Medieval Buddhist of the Day

[Bluesky, 11/23/24] Having reported that the Prince of Beihai was guilty of “canoodling” with another man’s wife, I feel compelled to describe this incident since it, like so much else in this whole saga, is kind of amazing. The woman in question was also surnamed Gao 高氏, but from another Gao family with connections to Korea. She was the wife of the Prince of Anding. This is the Gao family that produced Gao Zhao 高肇, from a previous MBOTD saga of the princess who married Wang Su (for those of you keeping score at home). Gao Zhao married his cousins, two sisters, to Ru Hao 茹皓, a Southern general who defected to the North, and the Prince of Anding, Yuan Xie 安定王燮. In fact, it’s probably Gao Zhao’s powerful position that made this affair so dangerous for Yuan Xiang, more than being just a case of simple adultery; the lady might have conveyed the intimate secrets of Yuan Xiang’s corruption to Gao Zhao, leading to his denunciation. To avoid confusion, I’ll call her Mme Gao and Yuan Xiang’s mother, Lady Gao. Here, from Wei shu 魏書 21:

詳之初禁也，乃以蒸高事告母。母大怒，詈之苦切，曰：
When [Yuan] Xiang was first accused, he told his mother about the matter of canoodling with Mme Gao. His mother was absolutely furious, and scolded him bitterly, saying: 

「汝自有妻妾侍婢，少盛如花，何忽共許高麗婢姦通，令致此罪。我得高麗，當噉其肉。」
“You have a wife and concubines, servants and handmaidens, young and flourishing as flowers; why did you ignore them all to fornicate with a Korean maidservant, bringing you to this guilt? If I got my hands on the Korean, I would chew her up.”

乃杖詳背及兩脚百餘下，自行杖，力疲乃令奴代。
And she caned him on the back and on [the soles of] his feet, more than a hundred strokes, wielding the cane herself, and when she grew tired she ordered a servant to take over.

高氏素嚴，詳每有微罪，常加責罰，以絮裹杖。至是，去絮，皆至瘡膿。詳苦杖，十餘日乃能立。
Lady Gao was very strict, and whenever Xiang had the least fault, she would often punish him with a padded cane. But this time, she took off the padding, and beat him till he was cut and blistered. Xiang suffered from the caning, so that it was ten days before he could stand. 

又杖其妃劉氏數十，云：「新婦大家女，門戶匹敵，何所畏也，而不檢校夫婿。婦人皆妬，獨不妬也！」劉笑而受罰，卒無所言。
She also beat his wife Lady Liu ten or twenty strokes, saying “You are a new wife and the daughter of a great family, your house equal in status to your husband’s. What are you afraid of, that you dared not restrain your husband? Women are always jealous – only you lack jealousy!” Lady Liu smiled and took her punishment, saying not a word.