Fascinating Book...this book, The Chinese Pakua by author Ong Hean-Tatt is a secular book but it is truly fascinating to me. Maybe you all have some knowledge of this already but my curiosity got the better of me at the library when I stumbled upon this volume. I have renewed it seven times as it takes time to digest (slow-ish learner here for this). It is another of those books that are a bit over my head but there are nuggets that are down to the common citizen’s level of understanding.
The Pakua is that little green turtle-like looking symbol with the yin and yang swirl in the center, as seen pictured on the front of the book. It is an amazing thing and historians have been able to dig up so much history from it, and Ong says that it stems all the way back to Adamic times! (Adam and Eve, Adam, that is).
Something, non-Chinese, about it, is that, a fellow named Leibnitz, a genius in mathematics, was shown this Pakua by a Jesuit priest in China, and noted all the binary notation for the numbers 1-63 on it and revolutionized mathematics forever, apparently. Sorry students...Another very interesting thing is that this system is the “basis of all computer languages”. Isn’t that interesting?
Anyway, turtles were involved in the thinking up of this Pakua, by some emperor or other. Shang -Di (God, the Supreme Ruler of Heaven, was worshiped throughout the Chinese history, except not so much during the Eastern Zhou time where many deities sprang up and folks began to worship their ancestors due to political and financial gain purposes and then this Pakua was in the middle of it all. There was also the false Kitchen God which was invented by a Taoist priest but the priest was later executed for tricking the Emperor of the time. However, the worship of this god continues to this day.
About 500 BC things reverted back to more Shang-Di worship but also the worship of Heaven (ok, and Buddhism and Taoism got into the mix too.) With all the syncretism of that mix and match of philosophy and religion, it’s difficult to pinpoint just exactly all that the Chinese beliefs encompass.
There are about 3 pages’ worth of a list of all those main deities that are worshiped and how they got started. Some were once real people; for example, Fu-Hsi is Adam, canonized. Shen-Nung is Noah, canonized, and so on.
Then there are the Four Heraldic Animals of the Pakua (Red Phoenix, White Tiger, Black Snake and the Azure Dragon) that are supposed to be angels with the center of these being Shang-Di. Alternate beings; names: Mo-Li-Hung (Gabriel), Mo-Li-Hai (Michael), Mo-Li-Shou (Lucifer) and Mo-Li-Ch’ing (Azure Dragon, Green Dragon, Brahma four-faced Cherubim of Ezekiel). You may have heard of some of them.
Much of these things show up in the Hebrew-Kabalic legends and ancient history as well. Some of the History of both the Hebrews and the Chinese parallel amazingly. God did not leave other cultures and people groups alone even though He especially chose the Hebrews as His Chosen people so long ago.
It is also of note, that many other cultures have similar legends and symbols: Egyptian, Indian, and etc. You will have to find out for yourselves.
I could go on and on but this is already more than a short book report, I’m telling you the story. If you are as curious as I have been, find a copy and delve in.
I haven’t quite finished; there are 264 pages and I’m on page 187, so a ways to go, and I don’t know how many more library trips to renew…but I have been dying to share this book with you all.
Ong is a Malaysian and this book was printed in Malaysia (Pelanduk Publications). As far as I can tell, the man is not a Christian, although he certainly could have become one by his knowledge and understanding of the early Scriptures and also of the gospel of Jesus and how all of the above dovetails into the Chinese Pakua. I seem to ascertain that the author is a devout Taoist. I assume he is still alive so maybe we can say a prayer or two for him that he will see the light of Christ and make Jesus his Savior and Lord. Then Shang-Di, can truly be his God and Father.
~ERC September 2020~
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