Mr. Kong Ming lived in seclusion in Nanyang, plowing the fields himself and attending to his studies. He kept his aspirations pure by leading a tranquil life with few worldly desires. He lived in a humble cottage that he built himself. His fine reputation as the "Crouching Dragon" was know far and wide.  

Once Liu Bei's horse leapt over a river, and those circumstances led to his meeting with Mr. Si-ma Hui, whose other name was Shui Jing (Water-Mirror). This gentleman pointed out to Liu Bei, "There is Wo Lung (Crouching Dragon) and Feng Chu (Young Phoenix). If you can recruit either one of these men, you will be able to bring peace to the country."

Thereupon Liu Bei called on Ju-ge Liang three times. Ju-ge Liang was moved by someone who recognized his true worth and vowed to repay this kindness even at the cost of death. Later he dispatched his troops out of Qi Mountain six times. Planning his strategy in his grass hut at Long Zhong, he already foresaw the establishing of the Three Kingdoms, which stood like the three legs of a censer. He simply tried his best to comply with heaven's will in the human realm.  

In his Memorial of Military Dispatch are the lines: "I will devote myself to affairs of state with body and mind; not until death will I stop." His loyalty and dedication to his country will forever be remembered.

Commentary:
Ju-ge Liang (181-234 C.E.) was a great statesman of China, an astronomer, geographer, prophet and military scientist. He was endowed with tremendous foresight. Even before he emerged from his thatched cottage, he already knew that China would be divided into three kingdoms. He could foretell the future with miraculous accuracy. How did this happen? He did not recite a mantra to enable him to foresee things. Rather, when one reaches a state of ultimate stillness, the light penetrates. If your mind is extremely clear and pure, you will have few idle thoughts, and your wisdom will manifest. If you have numerous idle thoughts, you will not be able to remember anything. If you have no idle thoughts, you will not forget anything because your mind will not be cluttered with selfish desires. As a result, you will be filled with wisdom. If you have selfish desires and discursive thoughts, your mind will be filled with delusion.

Ju-ge is a Chinese compound surname. There are two characters combined, for example, Xia-hou; Wen-ren, Dong-fang; and Si-ma. Those are all compound surnames. "Prime Minister" was his official title. He was Prime Minister in the western Kingdom of Shu and was skilled at ruling the country. He promoted economic prosperity and the people were happy. Society was peaceful and secure.  

Government and military affairs were Mr. Ju-ge's special talents. He was not someone who spoke casually. Rather, he was quiet and reserved. He was also known by another name, Kong Ming.

Here is a story about Kong Ming, A long time ago two people made a bet with each other. One person said, "Ju-ge Liang and Kong Ming were one person." The other person said, "No, Ju-ge Liang is Ju-ge Liang and Kong Ming is Kong Ming, They were two different people." As for these two men who were arguing, the former was learned, while the latter was illiterate. After hearing the story of the Three Kingdoms, the illiterate man thought that Ju-ge Liang and Kong Ming were brothers, two separate people, and so he wanted to argue.  

The learned man said, "Okay. We have a school master here. I only know a few more characters than you, and you are illiterate. Let us ask the school master whether Kong Ming and Ju-ge Liang were one person or two. If they were one person, you must treat me to a drink, and if they were two people, I'll treat you to a drink." The two of them bet against each other and went to ask the school master.

The learned man said," Teacher, I know that Ju-ge Liang and Kong Ming were one person, but he says they were two people. I would like to hear what you have to say about this."

The teacher said," Oh, they were two separate individuals."

And so, the illiterate man won the bet. He was quite pleased that he won, and he left. But the learned man was not convinced, and he spoke to the teacher, "I know Ju-ge Liang was Kong Ming. Why did you say they were two people?"  

The teacher replied."You are a fool. He said they were two; you said they were one. This proved that he did not know, but he was betting with you. If I said they were one person, you would have won the bet, and he would have understood and known. I asserted that they were two people because I wanted to confuse him. He will remain muddled about the issue for the rest of his life. He will never know who Ju-ge Liang was and who Kong Ming was, and wherever he goes he will still argue his point, because he won a drink betting on it."

That was a rotten teacher. He did not speak the truth. Others asked him to be a judge, but he was not fair. This kind of teacher is very common nowadays.  

~ To be continued