林彪湖北人，少年思想左傾，參加共產黨，有軍事才能，善於用兵。奉命入黃埔軍校第一期，後入共產黨軍隊，表現突出，為毛澤東所重視，地位蒸蒸日上。日本投降，蘇聯將日軍在東北所有之武器，全部交給毛澤東。此時，林為統帥，解放東北地區，旋而進攻華北，勢如破竹，席捲江南，遂為毛澤東法定接班人。因有陰謀而受報，為權力而鬥爭，身敗名裂，不得善終。可為後人作為前車之鑑。
註解：
評論就是批評，批評他怎麼會成功，怎麼會失敗的原因。這個書的名字就叫〈水鏡回天錄〉，我們以後再講的時候要寫上「水鏡回天錄」。
寫這本書的原因就是「寓褒貶，別善惡」的意思。善者我們可以為法，不善者我們可以以他作為戒，所以這個書中外名人都有。名人不是單單好的人，不好的也是名人；流芳千古是個名人，遺臭萬年也是個名人。所以一般好名的人，就是願意流芳千古；有的好名的人呢，又弄得遺臭萬年，就是萬年都有人不高興他。
在這個時代，人都是迷迷糊糊的，都是認賊做子，將黑作白，避溺投火，都是這樣子。所以希望在這種黑夜漫漫的時候點起一盞明燈，因此就提出古人作為我們的一個借鏡。善的，我們就可以為法；不善的，我們就可以為戒，大家講道理。因為這樣子，所以希望把人的這個迷夢給驚醒；不要那麼好名，也不要那麼好利，要有一個正當的目標，向前去走去，因為這個，所以寫這本書。
這本書意思間就是水中的月，鏡裡頭的花，所以叫「水鏡回天錄」；好像水中月，鏡中花那樣子，想挽回這個世界的劫運，可是也是很渺茫的。能不能把天意給挽回來，這就像水中的月，鏡中的花一樣的。雖然這個樣子，還是要盡自己的一份心，一份責任，勉為其難還要這麼寫出來。所以這個文章寫得也很淺，很簡單，人人看見很容易懂的，所以就想和大家講這麼一些。
現在評論這個林彪。林彪前生原來是隻豺狼，是個狼轉世的，所以白天不敢出來，都是晚間出來，也不敢見太陽，林彪也正是有這麼個毛病。他有羊狼瘡，臉上不能晒太陽；白天總是在房子裏頭，不敢被太陽光照，晚間才出來，就沒有什麼問題，所以他的心也很狠毒的，做事好陰險。林彪是湖北人，年輕時就有左傾思想，因此參加了共產黨。
他善於用兵，有將才，共產黨就利用他來作侵略的工具，並送他到黃埔軍校第一期就讀。周恩來是那時候的教務主任，很器重他。畢業之後，他又回到共產黨的軍隊裡。他在軍中的表現很突出，所以很受毛澤東的重視，把他當兒子似的提拔，他自己也立了許多軍功，所以地位蒸蒸日上。
日本投降後，蘇聯把日軍的武器全轉交給毛澤東。日本人訓練的滿洲國的軍隊，本來都想投效國民黨的部隊，可是國民黨不接受，說他們是偽軍。這些軍隊都受過日軍正統的訓練，比中央軍精銳得多，國民黨不要他們，他們只好轉投向共軍，這一來，國民黨等於是資敵了。
那時共產黨早已在東北潛伏，招兵買馬，聚草存糧，伺機而動。在得到這些精銳的生力軍後，加上日軍留下的武器，很快地就把東北解放了。接著又進攻華北一帶，勢如破竹，凌厲的攻勢就像刀劈竹子一樣，很快地就席捲整個江南，把江南也解放了，逼得國民黨的中央軍一路往南逃。
據說中央軍撤退的時候，長江的水面浮滿了數不清的烏龜，順著江水往南漂浮，連續三天三夜，把江南都塞滿了，船隻都動彈不得。中央軍撤到廣州後，南京附近的烏鴉又無緣無故地投向長江裡去自殺，屍體都被沖到很遠的地方才浮上來。這些都是我聽人說的，是真是假，也無法確定，不過「國之將興，必有禎祥；國之將亡，必有妖孽。」從這些怪現象，我們可以看出默默中自有其因果。
林彪因統領共軍，解放有功，遂被毛澤東指明為法定繼承人。但他心胸狹窄，是個斤斤計較睚眥必報的人，又不知足，想要快一點繼承毛澤東的位子，就陰謀設計要除掉毛澤東。可是事機不密，被毛澤東知道，只好倉卒地坐著飛機跑了。
他因陰謀失敗而受報，因權力鬥爭而身敗名裂，前功盡棄，甚至不得善終。
他一生的所作所為，足足以為我們所有人借鏡，絕不要學他那樣陰毒，所以天地間有這一面鏡子。
※待續 |
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Essay:
Lin Biao was from Hubei province. In his youth, he was
leftist in his thinking, and so he joined the Communist
Party. He was skilled at deploying troops and had a
talent for military strategy. He enrolled in Huangpu
military academy as one of its first cadets.
Later he joined the Chinese Communist Army. Outstanding
in his performance, he was regarded highly by Mao
Zedong, and he was continually promoted to higher and
higher positions.
After the Japanese surrender, the Soviet Union gave the
weapons used by the Japanese troops to Mao Zedong. At
that time, Lin was the commander- in-chief of the
Chinese Communist Army. First he liberated Manchuria.
Right afterwards, he attacked the Nationalists in
Northern China with a thrust like that of splitting
bamboo. Then he took over Jiangnan [the area south of
the Yangtze River].
After that, he became Chairman Mao's legally-appointed
official successor. But his secret plot brought on his
retribution. Because of his struggle for power, he lost
his life and ruined his reputation. He didn't die in a
good way. He can serve as a warning for those of future
generations.
Commentary:
An evaluation is a critique exploring the reasons why
certain historical personali ties succeeded or failed.
The title of this series is Reflections in Water and
Mirrors: Reversing the Tide of Destiny. The intention
in writing this series of essays is "to confer praise
or censure; to distinguish good from evil." We can apply
the good methods we discover and be careful to avoid
methods that we find to be evil.
This series covers famous people of China and other
countries. "Famous people" refers not only to good
people, but also to infamous people. The famous people
are honored by thousands of generations; the infamous
people will be despised for tens of thousands of years.
And so, those who seek fame may wish to be honored by
posterity, but some end up being despised for thousands
of centuries.
In this age, people are muddled and confused. They
mistake thieves for their sons, and consider black to
be white. They avoid drowning by leaping into the fire.
Therefore, in order to light a bright lamp in the
darkness of these times, I bring up those of the past
to serve as mirrors for us. Those who were good can be
our models; those who were evil can serve as examples
of what we should not emulate. By discussing them, I
hope to awaken people from their muddled dream so that
they will not be so avid for fame and profit, but will
pursue more proper goals instead. Those are my
objectives in writing this book.
The intent of this book, and the reason it is entitled
Reflections in Water and Mirrors: Reversing the Tide of
Destiny, is to ward off the world's ill fate. And yet
the situation is as nebulous as that of the moon
appearing in water or flowers appearing in a mirror.
Whether it is possible to avert the will of heaven is
as tenuous as the moon in water or flowers in a mirror.
Nonetheless, I still wish to go ahead and exert all my
effort in the face of whatever difficulty, to fulfill
my responsibility. And so I am writing this book,
making its style quite simple so it will be very easy
for people to understand.
Now we will evaluate Lin Biao. Lin Biao was a jackal in
his previous incarnation. Jackals are nocturnal animals
and are adversely affected by sunlight. Interestingly
enough, Lin Biao was afflicted with lupus erythematosus,
so that his face could not be exposed to the sunlight.
He always stayed indoors during the daytime and came
out only at night. He was very evil-minded and
treacherous.
Lin Biao was from Hubei province. In his youth, he was
leftist in his thinking, and so he joined the Communist
Party. He was skilled at deploying troops, and had a
talent for military strategy. He enrolled in Huangpu
Military Academy as one of its first cadets. He had a
gift for military strategy, and he had all the makings
of a general. Because he was young and promising, the
Communist Party wanted to use him for infiltration
purposes. For this reason he was assigned to Huangpu
Military Academy, where he was in the first graduating
class. Zhou Enlai was then the Dean of Studies there,
and he thought highly of Lin Biao.
Later he joined the Chinese Communist Party. After he
graduated, Lin went back to join the Communist troops.
Outstanding in his performance, he was regarded highly
by Mao Zedong, and he was continually promoted to
higher and higher positions. Mao Zedong had a good
opinion of Lin and treated him like a son. Because of
this, he quickly rose through the ranks. He achieved
distinction in military service, and Mao had him
promoted to higher and higher positions.
After the Japanese surrender, the Soviet Union gave the
weapons used by the Japanese troops to Mao Zedong.
After the Japanese surrendered [at the end of World War
II], the Russians handed all the Japanese weapons over
to the Communist Army, [instead of the Kuomingtang's
Nationalist Army]. Not only did they get the weapons,
the Communists also accepted the troops native to
Manchuria who had been trained by the Japanese and who
were known as the Manchu Nationalist Army. Actually,
after the Japanese surrendered, those Manchu troops
from Manchuria wanted to serve the Nationalist
government, but the Nationalist government rejected
them, considering them to be from an illegitimate army.
However, those native soldiers were better trained by
far than the Central [Nationalist] Govemment's troops.
Those Manchu troops had been highly trained by the
Japanese; they were brave, skilled, top-quality
soldiers. By refusing those troops, the Nationalist
Government bolstered the enemy.
At that time, Lin was the commander-in-chief of the
Chinese Communist Army. First he liberated Manchuria.
When the Communists went to Manchuria, all the
preparations, all the groundwork, was done by those
local Manchurian troops—the calling out of the army,
the collecting and storing of provisions- everything
leading to the final insurrection. Because of those
local troops, the Communists were able to fight
extremely well and "liberated" Manchuria.
Right afterwards, he attacked the Nationalists in
Northern China with a thrust like that of splitting
bamboo. The Communist troops then conquered Northern
China as swiftly as splitting bamboo. Then he took over Jiangnan (the area south of the Yangtze River),
"liberating" it with ease.
It was said, although I don't know whether it is true,
that when the Communists took over Jiangbei [the area to
the north of the Yangtze River], for three whole days
and nights, the river was filled with turtles swimming
south across the river—all the way from the north shore
to the south shore. There were so many of them that
ships could not even move on the water. The turtles
floated in the Yangtze River and blocked the
Nationalist troops from crossing the river to move
north. They were forced to retreat south to Guangdong
Province. People say that later on at Nanking, crows
dove into the Yangtze River for no apparent reason and
drowned; their bodies surfaced in other places far away.
There is a saying, "When a nation is about to prosper,
there will be auspicious signs. When a nation is about
to fall, there will be bad omens." Those unusual
phenomena were such omens. In them we can perceive the
imperceptible workings of cause and effect.
After that, he became Chairman Mao's legally-appointed
official successor. But his secret plot brought on his
retribution. Because of his struggle for power, he lost
his life and ruined his reputation. He didn't die in a
good way. He can serve as a warning for those of future
generations. Lin Biao was not a good-minded person. He
was very petty-minded and had a vengeful nature,
harboring hatred against people for everything they did.
Although he was appointed as official successor to Mao
Zedong, he was not content to bide his time, but wanted
to take over earlier.
He plotted to assassinate Mao, but his plot was
discovered and failed. Because of the plot to
assassinate Mao, his reputation was ruined. He tried to
escape in a plane, and met a violent death [his plane
exploded]. Because of his greed for power and fame, he
ended up losing both his reputation and his life.
We should consider his life story a mirror to reflect
upon. We should not follow in his footsteps. That is why
there is this mirror between heaven and earth.
To be continued |
