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The Ancient Chinese People's View of the Importance of a Harmonious Family Life

2006-06-05

Promoting affection within the family is, in the narrow sense, to take care of one's parents. In the broad sense, it includes affection between siblings, harmony between husband and wife, as well as harmony between other family members. Confucianism believed that "regulated families" is the prerequisite to "well-governed states." It was said in Zhouyi (The Book of Changes): "[When the] Family is rectified, the state is stable."

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Stories from Ancient China: Discussion on Upholding Moral Discipline

2006-06-04

Upholding moral discipline is maintaining moral courage. Moral courage refers to one's ambition and moral integrity. It is a kind of noble personality quality, manifesting as perseverance and persistence in upholding justice without submitting to fear. Confucius' saying "Only when it is winter, does one realise that pine and cypress wither late" praises the pine and cypress for withstanding the cold and frost in winter while being distinctly independent and proud.

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Comments on "Ren" and "De" by those Living in Ancient China

2006-06-03

Ren* (kindness) is the core of Confucianism in traditional Chinese culture. The focal point of "Ren" is to "love and care for people", promoting a relationship of kindness between people. Confucius stated that when all classes of society can be kind and follow this etiquette, society will be harmonious, and people will live peacefully and happily. Confucius stressed that practising Ren (kindness) and De (morality) is not a matter of capability, but a matter of attitude.

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Stories from Ancient China: Emperor Taizong Conversing with His High-Ranking Officials

2006-06-02

Emperor Taizong disagreed. He said, "After the Zhou dynasty replaced the Shang dynasty, Emperor Zhou Wuwang made great efforts to promote benevolence and righteousness; but when Qin Shihuang reached his goal, he used violence. They differed not only in how they obtained the throne of the country but also how they maintained the country. That's why the throne fell."

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Poem: To Those Who Came Before

2006-06-01

Of all the kings' horses,And of all the kings' men From the land of his majesty,To the land of land's end Ever they trod before,And ever on knee did they bendYet not let heaven pass one,Yea they could not ascend.

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Origin of the Chinese Saying: "Duo-Duo Yi-Shan"

2006-05-31

Once Liu Bang asked Han Xin, "If I were a general, how many soldiers can I lead?" Han Xin said, "Your Majesty can lead 100,000 soldiers." Liu Bang then asked, "How many soldiers can you lead?" Han Xin smiled and replied, "Me? Duo-duo Yi-shan." Literally translated, this meant "the more, the better", essentially boasting that no army is too big for him to lead.

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Poem: How Many Worlds

2006-05-30

How many pathshave we followed and blazedhow many worldshave we troubled and traversed?How many liveswhen destined to shinehave we darkened and disguisedhow many possibilities have we reversed?

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Poem: Of Golden Heart

2006-05-29

Of golden lightembracing heaven and earththe ‘Great Law’ unfoldingmany a boundless heart.

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Stories from Ancient China: When Confucius Was Without Food

2006-05-28

Confucius (BC 551- 479) is regarded as one of the greatest teachers and philosophers in Chinese history and has had a very significant influence on Chinese morality and arts. In his latter years, he travelled with his students to various states (ruled by warlords) to spread his teachings but was not very well received at the time.

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Painting: Compassionately Sprinkling the Manna

2006-05-27

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Ancient Cultivation Stories: Lu Meiniang

2006-05-26

The final product contained embroideries of ten continents, three islands, and celestial beings and jade maidens. It also had embroidered portraits of the palace, rare treasures, and a thousand children holding pennants. The blanket was about ten feet in width and weighed only three ounces. To make the blanket durable, she used some medicine to make an ointment and applied it to the surface. Emperor Shunzong sighed with her ingeniousness and called her the Lady of God.

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Poem: Comes to Light

2006-05-25

Having darkened the heavenspoisoned the earthtainted nations and hearts alike.China’s Communist spectrea reign near vanquishedas the truth now comes to light.

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Stories from Ancient China: The Eight Virtues

2006-05-24

When a wild goose or a mallard duck loses its mate, it would never seek a new mate. This is called "loyalty." When a deer comes across good grass, it will call the entire group to share, and when an ant comes across food, it will gather the whole colony. This is called "justice." Please remember these four virtues, as even a beast is capable of maintaining this virtue. If a human being has no virtue at all, he is considered as "worse than a beast."

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Ancient Cultivation Stories: Confucius and Ran Qiu

2006-05-23

Holding such thoughts, Ran Qiu started to become lazy and felt it was useless no matter how much more he learnt. In addition, Ran Qiu also attributed his poor performance in the class to his own insufficient abilities. He thought that, since he was not capable enough, he would never be able to achieve the level that Confucius was teaching, so why did he need to study carefully?

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Poem: Hold onto Hope

2006-05-22

Darkness fades into the coming dawnendless hours of night subsiding nowwhere wings to light are born.Life turning sweet and soura lotus rises through the mireunfolding into a wondrous flower.

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