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Chongxuan School
The Chongxuan School ( Chinese: 重玄, pinyin: ''Chóngxuán'') was a Taoist philosophical current influenced by Buddhist Madhyamaka thought. It first appeared in the fifth century, and was influential from the eighth to tenth centuries during the Tang dynasty. It was not a structured philosophical school; it was identified and named by the Daodejing commentator Du Guangting (杜光庭, 850-933). Livia Kohn, ''Daoist Mystical Philosophy: The Scripture of Western Ascension'' p 181-188 Chongxuan's most important representatives were Cheng Xuanying (成玄英, fl. 631-655) and Li Rong (李榮), both from the seventh century CE. Chongxuan is also an appellation of the immortal embryo in internal alchemy,Fabrizio Pregado ed. ''Encyclopedia of Taoism'', 200, Routledge, p24-25 or Neidan, reflecting some influence of Chongxuan thought on Neidan. Thought The Chongxuan authors continue the interpretation of a Daodejing phrase first used by the Xuanxue exegetical school, "mysterious a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Language
Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the world's population) speak a variety of Chinese as their first language. Chinese languages form the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages family. The spoken varieties of Chinese are usually considered by native speakers to be variants of a single language. However, their lack of mutual intelligibility means they are sometimes considered separate languages in a family. Investigation of the historical relationships among the varieties of Chinese is ongoing. Currently, most classifications posit 7 to 13 main regional groups based on phonetic developments from Middle Chinese, of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin (with about 800 million speakers, or 66%), followed by Min (75 million, e.g. Southern Min), Wu (74 million, e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Asian Mādhyamaka
East Asian Madhyamaka refers to the Buddhist tradition in East Asia which represents the Indian Madhyamaka (''Chung-kuan'') system of thought. In Chinese Buddhism, these are often referred to as the ''Sānlùn'' ( Ch. 三論宗, Jp. ''Sanron'', "Three Treatise") school, also known as the " emptiness school" (''K'ung Tsung''),Hsueh-li Cheng, Empty Logic: Mādhyamika Buddhism from Chinese Sources, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1991 p. 9. although they may not have been an independent sect. The three principal texts of the school are ''the Middle Treatise'' (''Zhong lun''), ''the Twelve Gate Treatise'' (''Shiermen lun''), and ''the Hundred Treatise'' (''Bai lun''). They were first transmitted to China during the early 5th century by the Buddhist monk Kumārajīva (344−413) in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The school and its texts were later transmitted to Korea and Japan. The leading thinkers of this tradition are Kumārajīva's disciple Sēngzhào (Seng-chao; 374−414), and the late ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classical Chinese Philosophy
Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn period () and Warring States period (), during a period known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and cultural developments. Although much of Chinese philosophy begun in the Warring States period, elements of Chinese philosophy have existed for several thousand years. Some can be found in the ''I Ching'' (the ''Book of Changes''), an ancient compendium of divination, which dates back to at least 672 BCE. It was during the Warring States era that what Sima Tan termed the major philosophical schools of China—Confucianism, Legalism, and Taoism—arose, along with philosophies that later fell into obscurity, like Agriculturalism, Mohism, Chinese Naturalism, and the Logicians. Even in modern society, Confucianism is still the creed of etiquette for Chinese society. Chinese philosophy as a philosophy The debate over whether the ''thought'' of ancient Chines ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wu Wei
''Wu wei'' () is an ancient Chinese concept literally meaning "inexertion", "inaction", or "effortless action". ''Wu wei'' emerged in the Spring and Autumn period, and from Confucianism, to become an important concept in Chinese statecraft and Taoism. It was most commonly used to refer to an ideal form of government, including the behavior of the emperor. Describing a state of unconflicting personal harmony, free-flowing spontaneity and savoir-faire, it generally also more properly denotes a state of spirit or mind, and in Confucianism accords with conventional morality. Sinologist Jean François Billeter describes wu-wei as a "state of perfect knowledge of the reality of the situation, perfect efficaciousness and the realization of a perfect economy of energy", which in practice Edward Slingerland qualifies as a "set of ('transformed') dispositions (including physical bearing)... conforming with the normative order". Definition Sinologist Herrlee Creel considers wu wei, as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guo Xiang
Guo Xiang (; born 252 AD – died 312 AD) is credited with the first and most important revision of the text known as the '' Zhuangzi'' which, along with the '' Tao Te Ching'', forms the textual and philosophical basis of the Taoist school of thought. He was also a scholar of xuanxue. ''Zhuangzi'' The Guo Xiang redaction of ''Zhuangzi'' revised a fifty-two chapter original by removing material he thought was superstitious and generally not of philosophical interest to his literati sensibilities, resulting in a thirty-three chapter total. He appended a philosophical commentary to the text that became famous, and within four centuries his shorter and snappier expurgated recension became the only one known. This ''Zhuangzi'' recension is traditionally divided into three sections: ‘Inner Chapters’ (1-7), ‘Outer Chapters’ (8-22), ‘Miscellaneous Chapters’ (23-33). This division is quite old and is likely to have been part of the original recension. Guo's redaction fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yuán Qì
In traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese culture, ''yuán qì'' (元氣) is an innate or prenatal qi. This inborn qi is differentiated from acquired qi that a person may develop over their lifetime. Porkert describes the concept as "the metaphorical designation of the inborn constitution, the vital potential that is gradually used up in the course of life. It may be conserved but never replenished." The term has been used since at least the Han Dynasty, where it is found in the chapter 'Lu Li Zhi Shang/律历志上' of the History Book, 'Han Shu.' Usage in Japanese In modern times it has come to be used in a colloquial manner in Japanese (where it is pronounced genki (元気)) to mean "healthy" or "energetic", a usage that has more recently been borrowed back into Chinese. This colloquial usage of the term forms the basis of a variety of Japanese expressions, including the standard casual greeting, genki desu ka (元気ですか), which translates to "are you well?".http://eo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhuangzi (book)
The ''Zhuangzi'' ( Chinese: , historically romanized ''Chuang Tzŭ'') is an ancient Chinese text from the late Warring States period (476221) which contains stories and anecdotes that exemplify the carefree nature of the ideal Taoist sage. Named for its traditional author, "Master Zhuang" ( Zhuangzi), the ''Zhuangzi'' is one of the two foundational texts of Taoism, along with the '' Tao Te Ching''. The ''Zhuangzi'' consists of a large collection of anecdotes, allegories, parables, and fables, which are often humorous or irreverent. Its main themes are of spontaneity in action and of freedom from the human world and its conventions. The fables and anecdotes in the text attempt to illustrate the falseness of human distinctions between good and bad, large and small, life and death, and human and nature. While other ancient Chinese philosophers focused on moral and personal duty, Zhuangzi promoted carefree wandering and becoming one with "the Way" (''Dào'' ) by following nature ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lingbao School
The Lingbao School (), also known as the School of the Sacred Jewel or the School of Numinous Treasure, was an important Taoist School that emerged in China in between the Jin dynasty and the Liu Song dynasty in the early fifth century CE. It lasted for about two hundred years until it was absorbed into the Shangqing School and Zhengyi School currents during the Tang dynasty. The Lingbao School is a synthesis of religious ideas based on Shangqing texts, the rituals of the Celestial Masters, and Buddhist practices. The Lingbao School adopted many concepts from Buddhism, including the concept of rebirth, and also some cosmological elements. Although rebirth was an important concept in the Lingbao School, the earlier Taoist belief in attaining immortality remained. The school's pantheon is similar to Shangqing and Celestial Master Taoism, with one of its most important deities being the deified form of Laozi. Other deities also existed, some of whom were in charge of preparing sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahayana
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing branches of Buddhism (the other being ''Theravāda'' and Vajrayana).Harvey (2013), p. 189. Mahāyāna accepts the main scriptures and teachings of early Buddhism but also recognizes various doctrines and texts that are not accepted by Theravada Buddhism as original. These include the Mahāyāna Sūtras and their emphasis on the ''bodhisattva'' path and ''Prajñāpāramitā''. '' Vajrayāna'' or Mantra traditions are a subset of Mahāyāna, which make use of numerous tantric methods considered to be faster and more powerful at achieving Buddhahood by Vajrayānists. "Mahāyāna" also refers to the path of the bodhisattva striving to become a fully awakened Buddha ('' samyaksaṃbuddha'') for the benefit of all sentient beings, and is thu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zuowanglun
The ''Zuowanglun'' or ''Zuowang lun'' is a Taoist meditative text that was written by the Shangqing School patriarch Sima Chengzhen (647–735). Taoism incorporated many Buddhist practices during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), and the ''Zuowanglun'' combined meditation techniques from Taoism (e.g., 坐忘 '' zuòwàng'' "sitting forgetting", and 觀 ''guān'' "observation"), Buddhism (''śamatha'' "calm abiding", and ''vipaśyanā'' "insight") and Confucian concept (正心誠意). Author Sima Chengzhen (or Si-ma Ch'eng-chen) 司馬承禎 (647–735), also known as Daoyin 道隐 "Recluse of the Tao" and Baiyunzi 白雲子 "Master of the White Cloud", was a native of Henan. He was a descendant of the Jin Dynasty (266–420) imperial house, and his family included many high-ranking scholar-officials. Although Sima received a traditional education in the Confucian classics, he converted to Taoism, and was ordained by the Shangqing "Highest Clarity" School in 669. Sima was promo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shangqing School
The Shangqing School (Chinese:上清派), also known as Supreme Clarity or Highest Clarity is a Taoist movement that began during the aristocracy of the Western Jin dynasty. Shangqing can be translated as either 'Supreme Clarity' or 'Highest Clarity.' The first leader of the school was a lady, Wei Huacun (251-334). According to her Shangqing hagiographers, her devotion to Taoist cultivation so impressed a number of immortals that she received revelations from them - 31 volumes of Taoist scriptures, which would become the foundation of Shangqing Taoism. Later, Tao Hongjing, a man, (Chinese: 陶弘景) (456－536) structured the theory and practice and compiled the Taoist Canon. He greatly contributed to the development of the school that took place near the end of the 5th century. The mountain near Nanjing where Tao Hongjing had his retreat, Maoshan (茅山 – fr), today remains the principal seat of the school. Shangqing practice values meditation techniques of visualization a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jizang
Jizang (. Japanese: ) (549–623) was a Persian-Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar who is often regarded as the founder of East Asian Mādhyamaka. He is also known as Jiaxiang or Master Jiaxiang () because he acquired fame at the Jiaxiang Temple. Biography Jizang was born in Jinling (modern Nanjing). Although his father had emigrated from Parthia, he was educated in the Chinese manner. He was quite precocious in spiritual matters, and became a monk at age seven. When he was young, he studied with Falang (法朗, 507–581) at the Xinghuang Temple () in Nanjing, and studied the three Madhyamaka treatises ( The Treatise on the Middle Way, The Treatise on the Twelve Gates, and The One-Hundred-Verse Treatise) which had been translated by Kumarajiva more than a century before, and it is with these texts that he is most often identified. He became the head monk at Xinghuang Temple upon Falang's death in 581. At age 42, he began travelling through China giving lectures, and ultimately se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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