
"Painting Eyes on the Portrait of a Dragon"
This Chinese idiom
(chenyu) has its origin in the Southern and Northern
Dynasties (420 CE - 588 CE). The story centres of Zhang, a painter
who specialised in drawing dragons.
Once, he was asked to paint
dragons on the walls on the "Jin Lin An Le Shi" temple and he
painted four white dragons. Strangely, he painted the dragons
without eyes! Many people asked why.
"If I painted the eyes of the
dragons, they would be able to see. They will then leave earth and
fly to heaven," he replied.
Many people did not believe him
and coerced him to paint the dragons' eyes. After a while, he got
fed up and took his brush and painted eyes on two of four dragons.
Suddenly, there was a flash of
lighting and a crash of thunder. The wall with the portrait of the
dragons split apart.
The two dragons with eyes flew to
heaven while the two other dragons without eyes stayed on the
wall.
Food for thought:
We need not give all the details in some situations.
Ungkapan Cina (chenyu)
ini berasal pada Dinasti Utara dan Selatan (420SM - 588SM).
Ungkapan ini berasaskan cerita seorang pelukis bernama Zhang
yang mahir melukis naga.
Pada suatu hari, Zhang diminta melukis gambar naga-naga pada dinding
tokong "Jin Lin An Le Shi". Beliau melukis empat naga tanpa mata!
Ramai yang bertanya-tanya kenapa Yu Boya berbuat demikian.
Jawapannya: "Sekiranya saya melukis mata naga, maka naga boleh
nampak. Mereka akan terbang ke langit meningalkan kami."
Pihak berkuasa serta orangramai ketawakan Zhang dan memaksa beliau
untuk melukis mata naga. Zhang berasa kecewa lalu melukis mata naga
pada dua daripada empat ekor makluk tersebut.
Sebaik sahaja beliau habis melukis mata pada dua ekor naga, guruh
dan kilat menyabung di langit. Dinding yang dilukis retak dan pecah
kepada dua bahagian.
Dua ekor naga yang mempunyai mata terbang terus ke langit. Dua lagi
ekor naga yang mata belum dilukis kekal pada dinding tokong.
Santapan fikiran: Kita tidak perlu
memberikan maklumat terperinci dalam situasi-situasi
tertentu.