.”
He didn’t have the chance to replace Zhu before Zhu’s parents died. Zhu’s family encountered other difficulties. Zhu’s brother lived in his wife’s village; he came back to arrange the funeral. They were migrants and didn’t have their own land. But they would have to bury their dead parents somewhere. Where to bury them? They didn’t have land. The brothers approached the landlord for whom their parents worked; they said, “Look, they have worked for you for many years and sadly, they have died. Just find an empty place to bury them.”
The landlord said, “You ate my cow, now you want my land. Kids, you have a problem with your morals. No.” His parents had died; Zhu must have been really sad and in pain. I think he cried so much that Heaven started crying too. So their neighbor Liu said, “How about this: We have a hill-side land. It is not for farming, anyway. Just use it for your parents.”
Maybe 2 or 3 days later, they invited people in the neighborhood to help carry and bury their parents. Just when they were about to walk up the hill while carrying the coffin, and had not yet finished digging the hole, suddenly the weather became crazy. Rain started pouring and the wind howled. The helpers said, “The rain is too heavy. We need to find a shelter fast. We can’t work in such heavy rain.” So they found a shelter.
And after a long while, the wind and rain stopped, and the sun came out. They said, “We still have work to do. They haven’t been buried yet.” But they walked back to the hill, and found that the coffin was gone. There was a big pile of dirt. This was what happened. When the wind and rain came, there was a landslide, or what we called a mudslide, that slid down and buried the coffin. The mud that slid down very conveniently buried the coffins. This was a miracle, right?
This story was recalled and written by Zhu himself. Zhu’s parents rested in peace. After the funeral, his brother needed to go back to his wife’s family. Zhu was 15 or 16 years old when his parents died. He had nowhere to go. Suddenly he remembered that there is a temple near his house behind the mountain. He decided to stay there for a while and think of a plan. What was the temple called? The Temple of Royal Awakening.
He went to the temple. He told the abbot his name, his father’s name, and how his father had died. The abbot said, “You can come here. When you were small, your father came here to register. We wanted you to become a monk here, but your parents were reluctant to let you go and said they would think about it. Now they have passed away and here you are. Sure, we talked about this before. It is also an opportunity to come here to self-cultivate. Just stay here.”
So he stayed at the temple to self-cultivate. He learned many things there. First, he learned some Buddhist dharma. Before he came to the temple, he was illiterate. I believe his parents were illiterate too. But once he came there, he needed to learn The Buddha Sutra and the basic principles. So the old master taught him. Zhu started reading The Buddha Sutra; he became more cultured and learned to read.
He was originally pretty smart. Now he learned the compassion, principles and sutras of Buddhadharma. At that time, it was a year of famine, with continuous disasters, such as drought, flooding, and plague; people were poor and the society was very unstable and chaotic. Remember it was the later period of Yuan dynasty.
(During the later period of Yuan dynasty, there were serious power struggles within the ruling class; the rulers were cruelly exploiting people to collect heavy taxes. The masses lived in dire poverty and started revolting almost everywhere.)
Zhu cultivated in the temple for about 3 years. Many people came to become monks because of the famine. At the temple, the offerings were not enough to feed all monks. The abbot said, “We hope the young monks will travel around and seek offerings. The temple can no longer support you all.” Zhu was a young man, so he went to seek offerings.
The place he went the most was the Haozhou region of Anhui Province. It was hard for a young man like him to ask for money and meals. He took his first step in sales, the hardest one, face-to-face sales. He had no products to sell, but asked directly for money and meals. It was hard. So when he recalled this time in his life, he felt the cold wind blowing and missed his parents and relatives. All he got was hunger, coldness and pain. It was very hard and dreary.
Because everyone was in this disaster. It is not like today: “I am rich, so I will just give you $20.” Going back 30 years, if you met a beggar asking for food, you might give 5 cents at most, right? He received good real-life training, for observation, communication, persuasion skills and endurance. You need strong endurance to withstand hunger and coldness. You also couldn’t get angry because you were a monk. It was really hard. So he was very well-trained in these abilities.
Then the opportunity came. The abbot of the temple told them to come back. Not long after coming back to the temple, he received a letter from his childhood friend Tang He. Tang He played with him when he was a kid. He even called him “big boss”. Tang He wrote him the letter to persuade him to join the rebel army. Tang He said, “You know I am stupid, but I am a leader managing 1,000 people.” Today, we would call him a commander. “I eat so well and have my own guards. If I boast to the villagers, everyone will envy me. My armor is all made of copper, you know. My knife is so good.” He started boasting.
In the past, not many people sent letters. And it is for a little monk. So the whole temple knew about the letter. Some people had already reported him to the officials. There were so many rebels, the officials hadn’t had the chance to catch him, but he felt a strong sense of danger. Something was not right. It was too dangerous. He really couldn’t make a decision. So what should he do?
The Temple of Royal Awakening had a section for drawing sticks. Our center has a system like this too. Before drawing a straw, he needed a wish. He made a wish: “I want to stay at the temple and practice, not go anywhere.” He drew the straw. This was what he got: “Great peril”. It meant extreme danger. He would have a severe catastrophe. Any draws that included peril meant deaths. “Peril. This won’t work then.” He quickly put the straw back.
“How about being a wanderer? I am not staying in the temple. But I’ll still self-cultivate. Please, Buddha, show me the right path.” He closed his eyes and selected a straw. He was afraid to look. “Oh no, great peril.” It was still great peril. Still no good. He was being pushed to revolt. He had no other path. “How about I just follow the peril? I will go where there is danger. I have no other choice. I will just go where the peril lies.” To find out whether he could go, he drew another straw: “Safe and sound.”
Go where the peril lies. That meant revolt. Go be a soldier. He made a wish about this and got an auspicious draw. “If that is the case, I will follow Buddha’s instructions to become a soldier.” He left immediately. He didn’t have parents, anyway. This was Buddha pointing out a path to him. So he joined the rebel army. This was a turning point in his fate. Remember, this was determined by the draw.
(Chong Ba lost his parents at 15 and was forced to become a monk. At age 25, he faced the possibility of suffering in jail because he was reported. When it came to making difficult decisions, he chose to draw a straw and ask Buddha. So he followed the draw’s direction to join the army; would it be auspicious or perilous? What other situations would he face?)
OK, he was to join the army. Where? I think it was in the Haozhou region. Anyway, he went there. When he reached the city gate, this city had already been seized by the rebel army. That was where his old friend, Tang He, was stationed. The general defending this city was Guo Zixin, General Guo. Zhu’s friend was a minor commander under General Guo.
People couldn’t enter the gate of the city freely. Many soldiers were guarding it due to the war. They were suspicious of Zhu, and captured him as a spy. They tied him up with ropes. Chong Ba was so mad, “When have I ever been treated like this? When I was a monk, people respected me. No one has ever hit me. When I was little, I always hit other people. Now I am joining the army because Tang He invited me. You guys dare to tie me up and want my head.”
But he could do nothing. He was facing a group of devils who killed and robbed. So he was tied up. At that time, when the soldiers were not battling and wanted to kill a spy, they would have to report to Guo for permission. General Guo had no more than 2,000 soldiers, not many. Guo said, “Let me take a look. Where is the kid? Let me interrogate him.”
When General Guo saw Zhu, he thought, “This kid has a pretty good look. Let me talk to him.” It turned out that Zhu was Tang He’s friend. It was upon General Guo’s command that Tang He wrote letters to persuade his family, classmates, and playmates from the same village to join the army. General Guo said, “He is not a spy.” He didn’t see Zhu clearly, but overall, he felt that Zhu looked like a heroic man. “As your identity is OK, just stay and become a soldier.”
About a month later, General Guo came to their camp again to inspect. He just wanted to see how Chong Ba was doing. To see if he was dead or had run away. Guo found their campsite and surroundings were organized and cleaned very well. It had never been that clean before. The leader of the campsite said, “General, we have completed all our tasks ahead of schedule.” The general hadn’t asked why. He continued, “After Chong Ba came, he became my competent assistant. He is very detail-oriented and focused, unlike those idiots there, who always do work the wrong way. He does things very well, and even helps me manage people.”
General listened to him go on and was delighted: “Tell him to meet me.” Now he was an official soldier. His face was washed, he was good-looking. General Guo looked at him: “Wow, very good looks.” He couldn’t help but praise him in his heart. After listening to the officer’s report, he knew that Chong Ba did so many things well. He had initially wanted to train him for a few years; the more he listened, the more he couldn’t wait. He said, “How about following me directly?” He would be a guard who served the general. This would be a very fast promotion path.
So he followed the general around and did some fetching and carrying work. The general looked at him closely and said, “This person will definitely surpass me in the future. He has what it takes to be a hero.” After that he asked, “What is your name? Chong Ba. Well, if you are going to join the gang, you need an official name.” But Zhu’s parents were both dead. So General Guo said, “I will give you a name. Your last name is Zhu, right?” He flipped through the dictionary. “Let’s call you Yuanzhang, titled Guo Rui.” So his name was changed to Zhu Yuanzhang.
The general quickly gave him another joyous event. General Guo took care of a daughter of his deceased best friend Ma. This lady was known as Miss Ma. This girl was very special. She was very smart from a young age, well-behaved and sensible. The Ma family only had this daughter and no other kids. Aside from doing work, her dad put all his focus on educating her. So this girl was well-educated. She was a historian. She was very into reading ancient books and the history of dynasties. So she understood Chinese history very well.
Studying history is learning about the changes in the world, the way to manage people properly, the way of ruling and military. She knew everything. She was an intelligent girl. As fate would have it, she was unmarried. She was 20 years old. Because she was the child of Guo’s best friend, he treated her as his foster daughter. Ms. Ma called Guo her adoptive father. He really took her as his own. So Zhu became the adoptive son-in-law. A special family bond was formed.
Let’s talk about General Guo again. His father used to be a famous fortuneteller. Once, he went to a rich family to tell their fortunes; after he had finished, the family felt that Mr. Guo was handsome, cultured and articulate. Mr. Guo was about 10 years older than their daughter. The father said, “We have a blind daughter. Do you want to be our daughter’s husband?”
Mr. Guo thought about it. His life of wandering around was very hard. It was also a famine and disaster year. He didn’t earn much with fortunetelling. He was constantly on the go, and had to withstand risks. He risked be forced to join the army and die. He wanted to find a place to settle down. So he said, “I agree.” Then he married this local blind girl. One of their children was General Guo, Guo Zi Xin.
With a father as a fortuneteller, Guo had knowledge of Physiognomy. He could tell that Zhu Yuanzhang wasn’t a loser, a peasant or an ordinary person. He was someone at the heroic level. As for what level he would reach, I believe that he didn’t see Zhu’s ultimate future; he knew that this person would be outstanding.
(Zhu called himself an emperor at a young age, killed a cow to share meat, and became a monk at the Temple. Buddha directed him to join the army. He met General Guo and married Ms. Ma. All these experiences seemed like coincidences, but also felt somehow prearranged.)
During that time, although Guo was called a general, he didn’t have a lot of soldiers. Then came another rebel party. They belonged to the White Lotus Gang. Another general arrived as well; he was also a rebel. He was General Sun, Sun Da Ya. His real name was Sun De Ya. I call him Sun Da Ya. General Sun came, and he had more people than Guo. They were all squished into one small city.
Next, there was famine, no food to eat. Many people initially joined the army because of famine. So when they were squished into a small city, without food and supplies, everyone wanted to push the others out. They needed a legitimate reason. They were all rebel parties under the White Lotus Gang. No one had a good reason to push the others out. So the biggest bullies, the most ruthless, would win.
One day, Sun came up with a dirty strategy. He arranged for some personal guards to abduct Guo. What happened after Guo’s abduction? His adoptive son-in-law Zhu found out. Zhu was worried. “I have to save my father-in-law, General Guo.” But his own strength was not enough. Zhu quickly found another head of a rebel army who had more soldiers. He had been getting along well with General Guo.
After Zhu found him and told him about this incident, he said, “This is bad. You dare touch my brother? I have 6,000 people; how could I not beat him? Let’s go find this guy.” He took his soldiers to Sun’s house and ambushed the place. “Bring Sun to me and tie him up. Release General Guo!” They found General Guo and released him.
According to the rules of the gang, they all belonged to the White Lotus Gang, so they were on the same side. Sun Da Ya had to make up an excuse for his abduction of Guo: “I actually didn’t want to kidnap him. After we had talked, I invited him and he didn’t come. So my guards dragged him here. See, I even have the pork ready. I just wanted to chat, not kidnap. You have made a mistake.” So Sun didn’t get killed.
Everyone went back to their homes like nothing happened. But General Guo knew in his heart what had happened. Guo was really grateful to his son-in-law. He thought Zhu was brave, strategic, affectionate and faithful. He grew to like him more. Because of this, he said, “I will promote you.” His position was similar to a commander now. After giving him this position, General Guo also told him, “Yuanzhang, I promoted you to this important position, but you have to look for soldiers by yourself.” Zhu said, “Just give me the position and I can do it.”
Zhu went back to his hometown. Where was his hometown? Fengyang region of Anhui Province. He went back to his hometown and recruited a few hundred people in 3 months. A coincidence happened. Out of about 500 people he recruited, at least 22 of the boys became generals who followed Zhu to conquer the country. Out of all 24 generals, at least 22 of them were from there. When he had this group who were directly led by him, he started his real military career. In the later years of his career, he always got guidance from some person with great wisdom; he won almost every battle, defeating larger troops.
Zhu then faced his greatest enemy, Chen You Liang. It was rumored that Chen had around 600,000 soldiers. One day, Zhu had a discussion with his generals. “Everyone, look. This is what the world looks like right now. Now we must fight off these 2 people: Chen You Liang and Zhang Shi Cheng. Remember: Chen You Liang has around 600,000 soldiers; Zhang Shi Cheng has 200,000 soldiers. We have to choose one to fight. Who do we pick?”
“I say we fight the easiest. Fight Zhang Shi Cheng. Don’t fight Chen You Liang.” “How about we wait for 2 years?” There were also people said, “We surrender.” Out of the 2 foes, Zhu’s generals thought Zhu should fight Zhang; but Zhu wanted fight Chen. The first meeting was dismissed unhappily.
At this time, they found a great individual. This person was the famous Liu Ji, Liu Bo Wen. Legend has it that he was similar to a celestial being. Liu Bo Wen was invited. He listened to their military meeting for 3 or 4 days. He didn’t say a word and was expressionless. Historical records indicate Zhu couldn’t hold it anymore and said, “Mr. Liu, can you guide us for a bit? Liu Bo Wen said, “You really want me to say it?” “Yeah, we have been waiting for you.”
Liu Bo Wen stood up, drew a sword, and slammed it on the table. This was not his usual style. It was rumored that a corner of the desk was cut off by the sword. “Anyone who wants to negotiate or surrender should be executed. This is my first thought. Second, we must fight. Who? Chen You Liang. The hardest person to fight.” When the generals heard this, they said, “A couple of lunatics were put together.” Liu said, “Fighting him is not easy. But he doesn’t have higher aspiration; I think we can fight him.”
Liu Bo Wen was a wise person who knows everything about astronomy and geography. He advised them to smash a big stone with an egg, because he had studied astronomy and predicted that Chen You Liang would certainly die at their hands. Chen had a lot of soldiers and an intimidating system. But it was actually just like a balloon or a pig’s bladder that would collapse at the first blow. So Zhu shouldn’t fear, he should finish Chen first. They should declare war on Chen. This was Liu’s opinion.
On this point, Liu’s idea aligned with Zhu’s. Zhu’s nature was that of a heroic figure. Between an easy and a hard task, which one would he pick? He would pick the hard one. He would let others do the easy work. What is a hero? Normal people would say, “Wow, he is fierce; I will bow down to him. If he is weak, I will fight him.” This is the behavior of an ordinary person. A big hero is different. If you are fierce, I will fight you. If you are honest, I will protect you. Heroes defeat the fierce, and defend the weak.
When they made the choice to fight Chen You Liang, they also made many detailed arrangements regarding the military strategy. After multiple battles, Chen You Liang was ultimately defeated. There was one incident related to Divinity; that happened at the battle on Lake Boyang. This was a very important battle.
(That was won by using fewer soldiers to fight a larger troop. It took about 40 days. Both parties had severe wounds and casualties. One day during a fierce battle, Zhu was in the commander ship; it was the biggest one with the strongest firepower. He was directing the battle. Liu Bo Wen understood astronomy, and had a habit of studying the sky. As soon as he saw the start of disaster. He called for an emergency change of ships. “Commander, you need to change ships quickly.”)
“Quick. Come to this ship.” (Right. Zhu listened to him and changed to another ship. Immediately after changing, the original ship that Zhu was on was struck and flipped over. It burned and sank. Liu’s knowledge of astronomy and his advice saved Zhu Yuanzhang’s life.) This is in historical records. Because many soldiers were at the scene. When the battle was happening, according to historical records, all of Lake Boyang was red. Many people were killed.
These are what Zhu experienced during his growth process, and some battle stories before he conquered the country. We can reflect upon and analyze it on our own. Some people say, “Those who work hard win. I don’t believe in anything.” As a rebel, Zhu was supposed to believe in nothing, right? Through constant hard work, he made it as an emperor. Maybe it is like this: Or he was destined to do this thing, so he encountered this war and met certain people. I am not sure. So yeah, fate. It makes me reflect deeply.
Here I will give a small reminder: What was Zhu Yuanzhang’s nickname? Chong Ba. The founding emperor of Song dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin, had a nickname, Jiu Chong. You are 9 and I am 8. In the end? The line of Song dynasty emperors extended through time. Do you still remember how many generations? 18 generations. So his nickname was Jiu Chong. Zhu’s legacy carried through 16 generations. Go look up the history yourself. His offspring that became emperors passed down the legacy through 16 generations. Is that a coincidence?
(Zhu Yuanzhang’s original name was Chong Ba. 16 generations carried through Ming dynasty. His name had “Zhu,” which sounds similar to “execute”. It was still “Yuan” dynasty. “Zhang” is a sharp, sword-like jade that is used for Divine worship ceremonies. Together, it is a “sharp sword that could execute Yuan dynasty”. Was this all a coincidence, or was destiny at work? It is worth it for us to reflect upon and dissect this.)