Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Guan Gong's zhongyi

You can be forgiven if you thought Guan Yu was just a fictitious character from the epic Ming Dynasty novel, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms (ROTK)". This great work was later adapted in recent times into drama serials and many gamers would have also played Koei's turn-based ROTK strategy game and Playstation's Dynasty Warriors, which belongs to the hack and slash genre.

The immense popularity of Guan Yu, as compared to other leading characters, was probably attributed to his charismatic style of leadership! A quick search of Guan Yu's image on Google and you will call up a dignified gentleman in green flowing robes, armed with an impressive weapon known as the Green Dragon Crescent Blade! This legendary blade was said to weigh between 18-45 kg and Guan Yu reportedly was able to wield it agilely with just one hand!

In the Chinese-speaking world, very few historical figures are regarded with reverential respect as Guan Yu, who counts Guan Laoye (Grandpa Guan), Guan Gong (Duke Guan), and Guan Di (Emperor Guan), among his litany of officially bestowed titles.

According to Chinese historians, Guan Yu's overarching influence may have exceeded even that of Confucius himself! In China's three major belief systems - Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism - Confucius has been deified in only one. Guan Gong, on the other hand, is admired by proponents of all three: To Confucians, he's a "sage", to Taoists, he's "Holy Ruler Deity Guan" and to Buddhists, he's the "Sangharama Bodhisattva".

Apart from being solely a cultural and philosophical icon, Guan Gong also became a kind of patron saint or "protector god" for everyone from blacksmiths and opera performers to triads and police officers. Many merchants started worshipping Guan Gong and he is one of China's four main wealth gods!

What explains Guan Gong's overwhelming charisma, galvanising support and adulation from cops and criminals, emperors and commoners, Taoists and Buddhists? The answer is Guan Gong's unconditional and overriding sense of zhongyi!

A portmanteau of the Chinese words for "loyalty", zhong and "righteousness", yi, Guan Gong's steadfast adherence to the principle of zhongyi proved pivotal to his astounding rise to greatness! China's emperors, who valued loyalty in their subjects, saw Guan Gong's obeisance and respect for his superiors as a value worth exulting. To the common folk, it was Guan Gong's yi that made him a panjandrum worth believing in!

And Valerie Low is one such believer! She is a rookie insurance agent who stumbled upon financial planning during this pandemic year. While many other newbies struggled for survival in her industry, (notorious for high attrition rates), Valerie thrived and did somewhat better than her peers. However, she wasn't settling for mediocrity and was seeking a real breakthrough in her career! Having done her homework and inspired by the success stories of other blessed Lotus clients, Valerie took a leap of faith and wore her Auspicious Metal Guan Gong jade pendant in August this year!

The events that ensued shortly thereafter were a series of amazing synchronicities! Valerie smoothly closed more deals and the commissions she received in August itself easily covered more than 50% of the investment she made in her Guan Gong jade pendant!

Besides that, Valerie was also recognised for her efforts and ranked Top 5 in her insurance company, for the month of August this year! She credits her meteoric rise and achievements to Guan Gong's zhongyi!

If you are in a sales profession like Valerie and you seek to transform your results, do consider getting the venerable Auspicious Guan Gong jade pendant, as your faithful ally to empower you in smashing away all obstacles in your path and emerge victorious!!!






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