By Mick Zerr ©2015  

 

 

Over two thousand years ago, in the ancient province of Shaanxi, in the deepest heart of China, the oldest and wisest Shèngrén (sage), in all the villages was named Shou Peng. As it is an ancient tradition in Chinese villages, the oldest folk in the village are sought after by children in hopes they can obtain some of the great knowledge the elders have accumulated over the many years.

 

So it was in Shaanxi, with dozens of eager children swarming near the respected Shou Peng like bees around the sweetest flower. Each morning, the wise one would take the children to a beautiful hillside pond below Kw’en Lun Mountain and share bits of wisdom with the eager cherubs. Upon learning bits of wisdom, children would experience a feeling of goodness.

 

On an especially bright morning, the sun was shining into the pond creating great shimmers of dancing light. While the ten children from the village squealed with pleasure at nature’s show, groups of the most colorful Qīngtíng (dragonflies) the children had ever seen appeared as if by magic. Now, let it be known that the dragonfly is a very special creature to the Chinese. It symbolizes the search to understand the deep meanings of life and death. With the arrival of the colorful fliers atop the shimmering waters, the wise Shou Peng sat the children along the edge of the pond.

 

As was done each morning, Shou asked the children what they would like to learn about on this fine day. All the children’s hands went up like freshly lit skyrockets, except for one whose name was Jun Ming. The wise Shou asked him why he had no question on such a beautiful morning. The lad, standing in respect, said, “Most wise and envied Shou

Peng, I did not raise my hand in question so others would have more of a chance to be called upon by your greatness”.

 

Upon hearing this, the wise Shou said, “It is often the question not asked that is most deserving of consideration, and if the question is not asked as a matter of Ren (kindness to others), it becomes truly a question worthy of the wisest of answers”. As the great sage was telling the children this, a most wonderful thing happened.

 

With great suddenness, one of the girls in the group squealed in delight as the group of children gasped in unison with their eyes as open as a Morning Glory flower in the first rays of the day. The wise Shou’s face turned into a giant, pleased grin, but Jun Ming was confused, since he saw nothing unusual, but he did feel a strange vibration on the top of his head. As he moved his head back, he saw, flying off his head, the most beautiful green and gold dragonfly ever witnessed by any of the children.

 

The wise Shou told the children that the dragonfly has selected the child to ask today’s question, and the question will be about the dragonfly, even though the asker would not know this. As was often the case, the children did not, at first, understand what the old man was saying, but as they had discovered many times, they would soon find out.

 

“Ask your question, young Ming,” said the wise Shou. Jun Ming’s question was one often heard by the wise Shou in his many years of sitting with children in the cool mornings of central China. “Oh wise and generous Shou, I hope in the hundred years you have been living, that you have come upon the answer to this question of questions; Why is it that when  one dies, no matter what he promises to his loved ones, he does not come back from the glorious afterlife to tell of its wonders”?

 

All twenty eyes looked hopefully at the great sage, who now was nodding his smiling face as he said, “Children, indeed a wise question, and worthy of the wisest of answers, but I do not have the answer,” said the old Sage. The children’s faces turned sad, for how could the wisest of wises not have the answer? “The answer lies with the dragonfly”, said Shou Peng.

 

All eyes turned toward the pond where the beautiful green and gold dragonfly was flying slow circles just above the sparkling waters. “He knew what young Ming’s question would be,” indicated the old man. “Indeed he knew, for he has the answer”.

 

 

“Please tell us great sage,” chanted the children. “Look into the pond, young butterflies,” said the wise Shou. He often called the children young butterflies, as they were new to the world and frolicked in the meadows like young butterflies. “What do you see in the water under the dancing dragonflies”? “Ugh!” the children said in unison. “What are those nasty looking creatures swimming around deep in the water”? The wise Shou replied, “Those, my young learners, are dragonfly nymphs. For dragonflies spend the first part of their lives underwater as unattractive nymphs”.

 

The kind Shou went on to tell the children that the many dragonfly nymphs often wonder what is above them, as the cloudy surface of the water cannot be broken through by the little creatures. Every so often, one of them begins to change and pushes through the surface, never to be seen again. It is said, in the mountain villiages of China, that It is a dragonfly nymph tradition for them to select the nymph who had practiced the most Ren, (kindness and brotherhood to all others), as that nymph was usually the most colorful with great hues of gold and green, to return to them after he had gone through the surface.

 

The nymphs hoped he could tell them about the wonders of the next world. When this kindest and most attractive of nymphs broke through, he became a creature of great beauty and could fly more gracefully than any on all of the earth, but lo, there was no way he could go back into the water to tell his friends what the next world is like. "They will just have to be patient, practice Ren, and wait their turn," said the seasoned Show Peng.

 

“So”, continued the sage of sages , “When you see dragonflies circling over a pond, you will know they are not just catching mosquitoes, they are also thinking about their friends below the surface. Now you know the reason the beautiful dragonfly landed on young Ming’s head, for it wanted us to know why we also cannot come back to tell our loved ones about the next world”.

 

The children all nodded in appreciation for this great knowledge shared with them by the oldest and wisest sage, Shou Peng. At this, the beautiful dragonfly gracefully landed on the old man’s shoulder and everyone grinned as a feeling of goodness came upon them while they watched a new wrinkle form on his ancient, smiling face.