Let’s Ride Tigers 虎年騎虎

Let’s Ride Tigers

by Deacon Alex

According to the Chinese Zodiac, this is the year of Tiger. Chinese are enchanted by this feline for several reasons. First of all, the stripe pattern on its forehead looks like the Chinese character “king 王”. Secondly, the movements of this huge and ferocious predator are majestic. Moreover, it always hunts alone. That’s why a Chinese idiom goes, “A mountain is unable to house two tigers 一山不能藏二虎” , suggesting its sovereignty is exclusive, like kings’. Another idiom goes further to liken harsh governments to ferocious tigers 苛政猛於虎. Therefore, in the Chinese mind, tigers are the genuine “king of the jungle”, not lions.

All cultures are equal before challenges and difficulties. Perhaps that’s the reason why both the English language and the Chinese language have a nearly identical idiom in describing perilous situations from which it is dangerous to run away, viz. “He who rides a tiger is afraid to dismount 騎虎難下”. In English, a similar idea is expressed as “to have a tail by the tail”.
However, similarity stops here. Each culture has established different strategies to handle dangerous situations. To begin with, why does anyone want to ride a tiger? In Chinese, an idiom goes “In the company of the king is in the proximity of a tiger伴君如伴虎”. Despite the risks, who doesn’t want to get near the king in order to inflate one’s power and wealth? So, what are the rules of engagement with the king so that one may get away without being bitten?

Since we are still within the season of Lunar New Year, allow me not to quote the Bible but a Chinese classic “I-Ching易經”, aka “The Book of Changes” to illustrate the Chinese ways.
I-Ching is the paramount of Chinese philosophy enshrouded in oracles. From I-Ching, western mathematicians have developed binary arithmetic which is the foundation of modern computers. In Chinese culture, I-Ching inspires all branches of knowledge, from the art of war to medicine, and from eating to tripod-making. Among the Sixty-Four Oracles expounded in I-Ching, the tenth oracle calls up a curious imagery. The tenth oracle is labelled “Li 履” which means “a shoe” and by extension, “to walk” or “to step on”. Oracle “Li” reads: “Stepping on a tiger’s tail, it does not turn around to bite. No obstacle ahead. 履虎尾，不咥人，亨。” You may wonder how it is possible for the tiger not to bite. Is the tiger asleep or perhaps dead? No! It turns out that the word “Li” sounds the same as “禮” which roughly means “showing respect, having proper manners, following appropriation rules etc.” Therefore, the tenth oracle is an oracle exhorting caution, perseverance, prudence and proper procedures with which one is able to tread on a tiger’s tail without incurring any harm. These are the rules of engagement with a king, aka Tiger!

Brethren! Jesus Christ our king is not a tiger but the Good Shepherd. In our stead, He takes upon Himself all the bites of sin which are supposed to sink on us. Let us share a rightful portion to ride and beat up the tiger of sin like the legendary hero Wu Song武松 by putting into practices the advice from the Li Oracle: Practise caution, perseverance, prudence and proper manners to avoid the tiger’s bites of sin.
God bless!