As the leader of a country or a party, in the process of making meritorious achievements, mastering the art of language and writing is a compulsory course, because various occasions such as calling, mobilization and communication between people are inseparable from communication and expression, so language has become a more important tool for leaders.
It is not easy for a person to be able to quote one of the three points of scripture, popular elegance, and witty humor in the process of expression, and it is really admirable that Chairman Mao not only has all three, but also can perfectly combine them.
After the founding of New China, Chairman Mao often met with leaders and state leaders from all continents and political parties around the world.
In conversations with these famous people, he was always able to use the wisdom and charisma in his brain to impress each other very deeply.
In 1970, when Chairman Mao met with the General Secretary of the Lao People's Party, Khesan Phung Wai Khan, he told an ancient Chinese joke around the white elephant, Buddhism and Shakyamuni Buddha, and conquered everyone present with his characteristic language art and profound knowledge.
So, what kind of joke did Chairman Mao tell?
Before telling the content of this joke, it is necessary to understand the various gods and immortals and their mounts in Chinese mythology...
Talk about the different mounts of the immortals
Taking "Journey to the West" as an example, in the process of Sun Wukong escorting Tang Monk to the Western Heavens to learn the scriptures, he encountered countless monsters.
Sometimes, after some hard struggle, Sun Wukong found that these evil monsters were actually the mounts of the heavenly gods and immortals, and they had a very deep background. Because of the different identities of their masters, these mounts also have unusual status, such as the Green Bull Spirit that Sun Wukong encountered in the Golden Pocket Cave.
At that time, ordinary immortals did not dare to come forward to take care of this matter, and even the Buddha could only quietly "hint" to Goku and let him go to the Golden Light Cave of Qianyuan Mountain to find Taishang Laojun.
Many times, the mount is a symbol of the identity and status of the master, for example, Manjushri Bodhisattva's mount usually appears in the form of holding a sword and riding a lion, which represents the use of the sword of wisdom to cut off troubles and shock the demons through the roar of the lion.
In addition, according to the Buddhist scriptures, When Shakyamuni's mother, Lady Maya, slept, she dreamed that the Buddha himself came to her belly on a six-toothed white elephant, and then gave birth to Shakyamuni, so the white elephant later became Shakyamuni's mount.
In Buddhism, the white elephant is a symbol of the highest status, and only those who are advanced in the Dharma can be qualified to ride, especially the six-toothed white elephant is even more precious, and only Shakyamuni is also the Buddha of Rulai, who is eligible to ride.
Speaking of this, many people began to question that the Buddhas seen in the Journey to the West were all sitting on the lotus platform, and basically did not see him riding a white elephant in front of the public.
There is a saying that when Shakyamuni took over the position of leader of the lantern, riding a white elephant was not quite in line with his status as a Buddha. Since then, the six-toothed white elephant has been placed under the name of Puxian Bodhisattva, who ranks first among the four bodhisattvas.
The Kingdom of Vientiane and the Faith of Buddhism
By exploring the story of the Buddha and the mount, we find that in several countries in South Asia, there is a country called the "Country of Vientiane", that is, Laos. Whether by coincidence or necessity, people have always very naturally associated the country with animals such as elephants.
First, in the history of Laos, tens of thousands of elephants have appeared in this landlocked country of just over 23 million square kilometers.
Secondly, the Lao people have always lived very well with elephants, which were also used as a means of transportation in ancient times.
In addition, Laos has another ancient title called "Lancang Kingdom", and the word "Lancang" means "tens of thousands of elephants" in the Lao language.
The Lancang Kingdom was the heyday of Laotian history, and many of the sayings at that time are still used in Laos today, which is the fundamental reason why the saying "the country of Vientiane" can continue to this day.
Speaking of this, friends who have a little understanding of Laos will definitely think of another thing, that is, the capital of Laos is called "Vientiane", whether this is also a reason, however, this "Vientiane" has nothing to do with elephants.
The English counterpart for "Vientiane" is "Vientiane", a word originally coined by the French and later used.
Friends who have studied English will definitely understand the reasoning at once, Chinese, the reason why we call the capital of Laos "Vientiane" is based on the origin of this word.
In addition, Buddhism should also be more prevalent in Laos, and the main belief of the people is Hinayana Buddhism. And their belief and dependence on Buddhism is much higher than we think, for example, Men in Laos generally have to become monks once in their lives, as short as 3 months, and more than a lifetime.
At the same time, temples can be found everywhere in the rural areas of Laos, even more than schools, because everyone feels that belonging to a temple can provide a place for people to learn and practice, so burning incense and praying for blessings is not the main function of Lao temples.
For the sake of that faith in their hearts, the rich people of Laos like to do most of all, and donate money to the temple.
In Vientiane, the capital of Laos, temples and pagodas can be found everywhere in the city, and more than 85% of the residents believe in Buddhism.
It is said that at the height of Buddhism in Laos, there were nearly 150 Buddhist temples in Vientiane, and more than 30 remain today.
These ancient Buddhist temples, exquisite pagodas and exquisite reliefs not only represent the ancient Buddhist cultural history of Laos, but also the precious historical heritage of Laos.
The General Secretary of the Lao People's Party visited China
Although Laos is small in size and economically underdeveloped, especially after the glorious period of the Lancang Kingdom, after entering the 15th century, internal seizure of power and external aggression caused the country to suffer from war.
In South Asia, laos, Vietnam and Cambodia are three countries that are closely related to each other and have been French colonies for a while. But with the end of World War II, the aspirations of the people of the three regions to achieve independence grew stronger.
After the Geneva Conference, France agreed to withdraw from the three countries, while the United States, which was eyeing South Asia, began to seek control of the region.
Since the early 1960s, the United States has provided various weapons and ammunition to the reactionary forces in Laos in an attempt to provoke an internal war in Laos and to prop up proxies with the intention of replacing the national independent government of Laos.
In the process, China not only provided a lot of assistance to Laos, but also issued a statement strongly condemning the aggressive acts of the United States, and later sent an experienced working group to Laos secretly to guide the BJP in its struggle.
Not only was Laos constantly invaded by the United States, but Vietnam was not spared. The United States supported the South Vietnamese reactionary forces against north Vietnam, which also belonged to the socialist camp, and the Vietnam War broke out.
In 1968, as the situation worsened in the Vietnam War, the United States used its resources to begin supporting the Royal Lao Government Forces, fighting fiercely against the BJP and North Vietnamese troops, and launching attacks on the "Ho Chi Minh Trail".
As a result, the incompetent Lao government forces did not fight for the Morales, but were beaten to the point where they were almost wiped out.
Under these circumstances, the Americans, who could not sit still, personally came on the scene and carried out a large-scale bombing campaign against the liberated areas of the Lao People's Party.
At that time, the Liberated Area of Laos was bombed with craters, just like the surface of the moon we see.
There was another important reason why the Americans bombed Laos, because it was the eye area of the "Ho Chi Minh Trail".
Speaking of this "Ho Chi Minh Trail", it was of great strategic value at the time, it connected the three regions of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, and it was on this route that North Vietnam was able to transport combat equipment, personnel and materials to the front-line battlefield.
In order to defeat the United States and achieve victory, in 1970, the general secretary of the Lao People's Party, Khaisan Fong Wai Han, visited China, hoping to once again obtain Chinese military assistance, and also hoped that China would assist Laos in the construction of roads.
Founded in 1955, the Lao People's Party was founded in 1955, and because most of the Lao people were living in poverty, it was difficult to guarantee even basic meals a day, and during the national civil war, the Lao People's Party, which adhered to the socialist concept, fully united the poor people, so Khaisan Fong Wihan was also deeply loved by the Lao people.
Discussion of the Buddha's mount during his visit to China
On July 7, 1970, Chairman Mao received Kaishan FengWeihan at the People's Congress Party, and chairman Mao was very happy to see this fraternal party leader on the anti-American front.
During the whole meeting, the exchanges between the two leaders can be described as laughter, unrestrained, harmonious and cordial, and the time for the original meeting was almost up, but Chairman Mao still had no intention of ending the conversation, and asked Kaishan Fengweihan an unexpected question.
Chairman Mao asked very curiously, "I don't quite understand, how did the name Vientiane come about?" ”
Kaisan Fon Wai Han explained Chairman Mao's problem in the most popular language, saying that there are many elephants in Laos, but white elephants are very rare, in the past the king held celebrations, many occasions to use elephants, in order to match the king's noble status, white elephants naturally became the best choice.
Chairman Mao resolved the doubts in his heart, and then around this topic, he asked him another question: "What kind of cattle did the Buddha usually go out to raise?" ”
"Ride a white elephant."
Kaisan Fonwehan answered.
Chairman Mao smiled and told Kaishan Fengweihan an ancient Chinese joke from a Sui Dynasty book called Qi Yan Lu, which was about events that took place during the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Buddhism was prevalent, and one day a high-ranking monk sat in the middle of the crowd and told everyone about the Dharma, and suddenly a person asked the monk, "What kind of cattle did Shakyamuni usually go out and ride?" ”
The monk said without hesitation, "Shakyamuni went out to ride a white elephant and sat on the lotus platform at home. ”
The monk's explanation is basically the same as the content of the mounts of the gods that we introduced earlier.
Who knows, as soon as the monk's voice fell, the man laughed at him for not understanding the Buddhist scriptures and not studying the Dharma properly, and said that the Buddha went out to ride a bull because of the saying "strange sound".
Listening to this person's high-minded remarks, the senior monk really cried and laughed, and felt that there was no need for him to get entangled too much with such a person who did not understand the Dharma, so he had to let him express his opinion.
Buddhism can be said to be the state religion of Laos, in the cognition of Kaishan Fong Wai Han, the Buddha usually goes out to ride a white elephant, and the Buddha rode a bull for the first time. Therefore, when Chairman Mao finished speaking, Kaishan Fengweihan was full of doubts.
Not only Kaishan Fengweihan, but also others, especially comrades who work as stenographers, really can't understand the connection between "strange sound" and the cow that Buddha rode out to ride.
Chairman Mao was very knowledgeable
Except for Chairman Mao, the people present at the time basically did not understand the mystery of this joke, especially the translators did not know how to explain Chairman Mao's "strange sound" when he said it, so they had to read and translate a few sentences.
In order to record the meeting more accurately, comrade Li Remember began to consult various books and Buddhist scriptures privately to confirm what the chairman really meant.
However, after looking through many relevant books, I could not find the original text of this word and the joke that Chairman Mao said.
Helpless, I found an old professor at Peking University to ask for advice and answers. After a night of hard work, the old professor finally found the answer. If you want to understand the content of Chairman Mao's jokes, you need to understand two aspects of knowledge.
The original meaning of "strange sound" refers to the appearance of the Buddha, which is more special than that of ordinary people;
Second, in the ancient Chinese books "Jade Chapter" and "Barbarian Book", the word "special" refers to the meaning of "cow".
Combining the above two points, we can find that the person who debated with the monk in the joke understood "peculiar" as the meaning of "riding a bull", which is the most critical point of the joke, which has the meaning of what we call "harmonic terrier" at the moment.
Through the jokes that Chairman Mao inadvertently told in the diplomatic process this time, people felt his old man's strong knowledge reserves, very profound knowledge, and witty and humorous language ability.
Chairman Mao's habit of loving to read is well known, but what he did not expect was that the scope of his reading was so extensive, from ancient times to the present, from home to abroad, and also contained many types of works, such as politics, economics, philosophy, literature, historiography, and even jokes.
In fact, the book "Qi Yan Lu" has been lost for many years, and the original book has been in tatters and has not been preserved.
Later, many of the contents of the book were quoted in the "Taiping Guangji" compiled by the Song Dynasty and Mr. Lu Xun's "Historical Outline of the Chinese Novel", which shows that Chairman Mao's profound knowledge is closely related to his habit of reading books.
epilogue
Chairman Mao, who read countless books, transformed knowledge into wisdom and forever remembered and engraved it in his mind. He is extremely rich in heart, and the whole person is more like a book, from the way of governing the country and the world and the people living in peace and happiness, to the witty and humorous jokes that are said one sentence and one word and inadvertently, all of which are contained in it.
The reading life of sleeping and forgetting food and reading books can be said to have accompanied Chairman Mao's life, and loving to read, being good at reading, and reading more books laid a profound academic foundation for Chairman Mao to realize his lofty ambitions. The eight words of "lifelong unremitting, until death to rest" are the best summaries of Chairman Mao's reading.