Konfucij in prerokba o novi dinastiji

Besedilo

Konfucij in prerokba o novi dinastiji

In the fourteenth year of Duke Ai of Lu, Confucius dreamed one night that a red mist was rising among three locust trees in the lands of Feng and Pei. He summoned Yan Hui and Zixia to go with him and investigate. They drove their carriage to Fanshi Street in northwestern Chu, where they found that a boy gathering fodder had struck a qilin, injuring its left foreleg, and covered it with a bundle of firewood. Confucius said, “Come here, boy! What is your surname?” The boy replied, “My surname is Chisong, my given name Shiqiao, and my courtesy name Shouji.” Confucius asked, “Have you seen anything unusual?” The boy said, “I saw a creature like a deer, with a sheep’s head and a horn tipped with flesh. It was just heading west.” Confucius said, “The realm already has its destined ruler. He will be the Red Liu, with Chen and Xiang as his helpers. The Five Planets will enter the Well constellation, following Jupiter.” The boy lifted the firewood to reveal the qilin beneath and showed it to Confucius. Confucius hurried toward it. Facing him, the qilin folded down its ears and spat out three scrolls of prophetic diagrams, each three inches wide and eight inches long, with twenty-four characters on each scroll. Their words foretold that the Red Liu would rise: “Zhou shall perish; red vapors shall ascend; the radiance of fire shall flourish. The Dark Hill shall ordain the mandate; Mao-and-Metal shall be emperor.”