Chinese Philosophy

Any one into chinese philosophy? It is told in amusing fables ^_^ >Once upon a time, I, Zhuangzi, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Zhuangzi. Soon I awakened, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. Between a man and a butterfly there is necessarily a distinction. The transition is called the transformation of material things.

Daoism is wonderful. I read Lao Zi a lot when I was younger and greatly admired Daoist philosophy. Unfortunately, Confucius really overtook the esoteric-nature of early Chinese thought for a much more rigid rationalism. This would be fine, but it really did a number on much later dynasties, especially with the advent of the Neo-Confucians in the middle ages. Reading Zhuangzi, Lao Zi, and experimenting with the I Ching is all very exciting and mind-bending. I study Mandarin and, recently, have been having a lot of fun learning about Chinese idioms. There are thousands of these idioms (called chengyu, 成语) and there is a lot of wisdom in them. A lot of the literal translations are rather kooky, but when discussed in context, the meanings can be very interesting. I'll share some with you. 天壤之别。tian rang zhi bie Literally: Heaven hell's difference It means the difference between Heaven and Hell. As in "Working as an artist and working as a businessman is the difference between Heaven and Hell." 士别三日，刮目相看。shi bie san rim gua mu xiang kan Literally: Scholar leaves for three days, looked at new eyes. It means that someone who leaves for even a short period of time can change drastically from the person that they were and this idiom reminds you to judge people accordingly. 良药苦口。liang yao ku kou Literally: Good medicine, bitter mouth. It means that good medicine taste bitter. Sometimes good advice isn't pleasant to hear, but it will provide a remedy to the problem at hand. I hope one day to be able to get to a point that I can actually read the old texts in their original language.

Some Chinese works. Note that Chinese Chan gave rise to Japanese Zen.

One of the great Chinese literary works.

>>3890 thanks for those shares, proverbs always make you think. and i guess confucianism is something that took shape well after confucius, when the empire had to be put together. the ideals of the man, as they can be discerned through the analects, can be taken into other fields. also, remember that taoism is part of the whole chinese way of life that is composed by everything that held the empire together. it cannot be taken too literally while ignoring the system of which it is a part. that being said, the texts and all the culture they have produced can be explored in so many fields that one will always find something of interest. good luck in your learning ;)

If you're really interested and have the time and the inclination, I suggest learning to read classical chinese. It's super fun and, even though it still means learning to read chinese characters, in the end the whole of the vocabulary is considerably less than it is with modern mandarin (also monosyllabic words instead of di- and polysyllabic means words are somewhat easier to stick to memory). Downside is you need to learn traditional characters, but they're more aesthetic and often simplified ones can be just as confusing (see 广 vs 严 vs 产). Also it means diving deep down, having to look up at least some on chinese history, mostly Zhou dynasty but also that of hatever period you intend to read; as for Zhuangzi, Zhou dynasty suffices (there are plenty of references to Duke Wen of Zhou and whatnot). Attached is an absolute beginners book to see what it actually is like to read classical chinese. Author also has a book called Readings in chinese philosophy you can find on your favorite russian server. >>3893 Superb, thank you so much!

>tfw nobody shares my autism for classical chinese I'll just dump another primer see if I catch someone's attention.

>>5114 >>5448 lurker here with nothing to contribute, I'm definitely interested! I tried getting into classical chinese years ago but all I could find was a dictionary in french. anything you have, I'd love to see!

>>5114 >>5448 oh my god yes, i've been looking for some classical chinese instruction for a while, thank you anon.