Middle East / Biblical Stories embedded in the Chinese characters Dr. Ong Hean-Tatt in his book ‘The Chinese Pakua, an Expose”, postulated that the traditional Chinese characters contain remarkable revelations of Middle Eastern / Biblical legends such as, among others, the Edenic Creation , the Great Flood-Deluge (Noah’s Ark) and the Tower of Babel. It seems that Jesuit writers as early as the 17 th century wrote about them. The contentions, if correct, imply that the Chinese language, and by extension, the Chinese race must have had Middle Eastern origins. Dr. Ong goes on to the examine several Chinese ideograms believed to contain stories of the Garden of Eden and the central characters figured therein, namely, the creationistic God, Adam and Eve, the Devil, the Trees of Life and Knowledge of Good & Evil. First a few words about Chinese characters. The Chinese characters are not arbitrary but adopt objective principles to convey their meanings. The association of ideas indicated by the sub-characters often provides the overall meaning of the ideogram as a whole. Thus for example the Chinese word for ‘island’ ( 岛 ) has the sub-characters for ‘bird’ (on top) and ‘hill / mountain’ (at bottom) and the more complex words have multiple subcharacters, arranged either from left to right or up and down and combinations thereof. An individual ideogram as a whole therefore conveys a central meaning / idea culled from the rational inter-play of the pictographic sub-characters. The following, an excerpt of one chapter of the said book, illustrates that where the ideas involve major ancient events, the ancient Chinese ideograms, unwittingly or purposely, would have become devices to preserve ancient history; in this case, ancient Middle Eastern / Biblical history from Eden to the Tower of Babel, where, the author argues, the ancient ancestors of the Chinese race once resided and forced (or ordered) to leave on an eastern track in the direction of and ended up at the geographical area of present China. There are many Middle East legends. One of the clearest versions would be the Biblical version. Many such legends or events could have been witnessed by the ancient ancestors of the Chinese race and formed parts of the racial memory and ancient (unrecorded) history of the Chinese people. The Thesis herein therefore postulates that these legends / events are recorded in the ideograms of the Chinese language. Now, here is the evidence. The Biblical Creation Ideograms Many cultures tell of a legend of creation. The Bible records:‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth become without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters’ (Genesis)
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The Chinese language preserved various ideograms describing the Genesis creation. (1) The Chinese word for ‘spirit’ is ‘Ling’ -- 孁 The sub-characters (‘subs’) are:一 = (one) heaven; (people);
水 = water; 工 = work; 雨 = rain;
口口口 = mouths
人 = man; 巫 = worker of magic. The word ‘Ling’ is a very complex ideogram. As ‘Ling’ means ‘spirit’, some of the subs must refer to ‘spirit things’. The subs of ‘two men and work’ whose combination mean a ‘magician’ could convey the sense of something ‘supernatural’ So would the common symbol of ‘one’ for ‘heaven’ Thus the word ‘Ling’ conveys the idea of something supernatural coming from heaven, covering the waters, and the three mouths ( Triune? ) worked magic. (2) The Chinese word for ‘create’ is ‘Zao’ -- 造 The subs are:土 = earth/mud; 口 = mouth (breath); 丿= movement/life; 走= (able to) walk. Thus we have the idea that God formed man from earth/mud and breathed from mouth life and man become able to walk. (3) The Chinese word for ‘west’ is ‘Xi’ -- 西 The subs are:一
= first; 人 = man; 口 = enclosure; 田 = field / garden.
Thus we get the idea that the first man was in an enclosure (Garden of Eden) The Chinese therefore remembered that they came from Eden in the West. (4) The Chinese word for ‘happiness / blessing’ is ‘Fu’ -- 福 The subs are:ネ = God; 一
= first; 口 = mouth (person); 田 = field/garden.
Thus happiness is when the first man (Adam) was in the garden with God.
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(5) The Chinese word for ‘devil’ is ‘Kuei’ -- 鬼 The subs are:丿= movement / life; 田 = field / garden; 人 = man (being); 厶 = privately. Thus we have the idea that into the garden came a being with a private / secret thing. (6) The Chinese word for ‘tempter’ is ‘Mo’ -- 魔 The subs are:广 = cover; 木 = tree(s); 鬼 = devil. Thus the devil from the covering of trees with a secret (privately) tempts Eve. (7) The Chinese word for ‘covet’ ‘desire’ is ‘Lan’ --- 婪 The subs are:木
= tree(s); 林 = forest; 女 = woman.
So the fruit of the tree was coveted / desired by the woman. (8) The Chinese word for ‘boat’ is ‘Chuan’ -- 船 The subs are:The left sub-character is for a boat / vessel and those on the right are:八 = eight; 口 = mouth / person /people. Well, the eight (mouths) persons on the boat were Noah’s family of 8 who escaped the Flood in a boat (Ark) (9) The Chinese word for ‘island’ is ‘Dao’ -- 岛 The subs are: 鸟 = bird; 山
= hill / mountain.
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So we have a bird high above or on a mountain, i.e. the bird sent by Noah as the Flood receded (10)The Chinese word for ‘forbidden’ is ‘Jin’ -- 禁 The subs are:木 = tree; 示 = God. Thus they were two trees and God forbid the fruit of one tree. The author also alluded to some similarities and parallels between certain ancient Chinese and Jewish cultural traditions and symbolisms in order to make a case for a common origin for both. For example the uncanny similarity between the “Magic Square of 15” (where adding up all sides of the 9 squares gives 15) and the Hebraic Talisman of Saturn (the “Sigil of Saturn”) As these are beyond the intention of this excerpt, readers can refer to the book which gives a comprehensive overview of these and many other matters on ancient religious history of the Chinese people (ancient and modern) Just Google “Ong Hean Tatt” END.
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